Chapter 8 - CONFRONTATION IN THE STORM
Ethan stopped at the edge of the patio, rain dripping from his dark hair onto his soaked charcoal suit. He looked broken, his former handsome charm replaced by the hollow stare of a man who had lost everything in less than twenty-four hours.
"Claire... please," Ethan begged, his voice barely audible over the roaring thunder. "I know I ruined our marriage, but you can't destroy my mother's life. She had no idea what I was doing with those accounts!"
Claire stepped closer to the edge of the patio, looking down at her husband with absolute detachment. The ambient garden lights reflected off her wet emerald ring, which she had reclaimed from the stage.
"Your mother was the one who suggested you marry me for my father's trust fund six years ago, Ethan," Claire revealed, her voice piercing through the heavy rain. "Did you really think I didn't find her handwritten letters in your father's safe?"
Ethan froze in his tracks, his mouth opening slightly in sheer disbelief as the final layer of his deception crumbled away.
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"You knew... before we even got married?" Ethan whispered, taking a step back into the freezing rain.
"I knew who you were the moment you proposed to me under the American flag at my father's estate," Claire confirmed coldly. "I simply waited until you committed enough federal crimes to ensure neither you nor your mother would ever touch a dollar of my child's inheritance."
