Semua Bab He Divorced Me On Our Anniversary: Bab 201 - Bab 210

Maya POVThe first time I saw Ethan on television after losing him, I was hiding in a motel room outside Florence with the curtains closed and three different phones spread across the bed beside me.Rain tapped steadily against the window while the television played low in the background mostly ignored while I tried deciding which passport would get me furthest before authorities locked airports down completely. The room smelled faintly of cigarette smoke even though I specifically asked for non-smoking and the floral wallpaper peeling near the bathroom door irritated me more every time I looked at it.I hated places like this places built for people running from something. The news anchor’s voice sharpened suddenly and I looked up automatically when Ethan’s face appeared across the screen.Everything inside me stopped.My body simply forgot movement for a second because there he was stepping out of a black vehicle in Los Angeles while reporters shouted questions from every direction.

Maya POVThe mansion looked different at night not because the building itself changed but because families reveal themselves in small ways after dark. Lights stayed on longer in certain rooms. Curtains remained partly open upstairs. Shadows moved across windows in familiar patterns that slowly stopped feeling random the longer you watched.I had been parked across the street for almost two hours.The black SUV I rented smelled faintly like leather cleaner and old cigarettes and the coffee beside me turned cold nearly forty minutes ago but I barely noticed anymore. My attention stayed fixed on the Carter estate sitting beyond iron gates and security cameras and guards who still had no idea I was there.Rain fell softly over Los Angeles that evening turning the windows of the mansion gold beneath reflected streetlights. Most people would probably call the place beautiful.I only saw Lena she was standing at those windows and Lena was carrying Ethan’s children and she live inside the li

Ethan POVThe first thing I noticed when I woke up was that Lena was no longer beside me at first it did not feel strange enough to matter. Pregnancy had turned sleep into something uncomfortable and inconsistent lately especially now that the twins kicked hard enough to wake her several times during the night. More than once over the last few weeks I found her downstairs before sunrise curled sideways on the couch with tea in her hands and one of my hoodies wrapped around her because apparently carrying twin girls meant no position stayed comfortable longer than twenty minutes.Still, something about the empty side of the bed unsettled me immediately.The room remained dim beneath weak early morning light and for several seconds I stayed still listening to the house around me. Usually I could hear Lena moving somewhere downstairs before anyone else woke properly. Cabinet doors opening softly. The kettle. Eli babbling through the baby monitor if he woke early enough to hear her voice

Lena POVThe gun shook in Maya’s hand and that frightened me more than the screaming. Rain crashed violently against the warehouse windows while candlelight flickered across white flowers and silk ribbons turning the entire room into something distorted and unreal. My wrists ached from the restraints cutting into my skin but I barely felt it anymore because all my attention stayed fixed on the weapon pressed against my temple.Maya stood beside me in a wedding dress with mascara streaked beneath her eyes and a fake pregnancy belly beneath white silk while Ethan faced her from the altar looking like he was holding himself together through pure force. I had never seen him that still before.“See?” Maya whispered shakily while looking at Ethan. “I told you he would come for me.”For me not for Lena the distinction mattered to her and that realization hurt almost as much as the gun because underneath all the obsession and violence and manipulation stood a little girl from an orphanage who

Ethan POVTwo months after Maya died life finally started sounding normal again not perfect I did not think any of us would ever reach perfect after everything that happened but normal in quiet ways. The house no longer felt tense every time security gates opened. Lena stopped checking locked doors three times before bed. Eli laughed easier now that fear no longer lived in every room around him and some mornings I caught Lena humming softly while folding baby clothes before realizing she was doing it.The night before I found the ring I woke around three in the morning because one of the twins kicked hard enough against my ribs through Lena’s stomach to physically jolt me awake. I opened my eyes to darkness and immediately found Lena half asleep beside me one hand trapped beneath my shirt while she breathed softly against my chest.Something as simple as sleeping peacefully beside someone becomes sacred after trauma. I stayed awake a long time after that just listening to rain outside