My husband, Ethan Vance, wanted to enjoy a tropical vacation with his mistress. So, he somehow brought his twenty-three-year-old self back to cover his shift at work. The younger version of Ethan was irritably flipping through financial reports at the desk. When he looked up and saw me, he froze, completely stunned. "Holy shit. Did I actually end up marrying you?" Our daughter, Lily, stumbled out of her room, rubbing her eyes. "Daddy?" she called out in her sweet, sleepy voice. Young Ethan froze instantly. Even the tips of his ears turned bright red. He was shaking with excitement. Tears welled up in his eyes, and his voice trembled. "You're so afraid of pain... It must have hurt so much to give birth to her..." "Mommy," Lily interrupted quietly, looking up at me with timid eyes. "Is Daddy back to kick us out this time? Is he going to marry that Serena woman?" Ethan's jaw clenched hard. His face instantly darkened. "Who dares to kick you out?" Though he still looked like a young college kid, his explosive temper and terrifying aura were exactly the same as the current Ethan. He looked around our sleek, luxury penthouse. Then, lowering his voice, he tried to comfort Lily. "Don't worry, Lily. This will always be our home." "Did you just have a bad dream?" Lily stared at him with wide, terrified eyes. Fear was written all over her face. She took a big step back, startled. Then she burst into a loud sob. I rubbed my temples and politely, yet coldly, told Young Ethan to take a seat in the living room. About half an hour later, I finally got Lily back to sleep. When I walked back out, Young Ethan was staring blankly at a pile of shredded wedding photos on the coffee table. "Who is the homewrecker?" he asked. His voice was incredibly raspy in the dimly lit room. He squeezed the torn photos so hard his knuckles turned white. It felt like he was forcing the words out through clenched teeth. "Who the hell is this Serena woman?" "She ruined our family, didn't she?" He looked up at me, his eyes red and tearful. His voice shook. "I gave you my whole life when I was eighteen. I couldn't even bring myself to raise my voice at you." "It must be that woman's fault..." Outside, the night was dark. The city lights flickered through the window. I said nothing. I just pulled out my phone. I dialed Serena's number. A few seconds later. A deep, steady male voice came through the speaker. He sounded extremely annoyed. "It's the middle of the night. Why are you calling Serena? What kind of drama are you trying to start now?" Hearing his future self speak. Young Ethan was completely frozen in shock. His face instantly turned pale and rigid. Just as he was about to blow up and scream, I put a finger to my lips, signaling him to be quiet. I asked into the phone in a flat, emotionless voice: "When are you coming home?" "Next month." The background sound of waves crashing on the beach, mixed with a romantic love song, sounded incredibly cozy and intimate. But the words that followed stabbed into my ears like ice. He paused, took a deep breath, and continued. "Serena is pregnant."
It felt like someone had suddenly wrapped a plastic bag tightly around my neck. Every breath I took sent a sharp pain through my chest. I felt like I was suffocating. "It was just an accident. We forgot protection once." His tone was so casual, as if he were just talking about what to have for dinner. "Serena won't affect our marriage. She promised to get an abortion." "I brought her out here not just to relax, but to find a clinic for the procedure." "I'm the one at fault here, so I have to take responsibility and look after her until she recovers." Right then, Serena's sweet, whiny voice echoed from the other end. "Ethan, baby, come back over here~" In the next second, the call was abruptly cut off. Less than thirty seconds later, a Snapchat message popped up on my phone. "My 23-year-old self should have arrived by now." "He's careless. Keep an eye on the company's business for him." The phone screen glowed coldly on the coffee table. Young Ethan stood opposite me, wrapped in a dead silence for a very long time. I blankly glanced at his chest. My name was still tattooed right over his heart. I turned around, pulled a set of divorce papers from behind a sofa cushion, and handed them to him along with a pen. "Your future self refuses to sign." "Do it for him, will you?" He looked up and stared straight at me. A dry, bitter laugh escaped his throat. He cursed under his breath. "Fuck." Then, he swung his arm and slapped himself hard across the face. He roared with a desperate, sobbing voice: "Ethan Vance, are you fucking blind? How could you sleep with a piece of trash like Serena Miller?"
