After I Stopped Loving Him novel Chapter 208

Ethan’s face turned stormy. “Isabella, that’s really harsh.”

She shot back, “One comment from me and you’re hurt? What about you, Ethan? You lied to me about our marriage, about your feelings. That didn’t hurt?”

He had nothing to say to that. For a long moment, he just stood there, guilt written all over his face. “Isabella, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? What does that even fix? Do you think an apology will magically erase everything you did to me?”

“If you really mean it, then let’s get divorced. Give me a cut of your assets, call it compensation for all the pain you caused, and we’ll be done.”

His expression hardened again. “Isabella, I told you, stop bringing up divorce.”

He definitely didn’t want to divorce her. If he were single again, he’d be surrounded by women in no time. And seeing Natalie wouldn’t be nearly as easy as it was now.

“Alright, I won’t say it,” she replied. “If that’s all, I’m leaving.”

Isabella knew he wouldn’t agree to a divorce right now anyway. In her last life, they hadn’t split until three years after the wedding. Maybe some things couldn’t be changed, even with a second chance. She figured she’d have to wait out those three years again.

That was fine. Three years was enough for her to turn things around.

She left without taking her lunchbox, letting him bring it home instead. Ethan watched her walk away, his good looks shadowed by a dark, almost frightening gloom. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was slipping further and further from him. But he only had himself to blame. He was the one who hurt her first.

After Dennis died, his family wasted no time. His parents and brothers kicked Cynthia out, taking over the Anchor & Oyster Dennis had worked so hard to build. Cynthia had lost her parents young and only had her little brother, Zachary, left. When Zachary heard what happened, he rushed back home, but he was young and couldn’t protect Cynthia and Isabella on his own. All he could do was get them out of Willowbrook before the George family could do something worse.

Zachary didn’t make much money, just a few hundred bucks a month, nowhere near enough to support all three of them. He gave Cynthia every cent he had, then went off to work in a factory. Cynthia and Isabella scraped by until Cynthia met Jackson. He liked her, and after they married into the Lane family, life finally got easier.

Once she was settled, Cynthia sent money to help Zachary. With her help, he was able to build a house back in their hometown, get married, and start a family. After that, he turned down any more help from her. He said he was doing fine and told Cynthia not to worry about him, but really, he just didn’t want to be a burden.

When Isabella got married, Zachary was in the hospital and couldn’t make it to her wedding.

Now, more than twenty years later, Willowbrook wasn’t the poor, struggling village it used to be.