All Chapters of She Walked Away: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

As I heard my daughter's words, my nose stung, and tears fell."Mommy, why are you crying?"Nina scrambled to wipe them away with her small hands, her voice trembling. "Did I do something wrong?"Her hands were soft against my face, but her eyes were full of fear.Something tightened in my chest like a fist closing around cotton.My daughter hadn't always been like this. She used to be bold, confident, radiant. On her first day of preschool, every other kid had clung to their parents and cried. Nina was the only one who'd marched off, calling back over her shoulder, "Don't miss me too much, Mommy—I'm off to school!" She'd been the liveliest kid in her class, the ringleader, the one who loved to dance and sing and always ended up front and center at every little recital.So when had she become this quiet, this frightened?My throat closed up, and it took me a long moment to get the words out. "Nina, it's Mommy who did something wrong."It was my fault. I shouldn't have let her

There was no reasoning with Ethan anymore, so I decided to find another way.That house belonged to both of us—we'd bought it together, after we were married. Without my signature, he had no right to hand away the school spot on his own. And the policy was written in black and white: direct children of the homeowners got priority. Nina was the one legally tied to that address.I refused to believe there was nowhere in this world that still played by the rules.So I found a lawyer and spent an entire afternoon in his office.He pushed his glasses up and told me, "Ms. Wynn, once we confirm your marriage certificate and your joint ownership of the property, the school should approve your request."I nodded, and the knot in my chest finally loosened, just a little.But when I went to get the marriage certificate verified, I was told, "Ms. Wynn, your marriage to Ethan Lane ended three years ago. The woman currently in a legal marriage with Ethan is a woman by the surname Shaw."I sto

After the dinner, Ethan dropped Vivian and Crystal off at home first. Crystal had already fallen asleep in the car, so he carried her inside carefully. Vivian followed behind, and together they tucked her into her small bed.Once the door was closed, Vivian spoke, her voice soft. "Ethan, it's so late already. Why don't you just stay here tonight?"Ethan blinked, caught off guard. He watched a flush rise in her cheeks, and for some reason, Rachel's face floated up in his mind.He turned the car key over in his hand. "I'd better not. Rachel's still waiting up for me."Thinking about what had happened earlier that day gave him a faint headache. Rachel was gentle by nature, soft-spoken, kind—but she'd never had much patience left over for Vivian. As he drove, the disappointment he'd seen in her eyes came back to him, and an odd unease settled over him.These past months, he really had been neglecting Rachel and Nina. Once he'd wrapped up everything going on with the school situation,

On our second day in Ashford, I rented a modest little house near the branch office. Nina and I decorated it together. It looked simple, but warm.Then I took her to pick out a good preschool. After dropping her off on her first day, I finally sat down and saw the message Ethan had sent.[What do you want for dinner tonight? I'll go pick up Nina.]Even now, he apparently hadn't noticed that Nina and I were gone.I stared at that message for a long time.Pick her up?When was the last time he'd actually picked her up from school? It had been so long I couldn't even remember, so long that Nina had stopped expecting it altogether. He always said work was too busy, that he was too exhausted from overtime, and told us not to wait up for him at dinner.But Vivian's social media kept posting photos of those beautifully plated dinners of hers, always with a man's shirt cuff creeping into the corner of the frame—just enough of a reminder that he wasn't actually busy. He simply didn't wan

The next day after work, I'd just stepped out of the office building when a familiar figure caught my eye.Ethan looked worn down, thinner than I remembered. The moment he saw me, something flickered to life in his dull eyes."Rachel, you transferred to Ashford and didn't even tell me? Is Nina in school yet?"At the mention of Nina, I stopped in my tracks. "Ethan, what business is it of yours whether Nina's in school?"Anger flashed across his face. "She's my daughter. How is that not my business?"I let out a cold laugh. "Did you think about her being your daughter when you handed Crystal Nina's spot at Lincoln Elementary? Did you think about it when Crystal made Nina call you Uncle Ethan?"His face went pale. He stammered before finally managing, "I—I'll make it up to you both."I didn't want to waste any more breath on him. I turned to leave, but he grabbed my hand. "Rachel, come home with me. Stop this nonsense."I'd barely wrenched my hand free when an angry voice rang out