Chapter 3 Ethan Moved on

Cloe's voice trembled as she spoke, her heart aching with disbelief. "I grew up here, Elizabeth. I've always considered Taylor Mansion my home."

Elizabeth's gaze was cold, her lips curling into a thin, dismissive smile. "Now you've grown up," she replied, her voice sharp and cutting. "So go and find your life."

Cloe stood there, frozen, her breath catching in her throat. Her chest tightened as though the air had been sucked from the room. She felt the world tilt beneath her, confusion swirling in her mind. This couldn't be happening. She had just come back, finally ready to build her life with Ethan. They had plans, dreams-didn't they?

She tried to speak, her voice barely a whisper. "But me and Ethan..."

Elizabeth cut her off, her voice like a blade slicing through Cloe's hope. "Meet Ethan's fiancée, Sofia."

The words hit Cloe like a thunderclap, a shock so violent it felt as if lightning had struck her to the core. Her body stiffened, her eyes wide, her heart pounding so loud it echoed in her ears. Fiancée? Ethan's fiancée?

Her eyes darted to Sofia, who stepped forward with a cruel smile, her voice dripping with satisfaction. "Yes. Fiancée. I'm pregnant with Ethan's child."

Cloe's world shattered. The words slammed into her with the force of a thousand storms, and she staggered backward as if physically struck. Her knees buckled, her hands clutching her chest, her breathing shallow and ragged. Pregnant? With Ethan's child?

She stared at Sofia in horror, her eyes wide and uncomprehending. This couldn't be real. This had to be some cruel joke. Ethan would never-he couldn't-betray her like this. They were supposed to be together. He loved her. He had always loved her. Hadn't he?

Elizabeth's voice cut through the fog of Cloe's disbelief. "It's been five years since you left, Cloe. My son is also a man. He has physical needs. So, he moved on."

The room began to spin. Cloe's head pounded, her vision blurring as Elizabeth's words sank in. Five years. Ethan had moved on. With Sofia. The woman who had always hated her, who had always been there, lurking in the shadows, waiting for this moment.

Cloe's legs gave out, and she felt herself sink to the cold marble floor, her body shaking uncontrollably. She tried to breathe, but the air felt thick and suffocating. Her heart raced, her mind a whirlwind of questions. How? Why?

She looked around, desperate for something-anything-that made sense. But the faces around her only mirrored her devastation, the silent shock of the maids and butlers doing nothing to lessen the suffocating weight of betrayal.

Her lips trembled, barely able to form the words. "How... how did this happen?"

But there were no answers. Only the cold, brutal reality that everything she had known, everything she had believed in, had been ripped away in a single moment. And there was no turning back.