Chapter 174: The mysterious caller
"You seriously told Mara she should divide the twins?" Valerie’s voice cracked in disbelief, standing up now. "After everything she went through? After losing her baby, being lied to, fighting tooth and nail to get him back, you thought you could ask her to hand him over like he’s a possession?"
Ethan’s face darkened, his chest heaving, but no words came.
"God, Ethan," Valerie sighed, shaking her head. "Do you even hear yourself anymore?"
The house felt colder after that. Because deep down, he knew she was right.
"What’s so wrong with that?" Ethan fired back, his voice raw and desperate. "So now, what, I have to go over there and ask permission every time I wanna see my children? While Rafael gets to be around them every damn day? How is that fair, Val? How?"
Valerie crossed her arms, her gaze sharp enough to cut glass. "You wanna know why? Because Mara is their mother, Ethan. And those babies deserve to be with her. And you—" she pointed a finger at his chest, "you lost that right the second you let Lucy steal her son. The second you believed that lie. You weren’t expecting Mara to move back in because you missed her, you were hoping Andrew would be your leverage, weren’t you?"
Ethan’s mouth twitched. "Yes," he admitted quietly. "I was hoping. It’s been a year, Valerie."
"A year?" Valerie let out a humorless laugh. "And you think a year erases what you did to her? What you put her through? You think because it’s been twelve months, her pain packed up and left?"
Ethan said nothing.