LOGINBella POV
For a moment, Ethan didn’t move at all. His face was completely blank, and the silence between us stretched so long that my heart started racing again. Then he laughed but it wasn’t a happy laugh, It was short, cold, and full of disbelief. “You’re pregnant?” he repeated. I nodded quickly. “Yes. The doctor confirmed it today. I didn’t expect it either because I’ve been taking—” Before I could finish explaining, Ethan suddenly pushed himself away from the table and looked at me with an expression that made my stomach drop. “Bella,” he said slowly, “do you really think I’m fucking stupid?” The words hit me like a slap. “What?” I whispered. His eyes hardened. “Let me guess,” he continued sarcastically. “You’re pregnant with my child, right? And you just happened to find out today?” “It’s true,” I said quickly, panic rising in my chest. “I didn’t plan this, Ethan. I swear I didn’t—” “Oh, please save it,” he interrupted sharply. The anger in his voice made me flinch. “You expect me to believe this ridiculous story?” he continued. “After everything you’ve already done?” My heart dropped into my stomach. “I didn’t do anything Ethan,” I said quietly. Ethan’s expression darkened even more. “Don’t lie to me,” he snapped. “Our entire marriage exists because of one ‘accident’ that you conveniently created.” The memory he was talking about instantly came rushing back. It was the night before his wedding. Ethan and Clara had been hours away from becoming mates in front of the entire pack. But somehow… He and I had ended up in the same room. Both of us drunk from the celebration. Both of us making a mistake we couldn’t take back. The next morning, the clan elders found out and everything changed. Instead of marrying Clara, Ethan was forced to marry me. The scandal had been too big. The elders said it would shame the pack if he abandoned the woman he had slept with. But Ethan had always believed one thing. That I planned it, that I trapped him. “I didn’t plan that night,” I said quickly, my voice shaking as I tried to defend myself again like I had done a hundred times before. “I’ve told you that so many times. It wasn’t intentional—” “Enough.” The word cut through my sentence like a knife. Ethan looked at me with pure irritation. “I’m not interested in hearing another one of your damn excuses.” My chest felt tight. “This isn’t an excuse,” I said desperately. “The baby is real. I can show you the hospital report if you want—” “Oh, I’m sure you can,” he said sarcastically. His eyes were cold now. “You’ve always been good at planning things carefully, haven’t you? You’re just a slimy fox.” My heart hurt hearing that. “I didn’t plan anything,” I whispered. But Ethan just shook his head. “You’re only saying this now because Clara came back.” Those words made me freeze. Clara had returned to the pack two weeks ago and she hadn’t come alone. She brought a child with her. A little boy with Ethan’s exact gray eyes. Everyone in the pack had already guessed the truth. The child was his. “You’re jealous of her,” Ethan continued coldly. “You see that Clara came back with my son, so now you suddenly claim you’re pregnant too.” “That’s not true,” I said quickly, shaking my head as tears started burning in my eyes. But he didn’t even look convinced. “This kind of trick might work on someone else,” he said flatly, “but it won’t work on me.” I opened my mouth to argue again, but before I could say anything else, Ethan suddenly picked up a folder from the table and slid it across the surface toward me. The paper stopped right in front of my hands. “Since you’re already here,” he said calmly, “you might as well take a look at this.” Confused, I slowly looked down. My breath caught in my throat the moment I saw the title printed across the top. Divorce Agreement. My fingers went cold. “I had the lawyers prepare it yesterday,” Ethan continued casually, like we were discussing something completely ordinary. “You should read it and sign it soon.” I stared at him in shock. “You want a divorce?” I whispered. He gave me a look like the answer should have been obvious. “This marriage should never have happened in the first place.”Bella’s POVNobody spoke after Ethan mentioned his uncle.The rain outside tapped steadily against the windows, filling the silence that had settled over the room. James remained standing near the television, his eyes fixed on the frozen image of the masked figure, while Sarah looked like she was trying to fit together pieces of a puzzle that refused to make sense.Finally, Maya broke the silence.“So… are we just going to ignore the fact that every family gathering in the Wade family sounds like a crime documentary?”Ethan let out a tired breath that almost sounded like a laugh.“You have terrible timing.”“I’ve been told that before.”“I wonder why.”“Jealousy.”Even James smiled for a second before his expression became serious again.“Ethan,” he said, “tell us everything you know about your uncle.”Ethan leaned against the table and folded his arms.“There isn’t much to tell.”“Start anyway.”“He and my father were close when I was younger, but after my grandfather died, they bare
