The woman struggled with all her strength but couldn’t break free. “Ethan Brooks! Let me go! Haven’t you had enough?”
“Had enough? I should be asking what the hell you want from me!”
Ethan’s arm tightened around her, his body pressing in, his voice harsh. “I send you flowers, you throw them away. I give you money, you reject it. Now you won’t even see me?”
“Why should I want anything from you? What are we, really?” she shot back, her tone biting with sarcasm.
“What are we?” Ethan roared, gripping her chin hard.
His fierce gaze, the same one he’d given me in Hawaii by the pool, overlapped in my mind.
“I’ll tell you what we are.”
He crushed his lips down on hers.
The woman whimpered, pounding against his chest.
I stood frozen, my blood turned to ice, fingers numb.
The sweet whisper—You know I don’t care about anyone else—still echoed in my ears.
But here he was, using that same kiss as punishment on another woman.
Ethan finally released her, his thumb roughly brushing her swollen lips. His voice was hoarse.
“Don’t look at me like that. And stop running.”
He straightened his suit and walked away, as if his loss of control had never happened.
The woman collapsed to the ground, face buried in her knees, shoulders trembling.
Sophia and I slipped quietly out of the alley.
Back in the car, we sat in silence.
Outside, the sun shone brightly over the market—
but it couldn’t reach the ice inside my chest.
Sophia tapped quickly on her phone.
Minutes later, she gasped and shoved the screen toward me—
An old photo, the same woman, dressed in a plain black dress, standing beside a memorial portrait.
Her face was unmistakable.
Sophia’s voice trembled. “I found her. That’s Rachel Adams—Ethan’s widowed sister-in-law.”
Before I could even process the revelation, Ethan left town again on another business trip.
Meanwhile, Sophia texted me: Rachel’s fish stall didn’t open today.
She soon discovered where they had gone—
San Diego Zoo.
The name alone sent a shiver through me.
I’d always loved animals, but my allergies to cats and dogs meant I could never have pets.
I used to cuddle Ethan and say, “I heard the animals at San Diego Zoo are so well cared for. Can we go sometime?”
And though he’d always indulged me, that time he refused:
“You’re too old for that, baby. When we have a child, the three of us can go together.”
When Sophia and I finally arrived at the zoo,
I saw Ethan holding the hand of a little boy—while Rachel Adams walked on the other side.
So this was his “family of three.”
A role I thought was meant for me… had already been given away.
Beside me, Sophia seethed.
“I can’t believe this! What does he even see in her? That she’s older and ‘experienced’? That she already has a kid so he can play dad with no effort?”
“What a shameless woman! If it hadn’t been for you, he’d have been dead years ago!”
But I couldn’t hear a word. My eyes were locked on the three of them.
Ethan and Rachel each held the boy’s hand.
Soon the child ran off to the trampoline play area,
leaving the two of them on a bench together.
Hidden in the crowd, Sophia and I clearly heard their conversation.
Rachel sighed. “Ethan, you don’t need to do this. You have a wife.”
“Daniel is Daniel. You are you.”
Daniel Brooks—Ethan’s closest older brother.
Ethan’s voice was flat. “Daniel’s death was partly my fault. Rachel… this is what I owe you.”
