Chapter 185: Arrogance 2
The room went still, the air thick like it wanted to collapse in on itself.
"And... who are you again?" the principal asked, her tone sharp now, tired of whatever little show this was turning into.
Ethan smiled. That insufferable, self-assured smile that Mara had once, to her eternal regret, found intoxicating.
"Ethan," he said, straightening a little, as though claiming space that wasn’t his. "Ethan Anderson. The twins’ father." He paused, then added with a little flourish, "And her husband."
The words landed like a slap. Mara blinked. The world seemed to reel, her stomach flipping so fast it left her momentarily lightheaded.
Husband.
The word left her lips before she could catch it, a sharp, disbelieving whisper. "Husband?"
As if he could just rewrite history because it suited him. As if the ink on their divorce papers could vanish by sheer force of will.
The principal looked between them, reading the storm building behind Mara’s dark eyes, and made the wise, quiet decision to step away. "I’ll, uh... give you two a moment," she said, retreating with the kind of speed that suggested experience in sidestepping disaster.
The door clicked softly shut, and the room was left to the ghosts.
Mara turned, her gaze locking on Ethan’s. No amusement in her face now. No trace of the woman who once loved him.