Chapter 2 - Ethan Ordered Everyone Out of the House, Then Asked Me Why I Had Raised His Son Without HimEthan dismissed the staff.
All of them.
He dismissed the drivers.
The security team.
The housekeeper.
Even his personal assistant.
Within twenty minutes, the enormous house felt strangely empty.
Only four people remained.
Ethan.
Me.
Leo.
And Victoria.
Victoria refused to leave.
“This is insane.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Go home.”
“This is my home.”
“No.”
She stared.
“You're choosing her?”
“I am not choosing anyone right now.”
He looked at Leo.
“I am trying to understand what happened.”
Victoria crossed her arms.
“She lied to you.”
“Yes.”
“She deliberately kept your child from you.”
“I know.”
“So why are you defending her?”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“I'm not defending anyone.”
He looked at the bruise forming near Leo's shoulder.
“I am asking why you touched a child.”
Victoria had no answer.
The silence became unbearable.
I carried Leo upstairs.
Ethan followed.
We entered a guest room.
He stopped at the doorway.
There were small toys on the floor.
A stuffed rabbit.
Three picture books.
A red backpack.
A child's socks beside the bed.
The realization hit him all over again.
This wasn't a random child.
This was a life.
A whole life.
A life he had never seen.
Ethan stared at the small bed.
“He sleeps here?”
“Yes.”
“With you?”
“Sometimes.”
His throat moved.
“I missed everything.”
I said nothing.
“His first word?”
“Yes.”
“What was it?”
“Ball.”
He smiled sadly.
“Of course.”
“His first steps?”
“Yes.”
“His first birthday?”
“Yes.”
“Was I supposed to know?”
The question broke my heart.
I answered honestly.
“I tried.”
He looked at me.
“You tried?”
“I came to your office.”
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
“Why didn't I see you?”
“Because Victoria told security not to let me in.”
Ethan's face changed.
“She did what?”
“She told them I was unstable.”
He looked toward the doorway.
Victoria had followed us.
Ethan turned.
“Did you?”
She didn't answer.
“Did you tell security to remove her?”
“I didn't know she was pregnant.”
“That's not what I asked.”
“Yes.”
His face went cold.
“Why?”
“Because she was obsessed with you.”
I laughed.
“I was your wife.”
“Exactly.”
Victoria's voice cracked.
“I loved you.”
“You knew she was married to me.”
“She wasn't right for you.”
“She was carrying my child.”
“I didn't know.”
“You knew she was pregnant.”
Silence.
I looked at Ethan.
“How did you not know?”
He didn't answer.
Because I realized something.
Victoria had known.
Maybe not the whole truth.
But enough.
She had seen me.
She had watched me leave.
And she had made sure he never knew.
I picked up Leo's backpack.
“We're leaving.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Where?”
“Home.”
“This is his home too.”
“No.”
His eyes flashed.
“You don't get to decide that alone anymore.”
The words cut.
I looked at him.
“And you don't get to walk into his life because you finally noticed his eyes.”
He stopped.
I continued.
“You were absent.”
“I didn't know.”
“Being unaware doesn't erase absence.”
He looked down.
“That's fair.”
The answer surprised me.
He didn't fight.
Didn't threaten.
Didn't use money.
He simply accepted it.
“I want to know him.”
“You don't even know if he's yours.”
Ethan looked at me.
“Then let's find out.”
I froze.
He called his attorney.
“Bring a private genetic testing team.”
I stared.
“You're serious?”
“Yes.”
“I won't let anyone take my son.”
“I am not taking him.”
“You don't have rights yet.”
“I know.”
He looked at Leo.
“I want certainty.”
“Fine.”
Testing was scheduled.
Leo was sleeping when the nurse arrived.
A tiny sample.
Nothing dramatic.
But I felt like the ground had shifted.
Forty-eight hours.
That was all.
Forty-eight hours before the truth became legal.
Ethan didn't leave.
He sat in the hallway outside Leo's room.
I asked why.
He said:
“I don't know how to be a father.”
I looked at him.
“Then learn.”
He nodded.
“I want to.”
That night, I found him asleep in a chair.
A children's book open on his lap.
He looked exhausted.
Human.
Not the billionaire from magazine covers.
Not the ruthless CEO.
Just a man who had realized he had missed three years of his son's life.
I covered him with a blanket.
He woke.
“You're still here.”
“So are you.”
He looked at me.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Did you love me before you left?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still?”
I hesitated.
“I don't know.”
He nodded.
“I'll accept that.”
I walked away.
But before I reached the hall, he said:
“Rosa.”
I turned.
“Thank you for keeping him safe.”
I almost cried.
Instead, I said:
“I would do anything for him.”
“I believe you.”
He looked at Leo.
“And I want to become someone who deserves to be in his life.”
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That was the first moment I believed Ethan might actually change.
I just didn't know if I could trust him enough to let him try.
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