It was true. At twenty-three, Ethan already knew Serena. Only back then, he absolutely loathed her fake, damsel-in-distress act. Later, when he started his own business, Serena joined the company. Ethan used to point at her nose and call her an idiot almost every single day just to vent. Back then, I even defended her. "She's just a fresh graduate, Ethan. It's normal for her to make mistakes." "Just guide her a bit." Every time I said that. Ethan would wrap his arms around me. "Nora, if it weren't for our baby on the way, I would have fired her a long time ago." I didn't think much of it. I just focused on my pregnancy and managed our home. Gradually, he stopped mentioning Serena as much. I was foolish enough to think it was just because the business was doing well. I never suspected a thing. Until one day, when I was eight months pregnant. I stopped by his office after my prenatal checkup. I pushed the door open, only to see Serena sitting right on Ethan's lap. Her hand was unbuckling his belt, and she was rubbing her soft body against his cheek. Her white shirt was wrinkled, and her pencil skirt was pulled up almost to her waist. Looking into Ethan's bloodshot, lust-filled eyes. I shook with rage. Like a madwoman, I threw myself forward, grabbed Serena's hair, and dragged her violently to the floor. I swung my handbag and bashed it against Ethan's face with all my might. The metal buckle sliced a bloody gash across his cheek, but it didn't ease the burning hatred in my heart. My mind raced with memories of all those years we spent building our life from scratch. I thought of how I threw up every single day during my pregnancy, how I could barely walk, and how the pelvic pain kept me awake all night. Just the night before, I had cried myself to sleep over the stretch marks covering my stomach. And yet, Ethan, who was about to become a father, was having a sleazy affair right in his office. It felt like my heart had been ripped open, cold wind rushing into the wound. I didn't care about dignity anymore. I shoved past the employees who tried to hold me back. Their pleas of "Nora, calm down, think about the baby!" fell on deaf ears. I grabbed a heavy laptop from his desk and hurled it straight at Ethan's head. "Go to hell, you bastard!" But Serena was fast. She threw herself over Ethan to shield him. The heavy laptop slammed hard into the back of her pale neck before shattering on the floor. Screams erupted in the office. Half of them were because Serena's neck was sliced open and bleeding heavily. The other half was because of me. My water had just broken.
The premature labor started with no warning. Drenched in sweat and trembling from the intense pain, I was wheeled into the delivery room. The doctor shouted anxiously, "Where is Nora's family?" The hallway was deathly quiet. Ethan's parents lived in another state and weren't supposed to fly in until closer to my due date. My own parents had divorced years ago and had long abandoned me. "Where is your husband? Giving birth is a major event, he needs to be here." I painfully turned my head to look through the glass door of the delivery room. Ethan, the man who usually remained calm under any pressure, was running frantically down the hallway, carrying Serena in his arms. He was practically begging the nurses. "Please, get me the best plastic surgeon. She's still young, she can't have a scar on her neck. I'll pay whatever it takes. Just contact them now." Knowing that giving birth carried risks, I swallowed my nausea and dialed his number. But when he picked up, his voice was filled with absolute rage. "Serena was just leaning over to grab a contract, and her hair got caught on my belt! That's all it was!" "You didn't even ask before jumping to conclusions, throwing a tantrum in my office, and hurting her." "Now that things are a mess, you still expect me to put you first?" Ethan hissed, his voice cold as ice. "Nora, you are acting like a lunatic." Then, I heard Serena playing the saint in a weak voice nearby. "Ethan, don't talk to Nora like that." "It's fine... I don't plan on getting married anyway, so a little scar doesn't matter." At dawn the next morning, I gave birth to Lily. Meanwhile, Serena was sleeping peacefully under Ethan's obsessive care.
That ugly scandal became a thorn in our marriage. He fired Serena. He still came home on time and played with Lily, but he completely checked out of our relationship. He didn't care about my feelings anymore. We became strangers living under the same roof. We used to cuddle on the sofa and talk about everything. Now, our only conversations were stiff updates like "I have a dinner tonight," "I'm flying out tomorrow," or "I'll be sleeping at the office next week to hit a deadline." At first, I still tried to share things like "Taking care of the baby is so exhausting" or "Lily rolled over today." But eventually, my replies dwindled to "Okay," "Fine," and "Understood." Eventually, our only connection was the cold monthly allowance he transferred to my bank account. I never stepped foot in his company again. But I heard rumors. People in the office gossiped about me, calling Ethan a poor guy who was stuck with a crazy, controlling wife. I didn't even want to think about it. I just used his money to raise Lily and keep our lives going. Until our sixth wedding anniversary, Ethan sent me a surprise. A diamond necklace worth two hundred thousand dollars. I genuinely thought he was finally trying to make amends. But before a smile could even form on my lips... The new courier apologized in a panic. "I am so sorry, ma'am. I got the address wrong." "This necklace was meant for Mr. Vance's wife. The delivery address is the estate on the East Side, not here." "I am so sorry, could you please give it back? I just started this job, and I can't afford to pay for something this expensive." He took the necklace back with trembling hands. He quickly pulled out his phone to call someone. "I'm sending you the correct address. Don't mess up like I did." "Mr. Vance completely adores this Mrs. Vance. If her lunch isn't prepared on time, we'll both be fired." I froze. Then, a bitter laugh escaped me. So that was it. For the past six months, Ethan had been keeping Serena in a luxury mansion on the East Side. To everyone else, she was the real "Mrs. Vance." What did that make me?
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "NovelMaster" app ? search for "467147", and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster