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بيت / Romance / After I Died, He Ruined the Woman He Chose Over Me / Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

مؤلف: Ivy Violet
A blister pack of pills sat on the table.

They were the painkillers I’d opened the night before. Three tablets remained.

I reached for them.

“Oh, what’s this?”

Claire moved faster.

She picked up the blister pack and held it in front of her face. Her expression turned innocently concerned.

“Nora, these are expired. Look. They expired last month.”

She flipped the pack over and pointed to the printed date.

I knew they weren’t expired.

I’d only gotten them last week. The date was clearly printed on the foil.

“You shouldn’t take expired medicine. It’s bad for you.”

As she spoke, Claire walked over to the trash can and dropped the pills inside.

They landed on a pile of wastepaper with a faint rustle.

I lunged for the trash like I’d lost my mind.

Dropping to my knees, I shoved my hand inside and started digging.

Scraps of paper. Fruit peels. Used tissues.

I didn’t care.

My fingers finally closed around the blister pack, and I clenched it tightly in my fist.

Ethan walked over and looked down at me crouched beside the trash.

The coldness on his face turned to disgust.

“Nora, are you so desperate for sympathy that you’ll dig through garbage now?”

He kicked my wrist.

The blister pack flew from my hand and skidded across the floor.

Then he stepped on it.

His shoe ground down hard, crushing the tablets into white powder against the tile.

I stayed on my knees, staring at the mess without moving.

Claire immediately hid in Ethan’s arms, her voice trembling.

“Ethan, Nora’s scaring me. I’m afraid.”

He pulled her closer and rested his chin on her head.

“Don’t be. I’m here.”

Then he turned to me, looking at me as though I were something filthy.

“Listen carefully, Nora. Claire just moved in. If you scare her or try anything, I’ll make sure you can’t stay in this city.”

I slowly pushed myself to my feet.

My knees throbbed from hitting the floor, but I didn’t rub them.

I looked down at the white powder scattered across the tile.

Those pills were supposed to help me make it through my final two months with some dignity.

Now they were ground into the dust, mixed with dirt and trash.

I looked up at Ethan.

He stood there with his arm around Claire.

They were pressed close together. Her fingers clutched the edge of his shirt as she watched me timidly, like a frightened little rabbit.

There wasn’t a trace of warmth in his eyes.

Suddenly, I felt calm.

Not relieved.

Just empty.

The kind of stillness that came after every feeling had been used up and there was nothing left.

I brushed the dust from my hands.

Then I pulled the broken piece of nail from my palm. A bead of blood welled up, but I didn’t wipe it away.

“You’re right,” I said, looking at Ethan.

He froze.

He clearly hadn’t expected that response.

He said nothing. His brows only drew tighter as he stared at me like I was a stranger.

I picked up my suitcase, opened the door, and walked out.

Behind me, Claire spoke softly.

“Ethan, will Nora be okay? It’s freezing outside.”

His reply was full of impatience.

“She’s too stubborn to die from a little cold.”

The door shut behind me.

Rain was still falling.

Cold wind slipped beneath my collar, making me shiver. The suitcase wheels rolled over the wet pavement with a dull rumble.

I didn’t look back.

On the third day after I moved into the house on the outskirts of town, Ethan's assistant, Ryan Cole, called me.

“Mrs. Ford, Mr. Ford said there’s a banquet tonight. He expects you to attend.”

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  • After I Died, He Ruined the Woman He Chose Over Me   Chapter 17

    That was all it said.Just that one line.To see the Northern Lights once with the person I loved.Ethan read those words over and over again.Then, with my urn in his arms, he boarded a flight to Iceland that very night.He picked out the urn himself.The most expensive one they had.White porcelain, with my name and the dates of my birth and death engraved on it.He set it in the passenger seat, fastened the seat belt around it, and drove as though he were carrying someone still alive.After landing in Iceland, he rented a car and drove to a Northern Lights viewing site.It was a glacier plain outside Reykjavík.Minus thirty degrees.The wind cut across his face like knives.He pulled over to the side of the road, got out, and carried the urn into the snowfield.The aurora came right on time.Green light spilled from the far edge of the sky, unfurling across the darkness like a massive ribbon.Now green.Now purple.Now pink.It was so beautiful it didn’t seem real

