Chapter 2

When we divorced, Ethan gave me half of our marital assets.

In his mind, the money was enough to keep me comfortable for three years—and enough to keep me exactly where he had left me, waiting for him.

I handed a customer the coffee I had just made.

“This is my shop. I work here because I enjoy it.”

Ethan did not get angry.

He still believed I was only acting cold to punish him.

Vanessa greeted me with a false smile.

“Clara, it’s been three years. How have you been?”

“Good.”

My calm response caught her off guard.

Just then, Ethan’s phone rang. He checked the screen and stepped outside to take the call.

Once Vanessa was sure he could not hear us, the smile disappeared from her face.

“Stop playing hard to get. Even if Ethan remarries you, you still haven’t won.”

I said nothing.

Vanessa mistook my silence for pain, and the satisfaction in her eyes deepened.

“Mrs. Carter has never accepted you. In her eyes, I have always been the perfect woman for her son.”

“Ethan only came back because he feels responsible for you. He thinks you spent the last three years waiting for him while raising his child, so he believes he owes you an explanation.”

She deliberately glanced toward Ethan outside.

“And before he came to see you, he asked for my permission.”

Vanessa took a document from her handbag and placed it in front of me.

“It’s a new prenuptial agreement. I drafted it for Ethan myself.”

I glanced through it.

According to the agreement, if Ethan and I remarried, I would have no right to interfere in his relationship with Vanessa. I would have no authority within the Carter Group and could not appear publicly as his wife.

If the marriage ended again, I would receive nothing.

Even gifts Ethan gave me could be reclaimed by the Carter family.

“If you sign it, Mrs. Carter won’t stand in the way of your remarriage.”

Vanessa smiled.

“But you still won’t be allowed to call yourself Mrs. Carter in public. Your background could damage Ethan’s reputation and the company’s image.”

I pushed the agreement back toward her.

“If Mrs. Carter likes you so much, then you should marry him.”

I meant it sincerely, but Vanessa took it as mockery.

“You think Ethan hasn’t married me because he doesn’t love me?”

“The only reason he hasn’t is because he still feels responsible for you!”

When I remained silent, Vanessa felt even more humiliated. She raised her hand to slap me.

Footsteps sounded outside.

Her hand stopped in midair.

A second later, she lowered it, her eyes turning red as tears began to fall.

“Clara, I truly want you and Ethan to get back together.”

Her voice was soft and wounded.

“I was only trying to prevent problems between you in the future. If the agreement upset you, I can take it back. Please don’t be angry.”

Ethan walked inside and found her standing in front of me with tears in her eyes.

“What happened?”

Vanessa shook her head.

“It was my fault. Please don’t blame Clara.”

The more she defended me, the colder Ethan’s expression became.

“Clara, apologize to her.”

“Vanessa is trying to help us.”

He spoke as if he were disciplining an unreasonable child.

“She and I grew up together. She’s like a little sister to me. Why do you always have to treat her like an enemy?”

It was always the same excuse.

Three years ago, Vanessa took my anniversary necklace, and Ethan said she merely liked it and that it was not worth arguing over.

She called him away during our anniversary dinner, and he said she was drunk and needed someone to look after her.

When Mrs. Carter refused to let me attend the family Christmas dinner, Ethan told me to respect his mother and stop putting him in the middle.

Vanessa crossed the line every time.

Yet I was always the one expected to apologize.

“I won’t apologize.”

Ethan frowned, clearly not expecting such a direct refusal.

He was about to lecture me again, but I looked toward the door.

“If neither of you intends to order anything, please leave.”

Ethan’s expression darkened.

“Clara, I can tolerate your anger, but you can’t keep behaving like a spoiled child.”

After a short pause, his voice returned to that same entitled tone.

“Saturday is my mother’s birthday. You’ve always been good at baking. Make her favorite cake and bring our son with you.”

“Leo is not your son, and I will not attend her birthday dinner.”

“A DNA test will settle whether he’s mine.”

“If you touch my son, you’ll regret it.”

He only smiled.

“Enough. Stop fighting me. I know you resent me for leaving you to raise our child alone.”

“Once you and Leo return to the Carter family, I’ll make it up to both of you.”

The sheer arrogance of it stunned me.

He had disappeared for three years. Now he thought a promise of compensation gave him the right to take my son and steal the life I had built without him.

Ethan did not notice the disgust in my eyes.

“My mother may have been a little hard on you before, but you’ve given the Carter family an heir. If you humble yourself and show her some respect, she won’t make things difficult for you anymore.”

I stared at him, suddenly finding the whole thing bitterly amusing.

So he had always known exactly how his mother treated me.

He had seen everything.

He simply had not cared.