Chapter 142: A Brother’s Love
Ethan stood frozen, rooted to the marble floor of the courthouse walkway long after the car door shut behind Mara.
His hands trembled slightly at his sides not from rage, not even from helplessness, but from the devastating weight of regret. He had thought he was prepared for this moment. He had braced himself for the coldness in Mara’s eyes, for the silence he had earned.
But nothing could have prepared him for the quiet grace with which she nodded and said, "Thank you," as though her heart wasn’t breaking beneath every word.
It was the kindness in her voice that shattered him.
He brought his hand to his chest, right where it hurt the most. The name Andrew now carried two lives, two babies, one in his arms, and one still out there in the shadows. And he knew, deep down, he had failed both of them.
He had failed Mara.
He hadn’t meant to name Lucy’s baby after the son he shared with the woman he truly loved. But in that moment, when the nurse asked him and the baby opened his eyes... it came out before he could stop himself: Andrew.
Now, every time Lucy said it, chirping it in that smug voice of hers, it sounded like a betrayal.
He felt like a stranger in his own life.
Ethan closed his eyes, the walkway blurring into muffled echoes. His suit felt too tight, his breath too shallow. Every instinct screamed at him to do something to make it right, to go after her, to tear down every wall and beg her not to leave.
But what right did he have?