The Ex-Wife's Escape: From Betrayal to Revenge

Chapter 24

Ethan Johnson's hand froze mid-air, his fingers trembling slightly. Sophia Williams didn't even glance at him as she turned to help her drunken friend up.

"I'll take him to the hospital," she said, her voice icy.

"No need, Sophia," her best friend, Lin Yue, stopped her. "This dinner was supposed to be your farewell party. Who knew it would end like this..."

Lin Yue avoided her gaze, her eyes flickering nervously. The other friends chimed in, urging Sophia toward the exit.

"You guys—" Sophia frowned.

"Go home," Lin Yue forced a smile, pushing her toward the door. "You have a flight to catch tomorrow."

Ethan suddenly rushed forward, gripping her wrist.

"What flight? Where are you going?" Blood still trickled from the cut on his temple, his eyes wild like a wounded beast.

Sophia tried to wrench free, but his grip was ironclad. The next second, he yanked her into his arms.

"Let go!" she snapped.

"Tell me!" Ethan's voice was hoarse. "Where are you going?"

Sophia let out a cold laugh and met his gaze. "And what capacity are you asking, Mr. Johnson?"

Seizing his moment of hesitation, she shoved him away.

"Sophia!"

A screech of brakes pierced the air.

Crash—

When Sophia turned, she saw Ethan's body flung through the air like a ragdoll.

Three months later.

Ethan sat in a wheelchair, their wedding photo spread across his lap. The edges were worn and faded.

"Sophia..." He repeated her name mechanically, his eyes hollow as a dried-up well.

"Mrs. Johnson, please go see him," the secretary pleaded over the phone for the umpteenth time. "He calls your name every day..."

Sophia hung up and blocked the number without hesitation.

What was there to see? That marriage had died long ago.

The doorbell rang again. Sophia yanked the door open impatiently—then froze.

Ethan's mother stood there, her temples far grayer than the last time they'd met.

"Mom—" Sophia caught herself and corrected, "Mrs. Johnson."

The older woman shakily held out a velvet box. "Ethan asked me to give this to you."

Sophia didn’t take it.

"He's fading," Ethan's mother suddenly choked up. "The doctors say... he has no will to fight anymore..."

The box slipped from her fingers and hit the floor. The diamond ring Sophia had once dreamed of rolled out, glinting cruelly in the sunlight.

"Five years of marriage. He took a knife for you, jumped into the sea for you..." Tears streamed down the older woman's face. "If not for him, then for me. Just go see him..."

Sophia clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms.

"Sorry." She turned and shut the door. "Ethan and I are even now."

As the door closed, she heard Ethan's mother's muffled sobs—just like the ones she'd heard years ago in the delivery room, bleeding out, when Ethan had said over the phone:

"Save the baby."