Ethan’s POVFor one terrifying second, I could not see her.The explosion shook the entire street.Glass burst outward in every direction.People screamed.Firefighters shouted over each other.The ground beneath my feet trembled.My heart stopped.“Bella!”I searched the crowd desperately.Nothing.No answer.No familiar face.Only smoke.Only chaos.Only fear.I pushed forward without thinking.A firefighter grabbed my arm.“Sir, you can’t go in there!”“My wife is inside!”His grip tightened.“The building is unstable.”“I don’t care!”“You will if the roof collapses.”“I said let me go!”I shoved against him.Another firefighter stepped in front of me.“Listen to me.”“I’m not listening to anybody!”James appeared out of nowhere.“Ethan!”“Move.”“No.”“James.”“No.”His voice stayed calm.“You are not helping her by dying.”“You don’t know she’s alive.”“I don’t.”He swallowed hard.“But you don’t know she’s dead either.”That single sentence knocked the air from my lungs.Then,
Bella’s POVThe kiss should have made everything better.It should have fixed something.Healed something.Given us a fresh start.Instead, twenty-four hours later, everything exploded.Literally.The bookstore alarm started screaming at 2:17 a.m.The sound ripped me out of sleep.For one terrifying second, I had no idea where I was.Then I heard shouting downstairs.Footsteps.Glass breaking.My heart stopped.I jumped out of bed immediately.“Ethan!”The bedroom door flew open.Ethan rushed inside.His face had gone completely pale.“Get dressed. Now.”Fear crashed through me instantly.“What happened?”“We need to leave.”The urgency in his voice terrified me.Downstairs, more shouting echoed.Then came the smell.Smoke.My stomach dropped.Smoke.“Oh my God.”The realization hit instantly.The bookstore.Someone had set the bookstore on fire.The world suddenly became chaos.Ethan grabbed my hand.“We have to go.”We ran downstairs.The first floor looked like a nightmare.Smoke f
Chapter 108 – FinallyBella’s POVThe next few days felt strangely peaceful.Not perfect.Definitely not normal.But peaceful enough to notice.Nobody disappeared unexpectedly.Nobody uncovered shocking family secrets.Nobody showed up with mysterious evidence.Honestly, it felt suspicious.Life had trained me well.Whenever things became quiet,something dramatic usually followed.Still, I tried enjoying it.The bookstore remained busy every day.Customers came and went constantly.Maya continued creating unnecessary chaos.James remained permanently stressed.Sarah practically lived inside investigation files.And Ethan…Well.Ethan stayed close.Not in an overwhelming way.Not in a controlling way.Just close enough to remind methat he was still here.That he wasn’t leaving again.The realization warmed something inside me.More than I wanted to admit.Late Thursday afternoon,I found myself reorganizing books.A task I normally enjoyed.Today, however, somebody kept distracting m
Chapter 108 – FinallyBella’s POVThe next few days felt strangely peaceful.Not perfect.Definitely not normal.But peaceful enough to notice.Nobody disappeared unexpectedly.Nobody uncovered shocking family secrets.Nobody showed up with mysterious evidence.Honestly, it felt suspicious.Life had trained me well.Whenever things became quiet,something dramatic usually followed.Still, I tried enjoying it.The bookstore remained busy every day.Customers came and went constantly.Maya continued creating unnecessary chaos.James remained permanently stressed.Sarah practically lived inside investigation files.And Ethan…Well.Ethan stayed close.Not in an overwhelming way.Not in a controlling way.Just close enough to remind methat he was still here.That he wasn’t leaving again.The realization warmed something inside me.More than I wanted to admit.Late Thursday afternoon,I found myself reorganizing books.A task I normally enjoyed.Today, however, somebody kept distracting m
Bella’s POVThe next few days felt strangely peaceful.Not perfect.Definitely not normal.But peaceful enough to notice.Nobody disappeared unexpectedly.Nobody uncovered shocking family secrets.Nobody showed up with mysterious evidence.Honestly, it felt suspicious.Life had trained me well.Whenever things became quiet,something dramatic usually followed.Still, I tried enjoying it.The bookstore remained busy every day.Customers came and went constantly.Maya continued creating unnecessary chaos.James remained permanently stressed.Sarah practically lived inside investigation files.And Ethan…Well.Ethan stayed close.Not in an overwhelming way.Not in a controlling way.Just close enough to remind methat he was still here.That he wasn’t leaving again.The realization warmed something inside me.More than I wanted to admit.Late Thursday afternoon,I found myself reorganizing books.A task I normally enjoyed.Today, however, somebody kept distracting me.His name started wi
Bella POVThe moment Clara stepped into the celebration grounds, it felt like the entire atmosphere shifted in a way that was impossible to ignore, because the warm laughter and cheerful conversations that had been filling the air just moments ago suddenly quieted into soft whispers and curious gla
Bella POVThe next two weeks passed in a way that felt strange to me.For the first time in three years of marriage, Ethan was actually living in the house with me.Sometimes when I woke up in the morning, I would see his shoes by the door or his jacket hanging on the chair in the living room, and
Bella POVI had just finished arranging the jars of herbs in the small medicine cabinet in my room when my phone suddenly rang on the table beside me.For a moment I simply stared at the screen without moving, because Ethan’s name was flashing across it.My heart immediately started beating faster.
Bella POVI still remember the moment I found out I was pregnant, because everything around me suddenly felt strange.The hospital room was quiet and cold, and I sat nervously on the small examination bed while the doctor looked over my test results.After a short moment, he looked up and said simp







