Watching Olivia walk away, making sure I couldn’t hurt her,

Ethan finally turned to look at me.

He glanced at my swollen hand.

Instead of holding it as he usually would, he only frowned and said flatly:

“You really need to work on that bad temper of yours.”

I sneered at him.

“What, feeling sorry for the woman you love now?”

Ethan exhaled, as if resigning himself.

“Sophia, I’ve told you so many times—Olivia is just an employee.”

“A completely ordinary employee. You don’t have to make such a big deal out of it.”

He took a step forward and gently held my hand.

“Stop this. Let’s go home.”

After more than ten years together, I had grown used to Ethan always being there.

I had always thought that we were bound to each other,

that neither of us could live without the other.

But now, when I looked up into his deep eyes,

there was no tender smile anymore—

only faint displeasure hidden behind his furrowed brows.

I let out a short laugh.

Then I slapped him across the face.

“Enough. I’m disgusted by this act.”

Ethan kept his word—

Olivia was expelled from the racing team,

and his assistant was replaced by a man.

But I could still smell an unfamiliar perfume on Ethan’s clothes.

New cute trinkets and plush toys kept appearing in his car.

Even when Olivia wasn’t in sight,

I could still feel her presence everywhere.

I ripped the trinkets down and threw them in front of Ethan.

“This is how you ‘handled’ it?”

Ethan chuckled softly, crushing out his cigarette without even looking at me.

“She’s avoiding you. What more do you want?”

His detached tone made it sound as though all the hardships we had survived together

were nothing more than an irrelevant footnote in his story.

“What more do I want?”

I looked at him coldly.

The air between us was frozen in silence

until his phone kept pinging with message alerts.

He frowned at me after checking them.

“Do you really have to go this far?”

“She’s an orphan. She doesn’t have many options for work.”

“You’ve ruined her job. How is she supposed to live?”

I laughed coldly.

“Isn’t she living off you?”

“Three-thousand-dollar dresses, fifty-thousand-dollar jewelry, a seven-million-dollar mansion.”

“Ethan, how come I never noticed you were this generous with employees?”

He sighed again and started explaining patiently.

“Olivia is an orphan. When she came to me, she was starving, skin and bones.”

“Seeing her reminded me of you back then—so small and pitiful.”

“Anyone would have pity. I couldn’t just let her die.”

I found it laughable.

The man who once treated me as his most precious treasure

was now using me as an excuse to justify another woman.

“If you cheated, just admit it. Don’t pretend you’re some savior.”

“Sign the divorce papers. Stop wasting my time.”

I shoved the divorce agreement toward him.

Ethan only glanced at it, unmoved.

“Sophia, divorcing over something so small—it’s not worth it.”

Not worth it.

Cheating wasn’t worth divorcing over.

Even being openly provoked by the mistress wasn’t worth it.

I let out a cold laugh.

Then slapped Ethan hard across the face.

“Every cent you spent on her came out of our marital assets.”

“If you don’t sign the divorce agreement, I’ll go ask her for it myself.”

“Do you think she can pay me back after just losing her job?”

Ethan roared my name in fury.

“Sophia Carter, don’t you dare!”

His icy hand clamped down on my wrist, nearly breaking it.

I was forced to raise my chin, staring back into his furious dark eyes.

The corner of my mouth lifted in a mocking smile.

“Why wouldn’t I dare?”

“What’s mine doesn’t get taken by anyone.”

“Except for the things that are already dirty.”

Ethan was shaking with rage.

Before he could speak, his phone rang.

It was Olivia’s special ringtone.

He flung my hand away and answered in a hurry.

Olivia’s soft, whiny voice came through the receiver.

“Ethan, my landlord is here giving me trouble. I’m scared. Can you come help me?”

His face grew grim.

He grabbed his jacket and rushed out—

not once looking back at me.

After that day, Ethan completely disappeared from my life.

When I went to the racing team to look for him,

they all gave me the same answer:

“Sophia, we don’t know where Ethan went. We can’t reach him either.”

“If you hear from him, you have to tell us right away!”

As long as the divorce wasn’t settled,

I felt as though a boulder was pressing down on my chest.

As I was leaving, I overheard voices in the bathroom.

“Why keep it a secret from Sophia? She came here looking for him. Must be urgent.”

