My CEO Husband Became Obsessed After My Death Chapter 2

The room was dim. I sat alone on the sofa, not wanting to turn on the lights.

Around midnight, I heard a car pull into the driveway.

Soon, the front door opened, and Ethan walked in.

He fumbled for the light switch. The sudden brightness revealed me sitting silently on the sofa, like a statue.

He glanced away indifferently, loosening his tie as he headed upstairs.

“Ethan.”

I called out to him.

He didn’t stop.

My fingers clenched, nails digging into my palms.

Watching his familiar back, I forced a smile.

“Ethan, let’s get a divorce.”

Finally, he stopped, just as I’d hoped.

He stood silhouetted against the light, appearing even more remote. I couldn’t quite make out his face.

My eyes traced the lines of his features.

This was the man I had loved for ten years.

Ten years of love that only earned his disgust and left me covered in wounds.

I thought, maybe I shouldn’t drag him down anymore.

“Can’t you go one day without causing drama? Is this some new game? Playing hard to get?”

I stood up and took the divorce papers out of my bag. My hand brushed against the bottle of painkillers inside, and I paused for a second.

Then, silently, I closed the bag.

I walked over to Ethan and handed him the papers.

“I’ve already signed it.”

I tried hard to hide my emotions. “You want to marry Sophia, don’t you?”

I forced another smile. “I’m setting you free.”

If I had known earlier that he loved Sophia, I would never have married him, no matter what.

Our marriage, born from my deepest hopes, had twisted into something unavoidable, something sustained only by my one-sided devotion.

Ethan took the papers, glancing at my signature.

He pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, then tapped the papers against my shoulder.

“Lauren Hayes, you should have gone into finance, not medicine.”

He leaned closer, his eyes cold. “Divorcing me… how much of the Cole fortune are you planning to take?”

I froze for a moment, my lips pressed tight. “I never wanted your money,” I whispered.

Ethan stared at me, his eyes sharp like a hawk’s. A cruel smirk played on his lips. “Lauren, oh Lauren,” he said casually, “you’ve always been the type to do whatever it takes to get what you want.”

“All your little underhanded tricks… they’re just an act to stay in the Cole family, to keep living comfortably under our roof, especially now that the Hayes family is going bankrupt.”

“Right? Besides, a woman like you, who dropped me the second things got tough and latched onto someone else… how could you possibly stand living a hard life?”

Hearing his harsh words, my body trembled uncontrollably.

Ethan’s eyes were filled with ice. He turned to leave, but I spread my arms to block his path.

“You love Sophia, don’t you? I’m letting you go! I’ll sign anything, I swear I won’t take a dime!”

“Yeah, I love Sophia,” Ethan’s eyes narrowed, a tight smile on his lips. “And I’ll make sure she walks into this house as my wife, with all the respect she deserves.”

He turned and left, the slam of the door echoing behind him.

I turned and picked up the divorce papers from the floor, only bitterness remaining in my heart.

A long while later, my phone rang. My mother, Linda, was crying on the other end.

My father had collapsed from a severe illness and was rushed to the hospital.

I hurried over. Only then did my mother tell me that Hayes Industries was on the verge of bankruptcy. The stress had triggered my father’s collapse.

Suddenly, Ethan’s words echoed in my mind.

Divorcing him, how much of the Cole fortune…

No wonder. He must have known about my family’s troubles all along.

My mother grabbed my thin arm as if clutching a lifeline. “Lauren, you have to ask Ethan for money! With his help, your father’s company can survive! You’re his wife, he won’t refuse you!”

“He hates me,” I forced a bitter smile, my expression dim. “Why would he give me money?”

My mother slapped me across the face. “Are you going to just stand by and watch your father die? Why are you so useless?!”

My lips trembled. Looking at my mother, a chill went through me. Some mothers truly don’t love their children. She never cared about my feelings, only saw me as a meal ticket.

Back when the Cole family business was in trouble, Rick Marshall somehow found where I was living. He showed me compromising photos of my mother with another man, Vince. He told me to go away with him for three days, out on his yacht, just to 'relax'. He said if I went, he'd keep the photos secret.

He also promised that if I dumped Ethan, he'd give Ethan a huge sum of money to pay off his debts and get through the crisis.

Seeing Ethan so overwhelmed, stressed out, I felt helpless.

Back then, I thought, if I could just help Ethan, what did it matter if he misunderstood me?

So, I took the money from Rick and used it to secretly plug the holes in the Cole family finances.

I said cruel things, broke Ethan’s heart.

I never thought our paths would cross again.

Until Ethan’s frail, bedridden father, Robert, asked to speak with me.

He wanted me to marry Ethan. He said he knew what I’d been through, knew I had helped the family.

At the time, I didn't agree.

But the very next day, my mother accepted a huge sum of money from the Cole family – essentially, sealing the deal.

Robert Cole threatened Ethan with his own failing health until Ethan agreed to marry me.

From that moment on, Ethan hated my guts.