I Plan My Death While He Bangs the Nanny

Chapter 12: The Return

For days, Ethan Foster searched the coastline relentlessly, determined to find Sophia Williams' body.

Dive teams came and went.

Each time, the answer was the same, nothing.

The currents were treacherous. Everyone insisted the body had been swept into deeper waters, lost forever.

Only Ethan refused to believe it. No body meant Sophia was still alive.

He became a man possessed, abandoning his company, chasing every shred of hope that she might have survived, even confronting her father.

Mr. Williams was on the golf course when the news reached him. His face twisted in disgust.

"That little bitch was just like her mother. What man doesn't stray? And she had the nerve to throw herself into the sea, how pathetic. Serves her right."

Ethan's vision burned red. He lunged, fists crashing into the older man's face before anyone could stop him.

"You bastard!"

"She was your daughter! How could you say that?"

"Are you even human?"

Veins bulged at his temples as security dragged him back. Mr. Williams wiped blood from his nose and sneered.

"Who are you to hit me? Hypocrite. Acting like some paragon of loyalty?"

"You cheated too. Got that mistress pregnant. Compared to you, I'm practically a saint."

Ethan froze, the words like a knife twisting in his chest.

His hands clenched. Denial clawed at his throat.

"I'm nothing like you... I loved her. I loved Sophia!"

But the truth flayed him alive.

He remembered Sophia on the balcony that day, fragile, broken by her mother's fate, and how he'd sworn to protect her.

And what had he done?

Become the very monster he'd promised to shield her from.

What right did he have to judge her father?

Stumbling back to the villa, Ethan barely registered where his feet took him. The barren garden struck him like a physical blow.

This was where Sophia's flowers had bloomed.

The day she planted them, she'd clasped her hands and made a wish.

"I want our love to grow wild like these flowers. So Ethan, keep them alive. If they die... so will my love for you."

When she tore them out, it was her final goodbye.

And he'd been too blind to see it.

Too busy rushing Emily Johnson, pregnant Emily, to safety during the restaurant chaos. Too wrapped up in his own joy to notice Sophia's despair.

He'd let her destroy those flowers without a word.

If only he hadn't been so drunk on the news of Emily's pregnancy. If only he'd seen the cracks in Sophia before it was too late,

Ethan collapsed to his knees.

Was her father right?

Was he just a hypocrite after all?

His chest constricted, breath turning to razors. Then,

A sound from the kitchen.

His head snapped up. Drawn by some unseen force, he staggered inside.

A woman stood at the stove, apron tied neatly, back turned as she stirred a pot with practiced ease.

Ethan's pulse roared in his ears. Sleep deprivation made his eyes burn, but he blinked hard,

And then he was moving.

"Sophia!"

He crushed her against him, arms shaking, voice raw.

"I knew you'd come back. I knew it."

"I'm sorry, God, I'm so sorry. There hasn't been a second I haven't hated myself, "

His throat closed.

"Thank God you're home."