Serena took a shower, changed into so loungewear, and left her room to look for Ethan.
But she searched upstairs and downstairs and couldn’t find him anywhere.
Vivian Lynch was also gone.
Serena sat on the sofa and took out her phone, about to call Ethan, when she heard a noise at the door.
She looked up. Seeing Ethan walk in, she asked irritably,
"Where did you go? You disappeared in the ti it took to take a shower."
Ethan felt a pang of guilt. He looked at her and said softly,
"Quinn Gardner asked to check on sothing next door. Since you’re all showered, have a seat. I’m going to go change."
"Go ahead."
Serena didn’t think much of it. After watching Ethan go upstairs, she opened WeChat and sent a ssage to Julian Thorne.
She wanted to know how Nina was doing.
When Julian sent her a photo of Nina and Leo, she felt relieved to see their lives were slowly getting back on track.
Bored, Serena sat cross-legged on the sofa and went back to her book.
Ethan changed into loungewear but didn’t co back downstairs. Instead, he went to the study.
He called the finance departnt and had them transfer fifty million to Vivian Lynch’s account.
Then he arranged for Yannick Young to contact Vivian Lynch and take her to the hospital tomorrow to have an abortion.
Yannick Young, of course, had no idea what was going on, but he did whatever his boss arranged without asking too many questions.
After arranging everything, Ethan sat in his executive chair, leaned back, and closed his eyes, lost in thought.
When dinnerti ca and Ethan still hadn’t co down, Serena went upstairs to get him herself.
She pushed open the study door and saw him leaning back in his chair, seemingly asleep. Serena tiptoed over and, standing beside him, tickled his nose with the ends of her hair.
The man opened his eyes. Seeing what she was doing, he wrapped a long arm around her slender waist and pulled her onto his lap.
Serena didn’t resist. She looked at him and asked, "Are you tired?"
"No."
"Then why were you sleeping in your chair?"
"I was thinking."
"About what?"
She smiled, gazing at his handso face, and raised a hand to touch it, unable to get enough of him.
Ethan let her caress his face. His expression was blank, and his deep eyes were dark and bottomless.
He blinked and said, "Serena."
"Hm?"
He held her small fra tighter, burying his face in the crook of her neck, his voice sexy and bewitching.
"I love you."
Those three words made Serena’s heart flutter and her face flush.
She shifted her position to straddle his lap, pressing against him and whispering back in his ear, "I. Love. You. Too."
As soon as the words were out, she cupped his chiseled face with her slender hands and kissed him without a shred of restraint.
Ethan took the lead, cradling the back of her head to deepen their kiss.
’He craved her.’
’He wanted to lt her into his very bones, to let her fill his entire world.’
’That way, he wouldn’t have the ntal space to think about anything else.’
’He loved Serena very much, didn’t he?’
’So the child conceived with another woman couldn’t be kept.’
’In this lifeti, only Serena Yardley was worthy of bearing his, Ethan Yardley’s, children.’
’But on second thought, that was his child, too.’
’It was his mistake, made while he was drunk. Why should a young woman have to suffer the pain of an abortion for it?’
’Why should soone else have to pay the price for his mistake?’
At that thought, his desire vanished. For the first ti, he pulled away from Serena’s kiss, his handso face darkening.
Serena didn’t expect Ethan to suddenly pull away.
’And the look on his face was... disgust?’
Her heart clenched. She stared at him intently and asked, "What’s the aning of this?"
Ethan snapped back to reality, realizing he’d been too cold. He quickly tried to explain,
"You’re pregnant. We can’t do this."
"We weren’t doing anything. Can’t we even kiss?"
"You might be able to stop, but I can’t. Let’s stop here for now. It should be ti for dinner, right?"
He lifted her off him, took her small hand, and led her out of the study.
Serena was speechless.
’Is he really not touching because he’s worried about the pregnancy?’
’But why do I get the feeling he has sothing on his mind?’
Recalling the look of disgust that had flashed across his face when he’d pulled away, a sharp pain lanced through Serena’s heart.
The sense of stability and security she had just begun to feel had now completely vanished.
「During dinner.」
As he ate, Ethan told Serena, who was sitting opposite him, "You can go to bed first later. Quinn Gardner called over for sothing."
Hearing this only made the already insecure Serena even more suspicious.
"Oh, go ahead then."
She agreed readily.
Ethan glanced up at her, and afraid she wouldn’t believe him, he added,
"If you’re not too tired, you can co with . It’s just next door."
"No, that’s okay. It wouldn’t be appropriate for to intrude when you two are talking business."
She lowered her head and ate, not understanding the sour feeling that welled up in her heart.
Ethan noticed sothing was off with her and explained again,
"Serena, don’t overthink it. I’ll be back as soon as I can."
"Okay, I’ll wait for you. I’ll go to sleep after you get back."
She smiled, trying her best to hide her unease.
’He’s Ethan Yardley. The man who cherishes . How could he possibly dislike ?’
’They say pregnant won tend to overthink things. I must be reading too much into it.’
...
After dinner, Ethan left the house.
He was indeed next door.
But it wasn’t Quinn Gardner who had called him over. It was Ethan who had summoned Quinn, who didn’t even live there, to co et him.
The housekeeper here had also been dismissed, so the villa was now empty.
When Quinn Gardner arrived, he brought two bottles of wine.
Seeing Ethan already sitting on the sofa, he walked toward him, his bloodshot eyes scanning the empty house.
"I really didn’t expect her to be so ruthless about leaving."
Quinn Gardner gave a desolate smile and sat down next to Ethan.
The day they divorced, she left that very afternoon on a private jet.
She wouldn’t even let him see their child one last ti.
’It just shows how desperate she was to get away from , how much she must hate .’
Ethan’s expression wasn’t much better. He said in a low voice,
"I’m surprised you let her go. If it were , I definitely wouldn’t have been able to."
’If it had been his Serena, he would never have let go.’
Quinn Gardner poured a drink and handed it to Ethan. "What’s the use of saying all this now? She and our son are never coming back."
Ethan looked at the offered drink. The mory that drinking was what led to his mistake made him despise alcohol now.
He pushed it away with his hand and said, "You drink it. I just ca over to get so air."
Hearing this, Quinn Gardner tilted his head and stared at him. "What’s wrong?"
"Nothing."
’There was no way he could let a third person know about the awful thing he’d done.’
"As if I can’t tell when sothing’s on your mind."
Quinn Gardner shook his head helplessly. Since Ethan wasn’t talking, he didn’t press, and just drank by himself.
Ethan paid him no mind, leaning his head back against the sofa and closing his eyes, lost in thought.
When it was ti, he went ho. He found Serena asleep on the sofa, so he carried her to the bedroom and tucked her in.
Afterward, he still didn’t stay in the master bedroom. He turned and left for the guest room.
Serena had actually woken up the mont he picked her up.
She couldn’t believe Ethan still wasn’t sleeping with her.
’So what exactly is his problem?’
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