---- Chapter 4 "Sarah, stop." My voice was quiet, but it cut through the tension in the room Everyone looked at me. Sarah' s face was a mixture of fury and concern. Chloe looked defiant. Mark looked smug. "It's okay," | said, looking at Sarah. | couldn' t let her fight my battles. Not anymore. This had to end. "Let's just get this over with." | looked at the lawyer, a man in a crisp suit who had been watching the entire exchange with detached professionalism "The papers. Can we just sign them now?" Sarah opened her mouth to protest, to say more, but | gave her a look, a silent plea. She closed her mouth, her jaw tight with frustration. She understood. | was choosing to end it this way, taking the blame, absorbing the final blows. The lawyer, seeming relieved to get back to business, slid a stack of documents across the polished mahogany table. | picked up the pen. My hand was shaking, not just from the illness, but from the weight of what | was about to do. This signature was the final word in the story of us. | signed my name on the line. The ink was black and final. | pushed the papers over to Chloe. ---- She picked up the pen. For amoment, she just held it, her eyes fixed on my signature. | saw a flicker of something in her expression-doubt, maybe, or a shadow of a memory. It was gone as quickly as it appeared. She signed her name with a firm, decisive stroke. It was done. Our partnership, our shared dream, was legally dissolved. Mark let out a triumphant little sigh, a sound of pure victory. He squeezed Chloe' s shoulder. "There. A clean slate. Now we can move forward." Chloe didn' t look at him. She was still staring at the document, at our two names on the same page for the last time. Her knuckles were white where she gripped the pen. Sarah couldn' t hold back any longer. Her voice was low, filled with a chilling certainty. "You are going to regret this for the rest of your life, Chloe." Mark laughed, a short, ugly sound. "Regret? She' s upgrading. Why would she regret leaving a sinking ship for a luxury yacht?" Chloe finally looked up, her eyes meeting mine. The brief flicker of doubt was gone, replaced by a cold, hard wall. She was steeling herself, convincing herself she was right. "| won' t regret it," she said, her voice clear and unwavering. It was directed at Sarah, but her eyes were locked on me. "I will never, ever regret leaving a man | never truly loved." ---- The words. They weren't just a blow, they were a complete demolition. Five years. All the laughter, the struggles, the dreams we had built in our small apartment-all of it, dismissed as a lie. Never truly loved. The fire in my chest from the hospital bed returned, but this time it was a raging inferno. A violent, racking cough seized my body, doubling me over. It was a sound that was wet and ugly. | pressed a hand to my mouth, trying to stifle it, but it was no use. When | pulled my hand away, it was covered in bright red blood. Sarah gasped, rushing to my side. "Ethan! Chloe' s eyes widened in shock, her face draining of all color. For the first time, the wall she had built around herself cracked, and a look of genuine horror broke through. Mark just stared, a look of disgust on his face. The room started to spin. Sarah was shouting my name, but her voice sounded far away. My legs gave out, and the last thing | saw before the darkness took me again was Chloe' s face, frozen in a silent scream, her hand still clutching the pen that had signed away our past.