From Devotion To Despair: His Regret

My mother' s dying wish was for me, Sarah Miller, to marry Ethan Hayes. But every time we tried, his housekeeper' s daughter, Jessica Stone, found a way to stop it.

Then, after Jessica was involved in a car accident, Ethan manipulated me into taking the blame, promising to marry me once I was released. I served three years in prison for a crime I didn' t commit, holding onto his promise like a prayer.

But when I got out, everything shattered. Ethan was marrying Jessica, and my mother was dead. At the hospital, I overheard Jessica gloat, revealing she had deliberately cut off my mother' s medical payments, leading to her death.

Blinded by rage, I confronted Jessica, only to be violently pushed down a flight of stairs by Ethan himself. He cradled Jessica, treating me like trash, and coldly declared he truly wanted to marry her. Heartbroken, I ended our engagement on the spot.

Later, I arrived at their wedding, carrying my mother' s urn. Jessica' s mother, in a fit of rage, snatched the urn and brutally shattered it, stomping on my mother' s ashes while security guards physically assaulted me. Ethan arrived, but instead of helping, he accused me of ruining his wedding.

Then, a phone call revealed the truth: my mother had died because her medical payments were cut off. I screamed at Ethan, exposing Jessica' s evil, leaving him at his chaotic wedding.

Ethan, once the man I adored, now stood exposed as a heartless stranger. His blindness and betrayal fueled a fire within me. I vowed to uncover every lie, every hidden cruelty, and make them pay for destroying my life and my mother' s memory.

My mother' s dying wish was to see me, Sarah Miller, marry Ethan Hayes.

But every time we stood outside the courthouse, he' d leave me, again and again.

It was always something with Jessica Stone.

The first time, she' d sprained her ankle and needed him at the emergency room.

The second time, she was having a bad day and needed him to comfort her.

The third time, she needed help clipping her cat' s nails.

It went on like this, nine separate times, nine perfect excuses that all revolved around her.

On the tenth attempt, he finally tossed a marriage license application at my feet. His face was a mask of cold fury.

"Jessica accidentally hit someone with her car."

His voice was low, dangerous.

"It' s all because you were so desperate to get married today, you kept calling and distracting her."

He looked at me like I was something he' d stepped in.

"Now, if you take the fall for her, go to jail in her place, I promise I will marry you when you get out. This time, I swear I won' t go back on my word."

My heart stopped. Jail. For a crime I didn' t commit. For a woman who had systematically dismantled my life.

I looked at his handsome face, the face I had loved for five years, and saw nothing of the man I knew.

"If I agree to this," I asked, my voice barely a whisper, "you' ll really marry me? You' ll fulfill my mother' s last wish?"

I was clinging to a thread, a single, frayed hope that this grand sacrifice would finally fix everything. That it would give our five-year history the ending it deserved.

He nodded, his eyes hard. "I promise."

So I agreed. I took the blame. I walked into that courtroom and lied.

I went to prison.

I survived the torment, the humiliation, the violence. I counted the days, holding onto his promise like a prayer.

When I finally walked out, a free woman, I learned two things.

Ethan was marrying Jessica Stone, the daughter of his housekeeper.

And my mother was dead.

Fine. I thought. Let it be.

Ethan, why did you have to break me so completely?

...

"Can you believe Sarah Miller actually thought going to jail for me would make Ethan marry her? What an idiot. All it took was one tear from me, and he came running right back!"

"And that old bitch, Sarah' s mom, she deserved to die! With her out of the way, there' s no one left to pressure Ethan into marrying that pathetic loser!"

"The old woman really thought her daughter would marry a rich man before she croaked, hahaha. I made sure to cut off the medical payments Ethan was sending for her weeks ago!"

The voice on the phone was Jessica' s. She was in the hallway of the hospital, gloating to a friend, not knowing I was right around the corner.

Every word shattered the last piece of my soul.

All my suffering, all my humiliation, and I still failed my mother. I couldn' t even fulfill her one, simple, dying wish.

A tidal wave of pure hatred washed over me, burning away every last bit of reason.

