Chapter 199
The instant Ethan murmured Evelyn's name, Vanessa's carefully constructed facade crumbled.
Her fingers dug into his arms like claws. "Ethan, am I just her replacement?" Her voice trembled with barely suppressed fury. "I'm your wife. How could you humiliate me like this?"
Tears streamed down Vanessa's cheeks, her delicate face drained of color. The metallic tang of blood filled her mouth from how hard she was biting her lip.
The betrayal cut deeper than any blade.
After everything—after finally becoming Mrs. Caldwell—he had the audacity to whisper another woman's name in their most intimate moment.
Ethan snapped back to reality as if doused in ice water.
He released her immediately, watching helplessly as Vanessa's shoulders shook with silent sobs. Straightening his disheveled shirt, he retreated to the driver's seat without explanation.
A restless energy thrummed beneath his skin.
Seeing Alexander claim Evelyn so possessively had ignited something primal in him—something he couldn't rationalize. He wasn't a man ruled by impulse, yet when Vanessa had initiated—
His mind was consumed by her.
Every time Ethan Caldwell closed his eyes, Evelyn Carter's face appeared before him.
When he regained his senses and saw Vanessa Hart beneath him, disappointment crashed over him like a wave.
A dark, shameful thought slithered through his mind—he wished it had been Evelyn instead.
He imagined kissing her, wondered how she would react. Would her cheeks flush? Would her lips tremble beneath his?
The urge to pull her into his arms, to claim her, was unbearable.
"Why?" His fingers tightened around the bedsheets.
Ethan was furious—not at Vanessa, but at himself. He couldn't deny it anymore. He wanted Evelyn. Desperately.
With a sharp inhale, he lit a cigarette, the ember glowing in the dim room. One after another, he smoked, as if the nicotine could burn away his thoughts.
For seven years, Evelyn had chased him. Seven years, and yet he had never touched her.
But he had loved her.
No one knew—not even her. The day he had found her cornered outside the school bathroom, her eyes wide with fear, something inside him had shifted.
That was the moment he fell.
Otherwise, why would Ethan Caldwell, heir to the Aniston fortune, have spent three years watching over her?
Why would he have cared at all?
The cigarette burned between Ethan's fingers, its ember glowing in the dim light.
Instead of calming him, the smoke only deepened his irritation.
Vanessa sat silently in the backseat, her mind racing.
She had no idea what Ethan was thinking, but she was certain it wasn’t about her.
The possibility that he might be dwelling on Evelyn made her blood boil.
"Ethan," she said coldly, "have you forgotten what she did three years ago?"
His entire body tensed.
"Three years ago, to get those men to kidnap me, she offered herself to them. She bargained with her own body."
Vanessa's lips curled in disgust. "And now? She’s marrying your uncle for money. What part of her is even worth remembering?"
Ethan’s silence was heavy, his breathing ragged.
She was right.
He had almost let himself forget.
Evelyn had been tainted long ago.
While they were engaged, he had never touched her—yet she had given herself so easily to those worthless thugs.
The thought made his stomach churn.
How could he still feel anything for someone like that?
Sunlight streamed through the curtains as Evelyn Carter blinked awake.
The plush mattress beneath her felt foreign yet comforting. She glanced down at her silk pajamas, perfectly intact.
Memories of last night came flooding back in fragments.
She recalled waiting in Alexander's car, the leather seats cold against her skin. The dashboard clock had ticked past midnight when she'd reached for the whiskey bottle.
Halfway through her third glass, headlights had cut through the darkness. Alexander's silhouette appeared at the driver's door.
Then everything went hazy.
Her fingers trembled as they traced the constellation of love bites along her collarbone. The purple marks stood out starkly against her pale skin.
A sudden flash of memory - her arms wrapped around Alexander's neck in the foyer, begging him to join her in the shower. The scent of his cologne mixed with whiskey as he carried her upstairs.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
200 missed calls from Daniel Pierce.
The screen displayed a breaking news alert: Titan Capital Group CEO Alexander Whitmore spotted leaving Eclipse Lounge with mystery woman.
Beneath the headline, a blurred photo showed Alexander carrying a woman whose face was buried in his chest.
Evelyn's blood ran cold.
The woman's Louboutins were unmistakably hers.