Chapter 3

My heart dropped. I spun around and bolted for the exit.

I bumped Zoe on the way out, sending her stumbling. I'd just thrown myself into the elevator when Ethan yanked me back out.

"Apologize to Zoe."

His grip was crushing. He pointed at Zoe's completely uninjured arm.

A strangled grunt escaped me, and cold sweat instantly beaded across my forehead. Ethan faltered, following my gaze downward until he finally saw my hand.

It hung limp. The wrist I'd twisted in the earlier chaos had completely dislocated under his pull.

His breath caught. "I didn't mean to—"

I looked at him, my voice terrifyingly calm. "Ethan, do you know what the most important thing on a surgeon's body is?"

He said nothing. His lips had gone white.

A long time ago, he'd shielded me from an unhinged patient's family member. The man charged at me with a knife, and Ethan took the blade for me.

Afterward, he told me, "As long as you're okay. A surgeon's hands are important."

After we got together, he took over every household chore. Anything he could do for me, he never let me lift a finger. Because a surgeon's hands, he said, were precious and needed to be protected.

"Claire, I'm going to treat you this well for the rest of my life. I'll make it so you can't bear to leave me."

Back then, I believed his promise.

Until three months ago, when Zoe came back to the country. My life was turned upside down.

"Oh, forget it. I'm fine. I won't hold it against her." Zoe waved her hand, the picture of magnanimity.

I turned and stepped into the elevator. Ethan and Zoe followed.

Zoe leaned against Ethan's shoulder and said casually, "The patchwork gown's almost done. Why not finish the ceremony first and then go pick them up? It's not like your parents are there anyway."

My parents died in a car accident the same year I met Ethan.

I stared at him. "You take advantage of me because I don't have parents."

He lowered his eyes and said nothing. Then he canceled the parking garage floor and pressed the button for the banquet hall.

I pressed the garage button again, my tone dripping with contempt. "After you and Zoe had those hired extras assault me, you still think I'd marry you?"

Ethan's head snapped up. "You know those people were hired extras? Who told you?"

His eyes met mine. He closed them briefly, exhaling softly. "The Hayes family refused to attend the wedding. I just didn't want you to be disappointed."

Zoe clapped him hard on the shoulder. "Our Ethan nearly cut ties with his own family for you."

I stood frozen for a long time.

This relationship that nobody had believed in from the very start had stumbled and scraped its way to today. It wasn't that Ethan hadn't tried. Even when I was the one ready to give up, he hadn't.

I'd hesitated for a long time before finally accepting the ring on his third proposal. It was the first time I ever saw Ethan choke up.

He said, "Claire, you can't run from me anymore."

That day, he held my hand and didn't let go for a single moment.

I closed my eyes. "Ethan, send someone to bring my family and friends back safely."

As long as they were okay, I could consider whether to give him one last chance to explain.

Zoe immediately wrinkled her nose in displeasure. "No way. Ethan and I have a bet going. If they row back on their own, I win. If he calls for rescue, he wins. If you make him send help, that's cheating. There's no fun in that."

She leaned against Ethan's shoulder, looking up at me. "Have some sportsmanship. Just like the patchwork game. Ethan paid for everything. It's not like you lost anything."

She muttered under her breath, "Calling it assault. I thought you'd be different from the last one. Someone who could take a joke."

"If you only knew, the other day Ethan and I played a celibacy game. We slept naked in each other's arms the whole night and couldn't even—"

"That's enough." Ethan cut her off.

Zoe huffed but dropped it.

Ethan wouldn't meet my eyes. He said quietly, "Zoe knows where the line is. You should have some faith in them too."

In that moment, the last warmth in my heart went completely cold.