The Man I Loved, the Man Who Waited Chapter 2

Ethan let out a cold laugh from his booth. "Spend enough time looking at the same woman, and you get bored. You have no idea. She's turned into a washed-out housewife."

"But she's stayed with me all these years and done a lot for the company.

"It wouldn't look right if I didn't marry her."

"She's sick all the time. She should count herself lucky I'd even want her."

My legs felt like lead. I couldn't move. I had never imagined those words would come from Ethan's mouth.

So he had grown tired of me long ago.

Violet had been gone for eight years. When Ethan hit rock bottom, she chose to study abroad.

Now that he was successful, she was back.

No one could convince me she wanted nothing from him.

Violet looked especially striking in her red evening dress against the club's dim surroundings.

Without so much as glancing at me, she pushed open the door and nearly knocked me over.

I caught her sleeve. "You bumped into me. Shouldn't you apologize?"

She rolled her eyes and took off her sunglasses. "Please. Have you looked at yourself? This dress

"costs more than you could earn in several lifetimes.

"How did someone dressed like you get into a club this exclusive?

"Are you one of the hired hostesses? How pathetic."

I swallowed my anger and followed her inside.

Ethan looked stunned to see me. He hadn't expected me to come. After all, in his eyes, I was obedient.

Whatever he said, I did.

One of his friends tried to liven things up. "Our celebrity Violet is back! Let's play a game to celebrate. Hey, waitress, pour the drinks."

They all looked at me. Ethan didn't explain who I was.

Over the years, I had asked countless times to meet his friends and parents. He always refused.

Instead, he argued with me about it again and again.

"Claire Bennett, stop making a scene over something so trivial."

To him, it was trivial.

Yet all his friends knew Violet.

She got up and sat beside him. "Ethan, can I sit with you? I want us to play together."

He put an arm around her without the slightest concern for boundaries. "Of course. It's been so long. I've missed you."

They played the usual game of truth or dare. The bottle landed on Ethan.

Everyone cheered. "Ethan, now that Violet's back, what's it going to be? Truth or dare?"

He chose dare without hesitation. Whenever Violet was involved,

all his principles went out the window.

They kissed, their eyes full of longing as their lips met.

Everyone applauded. "After all these years, you two still look perfect together. Guess the spark never died."

I flipped the table, marched over, and slapped Violet.

I wasn't someone she could push around. She might be the woman Ethan had always longed for,

but I was the woman he was about to marry.

Violet covered her cheek. A red handprint stood out against her pale skin.

"You shameless gold digger! How dare you hit me?"

She tried to slap me back, but Ethan stopped her.

"She's my fiancée. Making a scene won't do you any favors."

Now he remembered I was his fiancée? Where had his conscience been before?