I spun around the corner and lunged at the woman who was still laughing about my mother' s death.

"Jessica Stone!"

My voice was a raw, broken thing, scraped from the depths of hell.

Smack!

The sound of my hand hitting her face echoed in the quiet hallway. It was sharp, loud, final.

Jessica cried out, clutching her cheek, which was already turning a blotchy red. She stumbled backward and fell to the floor, her designer purse skittering away.

She looked up at me, her eyes wide with disbelief. When she recognized me, the triumph in her expression twisted into shock, then fear, then pure, venomous malice.

"Sarah Miller?!"

She shrieked, her voice high and grating.

"You... you murderer! How did you get out of prison?!"

"You actually hit me? You psycho!"

She scrambled to her feet, her eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at me.

"I' m calling Ethan right now! I swear to God, he' ll have you thrown back in that hellhole so fast you won' t even know what hit you!"

She screamed like a cornered animal, lunging for me, her hands like claws, aiming for my hair. Her long, dark nails glinted under the fluorescent lights, inches from my face.

But then, she stopped.

Her lunge froze mid-air. She suddenly pulled back, her body going limp as she collapsed onto the floor again.

"Waaahhh..."

The arrogant, vicious woman from a moment ago was gone. In her place was a sobbing, heartbroken victim. Tears streamed down her perfect face, her cries so pitiful they could make a stone statue weep.

"Sarah... sis..."

She choked out the words, her voice so soft and fragile.

"I know you hate me... you hate that I' m going to marry Ethan..."

She lifted her tear-filled eyes, looking at something just over my shoulder.

"Go on... hit me... I won' t blame you... If it makes you feel better, just do it! I won' t even fight back!"

Her performance was flawless. She looked like she was bearing the weight of the world' s greatest injustice.

Acting.

Still fucking acting.

My chest burned with a rage so hot it felt like it would consume me from the inside out. I was trembling, about to scream at her, to demand why she let my mother die.

"Sarah Miller! What the hell are you doing?!"

A furious roar exploded from behind me. It was a voice I knew better than my own, but it was filled with an anger I had never heard directed at me.

Before I could even turn, a powerful hand gripped my arm.

He didn' t just push me.

He threw me.

With all his strength, without a shred of mercy, he flung me away from her.

The world spun violently. I lost my balance completely.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My body tumbled down the cold, hard marble staircase like a broken doll. Each step was a fresh burst of agony. My forehead smashed against the sharp edge of a stair, and warm blood gushed out, instantly blurring my vision.

I felt a crack in my ribs, a sharp, searing pain that shot through my entire body. But the agony of my shattering bones was nothing compared to the pain of my heart being ripped in two.

I landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, a crumpled mess on the cold floor.

I struggled to lift my head, my vision swimming with a mixture of blood and tears.

And I saw him.

Ethan Hayes.

The man I had loved for five years. The man who had promised to marry me.

He stormed past me, a hurricane of fury. He didn't even glance down at my broken body at his feet.

In his eyes, in his entire world, there was only one person.

Jessica Stone, sitting at the top of the stairs, trembling and crying.

He scooped her up into his arms, holding her with a fierce, protective grip, like she was the most precious treasure in the world. The careful way he held her, the look of profound heartache on his face... it was a look he had never, not once, given me.

I lay on the cold, hard ground, watching him shield her in his arms, his body a fortress between her and the world.

And I finally understood.

In his heart, the person he instinctively cared for, the person he would always protect, without a second thought...

It was never me, Sarah Miller.

It was always her.

Five years.

For four of those years, his voice was a constant, gentle hum in my life. The memory of his meticulous care, his soft words, his easy smile, still echoed in my mind.

But everything changed a year ago.

It happened when Jessica Stone, the daughter of his live-in housekeeper, came to stay with them after finishing school.

Subtly at first, then all at once.

His attention shifted. He went from being attentive and caring to distant and aloof.

And now, he treated me like an enemy.

For her, he had just personally, physically, pushed me down a flight of stairs.

My mind, against my will, replayed a conversation from months ago.

