Chapter 6

Scarlett

I didn’t answer Ethan immediately. I didn't need to. His question still lingered between us, heavy and impossible to ignore.

Do you want to go back to him?

I looked down at my stomach instead, my fingers trembling slightly as I rested them over the tiny lives growing inside me.

My babies.

The only good thing left in my broken world.

A painful silence filled the room before I finally let out a weak laugh. It wasn't because anything was funny, but because I suddenly realized how exhausted I was.

I'm exhaustedd from pretending, exhausted from hurting, still I was exhausted from loving people who only knew how to break me.

"I don’t even know who I am anymore," I admitted softly, the words came out smaller than I intended.

Rawer.

Ethan’s expression changed instantly. The distance between us suddenly felt too fragile, too thin to hold back everything we used to be. Everything we were in the first and second years of college.

"You’re still Scarlett," he said quietly.

I shook my head.

"No." Tears burned my eyes again. "The Scarlett you knew disappeared a long time ago."

His jaw tightened.

"I don’t believe that. I've never believed that."

I swallowed hard, looking away before he could see how deeply those words affected me.

Because the truth was that a part of me wanted to believe him. A part of me desperately wanted someone to look at me and still see something worth saving.

"I used to think love was enough," I whispered. "I thought if I gave everything I had, if I stayed patient enough, kind enough, eventually things would get better. I was so stupid."

My voice cracked.

"All it did was destroy me."

The room fell silent again. Not uncomfortable, it was just painfully honest.

Ethan moved closer slowly, carefully, like he was afraid I would shatter if he moved too fast.

"You didn’t deserve that," he said.

Something about the way he said it nearly broke me completely.

There was no pity in his voice, neither was there a teeny bit of judgment. It was just certainty, and maybe that was why the tears finally spilled over.

I turned my face away quickly, embarrassed, but Ethan gently reached for my hand before I could hide completely.

The warmth of his fingers wrapped around mine so naturally it scared me.

Because it felt safe. It had been so long since anything felt safe.

"I’m sorry," I whispered shakily.

"For what?"

"For letting you see me like this."

His brows pulled together immediately.

"Scarlett," he said softly, "stop apologizing for being hurt."

That did it.

A broken sob escaped my lips before I could stop it. Years of pain came crashing down all at once.

The betrayal. The loneliness. The humiliation.

The endless feeling of never being enough. I tried to hold it together, but I couldn’t and for the first time in years I let myself fall apart.

Ethan didn’t say anything. He simply sat beside me and held my hand while I cried.

And somehow, that hurt even more, because he wasn’t trying to silence my pain.

He was letting me feel it.

When I finally calmed down, I wiped my face quickly, embarrassed again.

"I must look terrible," I muttered weakly.

A faint smile appeared on Ethan’s face.

"You still say that whenever you cry."

I blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"In college," he said softly, his eyes warmer now, "every single time you cried, you’d complain about looking ugly after."

Despite everything, a tiny laugh escaped me. It was small and fragile but it was real.

Ethan looked at me like hearing that laugh mattered more than anything else in the world.

The realization made my chest tighten painfully.

"You remembered that?" I asked quietly.

"I remember everything about you."

My breath caught.

The air between us shifted instantly. Too intimate. Too emotional. Too dangerous.

I looked away quickly, my heart beating harder than it should.

Ethan exhaled slowly before leaning back slightly, as if forcing himself to create distance. Then his expression turned serious again.

"Scarlett," he said carefully, "you can’t go back there."

Fear curled inside me immediately.

"What choice do I have? Of course I wouldn't. "

"You have me."

The words stunned me into silence.

Ethan held my gaze firmly, his voice calm but unwavering.

"I mean it. Whatever happened to you... whatever they put you through...you don’t have to face it alone anymore."

My throat tightened painfully.

No one had said something like that to me in years. No one had chosen me first.

No one had looked at my broken pieces and still offered to stay. Adrian didn't.

"You don’t understand," I whispered. "Everything is a mess."

"Then let me help you clean it up."

I stared at him, my chest aching.

"Why?" I asked softly. "Why would you do that for me after all these years?"

For a moment, Ethan just looked at me. Really looked at me.

Like there had never been anyone else.

"Because I never stopped loving you."

The words shattered the last wall inside me.

I froze completely, my pulse roaring in my ears.

Ethan seemed to realize what he had admitted because he looked away briefly, exhaling under his breath.

But he didn’t take it back. Not once.

The room suddenly felt too quiet and too full. My heart was beating so hard it almost hurt.

"Ethan..." I whispered.

Before I could say anything else, the hospital door suddenly opened.

A nurse stepped inside nervously.

"Miss Scarlett?" she asked hesitantly.

I quickly pulled myself together. "Yes?"

"There’s someone downstairs asking for you."

My stomach tightened instantly.

"Who?"

The nurse looked confused.

"She refused to give her name," she admitted. "But she said to tell you...."

She hesitated. Then spoke slowly.

"Tell Scarlett her ex mother-in-law should’ve made sure she died properly this time."