Poof! Wife Status, ERASED

Chapter 23: I'm Not Dirty Anymore

After the engagement, the extended Holt family rushed to visit, eager to meet the future Mrs. Holt.

Knowing Sophia disliked socializing, Christopher Holt whisked her away on a honeymoon to escape the fuss.

From south to north, they watched the sea, the stars, and the vast grasslands.

Two months later, when Sophia began experiencing drowsiness—a sign of pregnancy—Christopher quietly brought her back to Oceanview City.

Though a first-time father, he had already studied everything about expectant mothers and babies.

He cooked for her daily, experimenting with different dishes, and even learned massage techniques to ease her discomfort. Every piece of clothing, every meal, every little amusement—anything related to Sophia—had to pass through his hands first.

Soon, the entire Holt family, their friends, and even business associates across Oceanview City knew Christopher was utterly devoted to his wife. He had handed over full control of his company to his sister just to care for her.

Word of this eventually reached Ethan Vanderbilt.

After the beating he had suffered, Ethan visibly deteriorated, locking himself in his room and drowning in alcohol.

Yet, he still longed to see her one last time.

The Holt family owned too many properties, and it took Ethan weeks of searching before he finally located Tranquil Court, where Sophia now lived.

He didn't get to see her—only caught a glimpse through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor, where the perfect couple stood embraced.

She seemed to be frowning, refusing to drink something. The man pinched her cheek, downed the liquid himself, then kissed her.

After feeding Sophia a medicinal broth for her skin, Christopher cradled her in his arms and told her a bedtime story. Only when she fell asleep did he leave the room.

As he reached the elevator, the smart home system alerted him.

"Master, a suspicious individual is lingering at the front gate!"

Christopher checked the surveillance feed and clicked his tongue.

He was about to head to the entrance when Sophia's voice stopped him.

"Let me handle it."

Knowing this was a knot in her heart that needed untying, he nodded.

Bundled in a thick down coat, Sophia stepped outside and sighed at the sight of the man kneeling in the snow.

He was still the same—never solving problems, just torturing himself to get her attention.

At five years old, when she hid in the flower bushes, too afraid to go home after her uncle's abuse, he had reached out to her. When she refused to take his hand, he crawled in beside her and let the insects bite him until they were both covered in welts.

At fifteen, when she rejected his gift, he stood outside her window in the pouring rain until she finally came out.

At twenty-five, when she discovered his infidelity, he knelt on a washboard, swearing he'd die if she didn't forgive him.

And now, here he was again—kneeling in the snow, forcing her to face him.

The more she thought about it, the more suffocating Ethan's love had always been.

But the man on the ground didn't know her thoughts. He gazed up at her with the same desperate, pitiful devotion as always.

"Sophia... you finally came out to see me..."

Long exposure to the cold had left his skin an unnatural red, yet he crawled forward on his knees, clutching the hem of her pants. Frantically, he pulled open his coat, revealing skin raw and inflamed from obsessive scrubbing.

"Sophia, I'm not dirty anymore. I washed myself over and over. I'm clean now."

"Please forgive me. I was wrong. The baby isn't mine—I got a vasectomy years ago because I knew you were afraid of the pain of childbirth."

"I love you. It's always been you. Don't throw me away."

Looking down at him, Sophia realized that unless she made things brutally clear, Ethan would keep disrupting her life.

Her voice was calm. "Ethan, you don't love me as much as you think. You just can't stand me disappearing from your world. Even if it wasn't Isabella, there would've been someone else—another woman, another betrayal. Go home. Stop this delusion."

"No! I love you! I've loved you for over twenty years!"

Tears streaked down Ethan's face as he clutched at her coat, pleading. "Sophia, I can't live without you."

A bitter smile touched her lips. "Then why did you cheat? When you slept with Isabella, did you ever think about how much it would destroy me?"

"I gave you my heart, and you stabbed it over and over. Now that I finally have a new life, all I ask is that you stay away. Stop tormenting me. Is that too much to ask?"

She refused to be trapped in the past any longer.

The raw pain in her voice struck Ethan like a knife. Defeated, he collapsed into the snow.

"Wait."

He called out as she turned to leave. Still on his knees, he reached for her coat, carefully wiping the snow from her boots with trembling hands.

When he finished, no words came.

He had brought her nothing but suffering. There was no fixing what he'd broken.

As Christopher lifted Sophia into his arms and carried her back inside, Ethan finally crumpled, facedown in the snow.