“You don’t get it. Olivia’s upset, so Ethan took her on a trip. He won’t be back anytime soon.”

“If you reveal where he is, Sophia will blow up—and then we’ll all be in trouble.”

I froze in my tracks.

Of course. I should have known.

In a world where information spreads so easily,

there was only one reason a man couldn’t be found—

he was hiding on purpose.

A man’s love belongs to whomever he spends his time and money on.

And clearly, Ethan’s love belonged to Olivia.

But I didn’t care anymore.

Because I no longer needed his love.

I put our marital home up for sale

and rented a secure apartment on the west side of Los Angeles.

While unpacking in my new place,

a prenatal checkup report fell out of my folder.

The date on it—

the same day I had caught Ethan and Olivia together.

I had been so excited to share the news with him.

But instead, I had walked in on him flirting with another woman.

He had even laid a hand on me.

To this day, he still didn’t know about the baby.

When Ethan finally called me again, it was a week later.

The first thing I heard was his angry voice:

“Sophia, are you insane?”

“You sold our house without even asking me! I don’t even have a place to live now—are you happy?!”

“We’re adults! Stop throwing tantrums like a child. It’s exhausting!”

I listened silently, without arguing back.

Hearing Ethan’s disgust and frustration with me firsthand—

it hurt.

How could it not?

The man I had once loved so deeply

had become a stranger almost overnight.

I no longer searched for the reason why.

Trash belongs in the bin—that’s what Ethan taught me.

“Ethan, I said it before: love takes two, so both have to agree to be together.”

“But breaking up doesn’t. If one person stops loving, they can walk away anytime.”

I paused, then let out a thin laugh.

“With you cheating, selling the house is perfectly reasonable, isn’t it?”

Ethan froze, clearly not expecting those words from me.

He practically roared, furious:

“I spoiled you, and that’s why you think you can throw tantrums without consequence!”

“I just hired an assistant, and you’re making a spectacle out of it—divorce?”

“What if I get paired with a female driver someday—are you going to blow up the entire racing team?”

I listened calmly to the torrent of insults over the phone.

“I would’ve done that before, but not anymore.”

“You disgust me.”

The words hit the water like a stone, sending ripples everywhere.

I didn’t need to see him to know how enraged he was.

“Olivia’s an orphan. What’s wrong with me helping her within my power?”

“If I’d known you’d be this unfeeling, I never should’ve saved you.”

“I should’ve let you die on your eighteenth birthday!”

I looked at the divorce petition in my hand.

“Then divorce me. You two can ride off into the sunset. We’ll be done.”

I hung up, ignoring Ethan’s crazed shouting.

What I didn’t expect was Olivia showing up at my door to “apologize.”

“Sophia, I know you misunderstand me. I came today to explain.”

“There’s nothing improper between Ethan and me. He really loves you—he only has you in his heart!”

“Sophia, I’m a woman too—I get it. You’re just trying to get Ethan to care more.”

“I’ll apologize on Ethan’s behalf. Please forgive him, okay?”

Olivia called out in her sweet, theatrical voice.

Neighbors poked their heads out to watch.

I stood behind the second-floor window, quietly observing through the glass.

When the crowd thickened and whispers grew louder,

Olivia went all in—she dropped to her knees with a thud.

“Sophia, this is all my fault. I never should’ve joined the racing team.”

“Ethan shouldn’t have taken me in just because I’m an orphan.”

“As long as you forgive me, I’ll kneel here for the rest of my life!”

Ethan arrived just in time to see the scene.

He rushed forward to lift Olivia up, but she jerked away, stubbornly staying on her knees—

as if I had framed her and Ethan, slapping a scarlet A on both of them.

When the onlookers heard the word “orphan,” their disgust turned into sympathy.

I knew exactly what Olivia was doing.

I didn’t engage. I wouldn’t.

In less than ten minutes, Olivia “fainted,”

still managing to deliver her final line with trembling devotion:

“Ethan, I’ve been kneeling so long—Sophia must have forgiven me by now… right?”

Ethan scooped her up protectively and rushed toward the ER.

Once they were gone, I finally took my prenatal checkup report and headed out.

I had scheduled a termination. I had to go.

Of all the hospitals in Los Angeles,

I never imagined I’d run into Ethan face-to-face.