Chapter 6

Shawn didn’t regain enough strength to move until the early hours of the next morning. He went to the hospital alone to have his wounds treated.

Even the doctor was startled by the severity of his injuries. It took three hours to clean and bandage them.

Cold sweat soaked Shawn’s clothes. Several of his fingernails broke as he endured the pain, but at last it was over.

He stayed in the hospital for two days, and his wounds slowly began to scab over.

Ethan sent him taunting messages every day.

[Mom and Dad agreed to turn your room into a nursery. Wendy and I will put our children there whenever we visit. When are you moving your junk out?]

[I went wedding dress shopping with Wendy today. I liked several gowns, so I bought them all for her. I tried on so many shoes that my feet hurt. She felt so bad for me that she even rubbed my legs.]

Shawn looked at the photos and saw the loving way Wendy gazed at Ethan. He felt nothing but numbness.

He didn’t reply to a single message. Once he was well enough to go home, he started packing.

He kept only his essential documents and belongings. He threw everything else away.

The butler saw what he was doing and approached him nervously.

“Mr. Yates, your brother meant for you to move into the basement. It doesn’t get much sunlight, but there’s plenty of space. You don’t need to throw all this away.”

Shawn looked around the empty room and answered quietly.

“I won’t need any of it. Throw it away. I’m leaving the country soon, and I won’t be coming back.”

The butler froze, surprise flashing in his eyes.

“You’re leaving and not coming back?”

Before he could say more, Wendy opened the front door and walked in.

“Who’s leaving and not coming back?”

The butler was about to answer when Ethan emerged from his bedroom. “Why are you here so early? I’m not even ready yet.”

Wendy forgot about Shawn and the butler. She went straight to Ethan and tapped his nose.

“That’s all right. Take your time. I can wait.”

“I can’t get this bow tie right. You’re good with your hands. Will you help me?”

They laughed together as they returned to his room and closed the door.

Shawn looked away and silently zipped up his suitcase.

Wendy and Ethan spent the rest of the day together, openly affectionate.

She made him breakfast herself. He held her in his arms and fed her one bite at a time.

She watched a movie with him and pointed out the little details he might have missed.

She kissed him on the balcony and deliberately left lipstick on his collar. Tenderness filled her eyes…

The servants noticed and whispered among themselves.

“Mr. Yates and Miss Stone are so in love. They aren’t legally married yet, but they already act like newlyweds. They can hardly bear to be apart!”

“He’s been spoiled since childhood, but he’s never developed a bad temper. Once he marries Miss Stone, she’ll spoil him even more. He’s so lucky.”

“I feel sorry for the younger Mr. Yates. His family has ignored him all his life, and when he finally fell for someone, she turned out to be his future sister-in-law. How can two brothers have such different luck?”

Shawn heard them through the door and lowered his eyes.

He used to ask himself countless times why fate treated him this way.

But after dying once, he understood something: if he had to fight to keep someone, they were never his to begin with.

Neither his family’s love nor Wendy’s was his to fight for.

He no longer wanted to hold on. He only wanted to leave and never be trapped in this misery again.