Chapter 8 - THE PRICE OF COWARDICE
Ethan blinked, confused by my reaction. “What... what do you mean? I’m giving you everything! I’m giving you the entire company!”
“I never wanted your company, Ethan,” I said, my voice heavy with a deep, aching sadness. “When I married you six years ago, you were working in the middle management division. You didn't have the CEO title yet. I loved you when you were just Ethan.”
I walked over to the desk and picked up the stock transfer documents.
“I didn't care about the Carrington mansion. I didn't care about the galas or the diamonds or the prestige,” I continued. “All I wanted was a family. All I wanted was a husband who would hold my hand when I was in pain.”
I tore the multi-million-dollar stock transfer document in half.
Then I tore it again, dropping the white scraps into the wastebasket beside my desk.
Ethan gasped, looking at the floating pieces of paper like I had just thrown away a fortune.
“Nora! That’s half my wealth!”
“It’s paper, Ethan,” I said firmly. “You think money fixes everything because your mother raised you to believe that money is the only thing that holds value. You think you can buy forgiveness for leaving your infant daughter in a freezing storm.”
“I was terrified!” he screamed, his frustration boiling over. “My mother controlled my whole life! You don't know what it was like growing up under her thumb!”
“I spent twelve hours in labor with your child, Ethan!” I yelled back, my voice cutting through his excuses like a blade. “My body was ripped open! And yet, when your mother told you to discard us, you didn't even hold your daughter once!”
Ethan covered his face with his hands, collapsing into a leather armchair as deep, racking sobs tore through his chest.
“I hate myself,” he whispered, his body shaking uncontrollably. “Every single night for six months, I listened to the rain outside my window and I hated myself. I wanted to look for you... but my mother told me you had taken money and fled the state.”
“And you believed her,” I said flatly. “Because believing her was easier than fighting for us.”
I walked over to the sofa, gently lifted Lily into my arms, and held her close against my shoulder.
“You can’t buy your way back into our lives, Ethan. You can’t sign a document and pretend the last six months didn't happen.”
Ethan looked up, his face stained with tears, his eyes filled with total ruin. “What do you want from me, Nora? Tell me what to do. I’ll do anything.”
“Sign the divorce papers,” I said quietly. “Surrender full legal custody. And step down as CEO of Carrington Freight so the company can be restructured under a neutral board.”
Ethan stared at me for a long, agonizing minute. He looked at my resolute expression, then at Lily, who was fast asleep against my neck.
He realized there was no deal to be made. No negotiation. No corporate maneuver that could restore what his cowardice had destroyed.
“If... if I do that...” Ethan choked out, “will you ever let me see her?”
I looked at my daughter’s soft, peaceful face.
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“If you spend the next five years becoming a real man—a man who doesn't hide behind his mother or his money—then one day, when she is old enough to understand, I will tell her who you are.”
Ethan bowed his head, accepting his sentence.
