Later, after his mother and sister visited, his mother cornered me with a knowing look.
“You either kiss him,” she said bluntly, “or let the poor man suffer.”
I laughed, but that night I did not walk away when Ethan stood too close.
“I have wanted to kiss you since the courthouse,” he admitted.
“That seems like bad judgment,” I replied, my heart racing.
“It probably is,” he said softly.
I kissed him anyway.
The moment was quiet and deliberate, not rushed or taken, and it felt like choosing something instead of falling into it.
Everything changed again when Ethan found Julian.
“He is hiding nearby,” Ethan told me, his voice controlled.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Answers,” he said simply.
Before anything could be resolved, Julian called.
He had taken Rachel.
The world collapsed into urgency and fear, and within an hour we were standing at an abandoned marina facing the man who had once been my husband.
“You are pregnant,” Julian said, staring at me in shock.
“Yes,” I replied, refusing to let him claim anything.
He demanded money and escape, but everything fell apart when another group arrived, turning the situation into chaos.