"Ethan, why are you always so good to Jessica?" I had asked, trying to keep my tone light.

He had ruffled my hair then, his touch still familiar, his voice gentle. "Honey, her mother, Mrs. Stone, saved my life once when I was a kid. Jessica is her only daughter, and her father passed away early. She' s all alone in the world. It' s only right for us to take good care of her."

Right.

Yes, so right.

So right that she could shamelessly steal my fiancé.

So right that she could watch, without a flicker of emotion, as I took the blame for her crime and went to prison.

So right that she could cruelly, callously, cut off the funds for my dying mother' s medical care, her last chance at a comfortable end.

And he, for her, could push me down a flight of cold, hard stairs without a moment' s hesitation.

From the top of the staircase, I could hear his voice, strained with anxiety.

"Jessica, are you okay? Did she hurt you anywhere?"

He was checking her over meticulously, his hands gentle, his voice a low murmur, as if she were made of the most fragile glass.

Jessica, cradled in his arms, timidly lifted her head. She pointed a pale, trembling finger in my direction, her voice thick with fake tears.

"Ethan, sis didn' t mean to hit me. I' m fine, really. You should go check on her, see if she' s okay..."

Ethan' s grip on her tightened.

Finally, he bothered to look at me again.

I was lying in a broken heap on the floor, bruised and bleeding.

His gaze was like ice. It was sharp, cutting, and filled with an undisguised disgust and hatred that made my blood run cold.

It was the look you give to a piece of trash, not a person you once claimed to love.

He didn' t even let Jessica finish her little performance. He cut her off, his voice cold and hard. His tone was a clear reprimand for me, and a shield for her.

"Jessica! You' re too kind! You' re just too forgiving!"

He looked down at the fragile, weeping girl in his arms, his voice firm, resolute.

Every word he spoke was like a heavy hammer, pounding on the shattered pieces of my heart.

"Sarah Miller and I have an engagement, yes. It was set up by our parents years ago. There' s nothing I can do about that!"

He paused, and his eyes, when he looked back at her, were filled with a burning, unprecedented determination.

His voice echoed through the empty hallway, a final, brutal blow that shattered the last shred of hope I had left.

"But you," he said, his voice ringing with conviction. "You are the woman I, Ethan Hayes, truly want to marry!"

Boom.

My world didn' t just crack. It collapsed into dust.

Set up by our parents. Nothing he could do about it.

Five years of my life. I gave him everything. I loved him with every fiber of my being. I went to prison for the woman he loved. I endured hell.

And all I got in return was a dismissive, "Nothing I can do about it."

And the woman he wanted to marry? The woman who was the cause of my mother' s death, the woman who framed me for a crime she committed?

Ethan, how could you be so cruel?

Were my five years of devotion truly just an insignificant footnote in your life? An annoying obligation you had to endure?

I struggled to prop myself up, my body screaming in protest. Every muscle, every bone ached with a deep, throbbing pain.

Using every last ounce of strength I had, I shrieked at the cold, heartless man at the top of the stairs.

"Ethan Hayes! My mom is dead! She' s dead!!"

My voice was raw, desperate.

But Ethan' s gaze was that of a man looking at an unreasonable, hysterical lunatic.

He frowned, his expression a mixture of impatience and disgust.

"Sarah Miller, our relationship ended a long time ago!"

He held Jessica closer, looking down at me as if he were bestowing some great favor.

"I' ve done everything I could for you! Even after you went to jail, I continued to pay for your mother' s medical expenses!"

He let out a short, harsh laugh.

"She was being cared for by the best doctors and nurses, twenty-four hours a day! How could she possibly be dead?!"

He scoffed as if I had just told the most ridiculous joke in the world. A hint of a cruel smirk played on his lips.

"Why have you become so unhinged?!"

"You' ll make up any lie just to get back at Jessica, won' t you?"

His gaze fell upon Jessica' s tear-streaked face, and his expression instantly softened, transforming into one of deep concern and protection.

He looked back at me, his face hard again.

"Immediately! Right now! Apologize to Jessica!"