---- Chapter 21 My words struck Ethan harder than any physical blow. A sharp, tagged gasp escaped his lips, and he staggered back, clutching his chest. The color drained from his face. "You... with him?" he stammered, his eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and profound pain. He looked at Daniel with pure, unadulterated hatred, then back at me, his expression crumbling into one of wounded confusion. "But... he's a nobody. | gave you the world." "You gave me a cage," | said, my voice cold and steady. "A beautiful, gilded cage, but a cage nonetheless. Daniel gave me freedom. You gave me diamonds. He gave me safety. You demanded love as a tribute. He earned my love with kindness and respect." | took a deep breath, the words | had held inside for so long finally pouring out. "I didn't marry you for your money, Ethan. | married you because | thought you were a good man. The man who defended me, who protected my family. But that man is gone. You killed him with your jealousy, your paranoia, your need to control everything and everyone." "Please," | said, my voice softening for a moment. "Just leave. Leave us alone. Let me have my life." For a moment, | thought he might. | saw the conflict in his ---- eyes, the war between his pride and the flicker of the man he used to be. But the monster won. "No," he said, his voice a low growl. "You are coming with me." He lunged for me, his hands outstretched. But before he could reach me, the room was flooded with flashing blue and red lights. Two police officers stood in the doorway, their hands on their holsters. Daniel had called them. "Is there a problem here, ma'am?" one of the officers asked, his eyes on Ethan. "Yes," | said, my voice shaking but clear. "This man is my ex- husband. He is harassing me. | have a restraining order against him." It was a lie, but a necessary one. Daniel handed the officer a file containing the divorce certificate and a summary of Ethan's past abuses. The officer's face hardened as he looked at Ethan. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Now." Ethan stared at the officer, then at me, his face a mask of thwarted rage. He was a man who was used to buying his way out of everything. But here, in this small town, his power meant nothing. He was just a man, breaking the law. He took a step back, his eyes never leaving my face. "This isn't over, Sarah," he vowed. "I will find you again." He turned and stalked out of the apartment, his guards trailing behind him like shadows. ---- | let out a breath | didn't realize | had been holding and sagged against Daniel. He held me tight. "It's okay," he whispered. "You're safe now." From the window, | watched Ethan get into his car. He didn't drive away. He just sat there, staring up at my apartment, a lone, pathetic figure in the night. He saw me in the window, standing with Daniel's arms around me. He saw Daniel gently kiss my forehead. And | saw his face crumple. He remembered the girl from the mountains, the one with stars in her eyes who had looked at him with such adoration. He had promised to take her away from her simple life, to give her the world. He had done it, but he hadn't understood that what she really wanted was not the world, but a small, safe corner of it to call her own. A corner with him. He had been so afraid of losing her, so terrified of being abandoned as his own father had been, that he had built a fortress around her. But fortresses don't just keep people out; they lock them in. He hadn't protected her love; he had suffocated it He finally understood. But it was too late. He slumped over the steering wheel, his shoulders shaking with a grief so profound it was a physical agony. He had not just lost me. He had destroyed me. And in doing so, he had ---- destroyed himself. He let out a raw, broken sob, a sound of utter and complete desolation, and then he drove away into the darkness.