Ethan.
His face cracked open, filled with shock and relief. He flashed to my side, as if I could vanish if he blinked.
Guilt. Heartbreak. Regret runs deep. It poured off him in waves.
“You’re still here… thank the Moon Goddess,” Ethan muttered.
When he saw me, his strength completely collapsed.
Riley’s eyes were sharp.
She wobbled after him, clutching her swollen belly and layering it thickly.
“Ethan, Lizzy attacked me,” she whined, faking shakiness. “I just wanted to talk, and she went after a pregnant she-wolf…”
Activate the waterworks.
“Ethan, look… I’m carrying a pup, and she still came for me…”
I stared at them coldly.
Every crappy memory of being abandoned and betrayed? It hit me like a punch.
But not this time.
Take a deep breath. Shoulders back.
“Leave,” I said quietly and lethally. “You’re not welcome here.”
Ethan did not even look at her.
Eyes fixed on me.
“Lizzy, listen,” he yelled. “I messed up. I didn’t protect you. Didn’t cherish you. Please… one more chance.”
“Chance?” I laughed coldly. “You seriously think you earned that?”
“I know I screwed up,” Ethan said, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. “I shouldn’t have ignored you. Shouldn’t have listened to anyone else. It’s all on me. I’ll change. Just… forgive me?”
He moved closer. “I’ll do anything. Anything you want.”
Riley’s expression turned nuclear.
“You said you loved me!” she exclaimed.
“Shut up,” Ethan growled.
What about his eyes? Colder than I had ever seen.
“I told you there’s nothing between us. The only one I ever loved was Lizzy.”
Riley appeared to have been slapped.
Ghost-white. Shaking.
“You can’t do this to me! Did you forget everything we had? And Lizzy-she’s already with someone else!” “Enough!”
My voice echoed throughout the room like a whip.
“If you wanna fight, take it outside.”
I turned to Ethan, who was dead inside.
“Ethan, just pretend I’m dead. Set me free.”
“No!” His head snapped up, his voice shattered. “Hate me, curse me, hit me—just don’t leave! Please, come back to me!”
My chest tightened as if it would crack, but I remained ice-cold. “You never even wanted me. We were a mistake from the start.”
He shook his head in desperation. “No, we weren’t! I was blind! I didn’t get how much you meant to me ’til you were gone!” Afterwards,
“Ugh! Lizzy, go to hell!”
Riley screamed, tearing a chair from the floor and throwing it at my head.
The metal screeched through the air.
Ethan’s pupils grew wide.
In one blink, he was gone.
He reappeared right in front of me, taking the entire hit.
The chair twisted from the impact.