  • After I Died, He Ruined the Woman He Chose Over Me   Chapter 16

    Claire looked up at him, her face wet with tears.“Ethan, please don’t.”“You’re going to a psychiatric hospital,” he said. “Not some comfortable private facility, either. You’ll be sent to the worst one I can find.”He crouched until they were at eye level.“Everything you did to Nora, you’re going to answer for, one by one.”Then he stood and walked out of the study.The door shut behind him, leaving Claire crumpled on the floor, sobbing.After dealing with her, Ethan returned to the villa.He began trying to recreate the things I had done when I was alive.He went into the kitchen, took out rice and water, and tried to make oatmeal.He had no idea how much of either to use.The first batch came out thick and gummy, burned so badly onto the bottom of the pot that he couldn’t scrape it off.He refused to give up and tried again.This time, he added too much water, leaving it thin and tasteless.He carried a bowl to the dining table and took one bite.It was awful.He s

  • After I Died, He Ruined the Woman He Chose Over Me   Chapter 15

    Claire’s smile vanished completely.Panic flashed across her face, but she quickly buried it beneath a wounded expression.“Ethan, what are you talking about? Why would I know someone like that?”Ethan picked up a stack of photographs from the desk and threw them down in front of her.They showed Claire meeting Aaron at a cafe.The date was clearly printed in the corner.It was three days after my diagnosis.“You met with him and paid him to switch Nora’s medication. You transferred fifty thousand dollars into his account. The bank records are right here.”Ethan tossed the statements onto the desk.The color drained from Claire’s face.“And then there’s this.”He held up another photograph.It showed Claire near my grandfather’s house on the night of the fire.“You cut the fire alarm line and hired two men to block the road outside. Nora couldn’t escape because you made sure no one could reach her.”Claire took a step back, dragging the hem of her wedding gown across the

  • After I Died, He Ruined the Woman He Chose Over Me   Chapter 14

    Ethan lifted the scan toward the light.That large white mass was the tumor in my stomach.Eight centimeters by six.Bigger than a fist.It had been growing inside me day after day, slowly consuming my body, and I had never told anyone.No.That wasn’t true.I had told him once.'Ethan, I’m in so much pain.'And he had told me that watching me pretend to be sick was disgusting.Ethan lowered the scan and braced both hands against the desk.His head hung low, and his shoulders trembled.He wasn’t crying.He was simply shaking so violently that his entire body seemed ready to collapse.He picked up his phone and made a call.“I want a complete record of everything Nora did after her diagnosis. Find out who she met, where she went, and what medication she bought.”He paused.“And investigate Claire.”He ended the call and leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes.Three days later, the investigator’s findings were laid out in front of him.There was more than anyone h

  • After I Died, He Ruined the Woman He Chose Over Me   Chapter 13

    Then his hand closed around a small fragment of bone.It was tiny and pale from the fire, likely part of a finger.He cradled it in both hands, trembling violently.Kneeling among the ruins, he bowed his head so low that his shoulders began to shake.He made no sound.He simply stayed there, holding that small fragment as though he had turned to stone.Members of the fire department rushed over. Two firefighters climbed through the wreckage and tried to pull him away.“Sir, this area isn’t safe. You can’t stay here.”Ethan threw them off with startling force, sending both men stumbling.“Don’t touch me!” he shouted, his eyes burning red. “She’s still in there. I have to find her!”“Sir, the victim has already...”“She isn’t dead!” Ethan cut him off, his voice sharp with desperation. “She can’t be dead. She said she’d never bother me again. She can’t be dead.”Then he stopped.What exactly had she said?'You got what you wanted. I’ll never bother you again.'What had her

  • After I Died, He Ruined the Woman He Chose Over Me   Chapter 12

    “Mr. Ford, is this your wedding ring?”Ethan didn’t answer.He reached for the evidence bag, but his hand was shaking so badly that he missed it several times.The female officer finally placed it in his palm.He clutched the bag and stared down at the blackened ring. His eyes turned bloodshot almost instantly.“No,” he whispered, almost to himself. “That’s impossible. She was here yesterday. She was here last week.”“Mr. Ford,” the male officer said, pulling another document from the envelope, “this is the medical examiner’s report. The deceased had terminal stomach cancer that had already spread to her lymph nodes. Based on the progression of the disease, she was likely diagnosed around two weeks before the fire.”Terminal stomach cancer.Diagnosed around two weeks before the fire.That night, she had called me ninety-nine times.She had said, “Ethan, I’m in so much pain.”And I had told her she was pretending to be sick for attention.I had called her disgusting.Then I

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