Chapter 2

My voice was very soft.

So soft that Ethan froze.

He asked again, "What did you say?"

"Olivia." He stared at me. "What did you just say?"

"I said forget it." I tried my best to stay calm. I did not want to keep letting this kind of thing control my mood. "I can sign your bail papers. I can let you keep playing the savior in your redemption story. I can let you keep being Vanessa's hero."

"But..." I ignored Vanessa, who was already secretly pleased beside him, and met Ethan's stunned eyes with a smile. "We are done."

"Ethan."

"Let's get divorced."

When we left the precinct, the Chicago night wind was cold.

The atmosphere stayed heavy.

Ethan refused to agree to the divorce, so he forced his way into my car. Vanessa, still playing the wounded woman, squeezed into the back seat as well. She remained silent while Ethan sat in the passenger seat and explained.

"There really is nothing between Vanessa and me."

"Tonight, I had a business dinner with Martin and the others." Ethan held back his temper. "After dinner, a few of us said we would go to a bar and keep talking. I didn't expect to run into Vanessa."

"You know Vanessa has it hard. She has an elderly mother and a young child depending on her. I saw that man dragging her into his car and followed them to the hotel. If I hadn't..."

His voice was cut off.

From the back seat came Vanessa's sobs.

"Olivia."

"I never meant to take anything from you." Vanessa was crying so hard she was hiccupping, but she kept talking. "It hasn't been easy for me either. My ex-husband abused me and my child. That's why I divorced him."

"If I didn't have that burden..."

"If I were clean and free..." Vanessa suddenly stopped crying and looked at Ethan with deep emotion. "I would fight for him. I would fight with everything I had."

"Because he's Ethan."

"Because he's a good man."

"Because he..."

I slammed on the brake.

The Porsche jerked to a stop in the street. I turned and looked at Vanessa's frozen expression, then at Ethan, who was visibly moved.

I smiled.

"Since that's how you feel." I unlocked the doors and lowered the window. "Perfect. We're right in front of a hotel."

"Why don't I make it easy for you?"

"You can afford a room, can't you?" I said with a sneer, meeting Ethan's dark expression. "This time, you can do it openly. Your legal wife has given permission."

"Go."

"No one will call the police and send you back to the station."

"As for whether you want to make another burden together..." My gaze swept over Vanessa's abdomen. "That is your business."

Inside the car, the smell of cheap perfume mixed with the cold wind was sharp and suffocating. It felt like a wild vine had grown around my heart and sealed off all the air around me.

My tone was not kind. I had already tried my best to hold back, but I still struck Vanessa's pride.

As she got out of the car, she yelled at me.

"Olivia!"

"You've gone too far!"

The moment Vanessa stepped out, Ethan turned on me.

"I never knew your mind could be this cruel!" He grabbed my wrist. "Vanessa has no family or friends in Chicago. Where is she supposed to go alone this late at night?"