My words hit a nerve.Ethan’s voice rose,sharp and loud.“What difference does it make if she was sold or not?Natalie is right,you always act so arrogantly.You think the worst of everyone.Maybe this happened because you didn’t watch your child properly and now you’re blaming me?”
I stared at him,speechless in disbelief.How could he say that?
“I’m blaming you?The CCTV shows it all.You’re the one who took her!”
“I’m her father!What’s wrong with me taking her?”
Ethan looked at me,looking completely impatient now.His words were sharp and cruel.
“Is there a law that says a father can’t take his own daughter?Jenna,if a child goes missing,you’re the one responsible for it.Who told you to stare at your phone?What kind of mother are you?”
His twisted logic made my head spin.Rage and despair hit me so hard I nearly fainted.
Natalie put on a sweet voice.“Ethan,don’t be angry…Maybe Jenna didn’t mean it.Maybe she just wasn’t paying attention for a moment.Poor child.I wonder where she’s suffering now…”
Her words sounded gentle but were like knives and they pushed all the blame onto me.
“Natalie,shut up!”I stared at her with bloodshot eyes,teeth clenched.
“You have no right to speak here!You’re nothing but a mistress in someone else’s family,bitch!”
“Jenna!”At that,Ethan shoved me hard.
“Who do you think you are,cursing her?Say one more word about Natalie and see what happens.She’s a thousand times better than you!At least she knows how to care for people.You’re always so arrogant,just looking at you makes me sick!”
I staggered and almost fell,but a bodyguard caught me in time.I lifted my head and looked at him.
My heart broke completely.
So,in his eyes,I was so disgusting.
I looked at the man before me.He was familiar,but suddenly strange.The man I had loved for more than a decade,the man I had given my whole heart to,now felt only disgust.
My voice steadied,oddly calm.“Ethan,have you forgotten how you knelt before my father,begging for help?Have you forgotten how I emptied my savings to plug the hole when your company was about to collapse?Have you forgotten the first hundred-thousand-dollar contract you signed,how you hugged me and spun me,calling me your lucky star?”