THE SON BETWEEN US のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 5

The divorce papers were placed on the table between us, it was a white paper, a black ink and final words. I looked at my name printed neatly at the bottom of the page ‘Ava Blackwood’ and felt an odd sense of separation like I was looking at someone else’s life ending instead of my own. Across from me, Ethan Blackwood sat behind his wide desk with his relaxed posture and he looked more excited than he has always been. He was dressed so elegantly as always in his tailored suit, expensive watch and cufflinks glinting under the lights, not even a single strand of his hair was out of place. At this point he didn’t look like a man divorcing his wife instead he looked like a man concluding a deal that no longer benefited him, “Have you finished reading it?” he asked tapping his pen lightly against the table, the sharp and impatient sound echoed in the room “I don’t have all day.” he said I lifted my head slowly to see the man had been my husband for three years, I mean three years of

***Three years later***My work finally brought me back to the city I once fled from, I was no longer Ethan Blackwood’s ex-wife. I was Ava Collins, my name carried weight of its own now, my presence commanded lot of respect and the past I escaped no longer had the power to define me.Though the city had not changed that much. Every street, every crowd I saw reminded me of how out of place I once felt here.I walked into the convention center with steady steps, my heels kept clicking softly against the polished floor and I also made my posture look so calm and professional.This wasn’t the place where my marriage ended, this was work and I was here as Ava Collins, an independent consultant, invited for my expertise not as someone’s discarded ex-wife.Leo walked beside me with his small hand wrapped tightly around mine with a quiet reassurance against the strange new world around us.He was putting on a simple navy blue outfit with his hair neatly combed and every movement carried the c

I stared at the screen and my hand shaked slightly. I didn’t sleep that night, the message stayed burned into my mind long after I turned the face of my phone down, I knew who it was from. Sienna had never seemed subtle, she had always preferred quiet cruelty, the one that left no fingerprints but plenty of damage.Whatever Sienna was planning, it's going to bounce back to her.I sat on the edge of the bed and watched Leo sleep, my chest tight with a fear I hadn’t felt in years. I had protected this secret with everything I had but now, it was no longer just mine.*****The next morning, everything unraveled and it happened too fast as if fate had finally decided it was tired of waiting.I was in the conference room, almost rounding up a presentation, when the door opened abruptly, every one in the hall turned to look and Ethan Blackwood walked in looking like someone that sleep had stopped working for.Gasps rippled through the room, my chest began to bang but I didn’t falter. I jus