“Ethan, after all these years together, do you really not trust me?”
“You hold hands, hug, caress—doing everything lovers do. Sorry, but I’m not playing this game with you two.”
Her forced composure only deepened the chill in my heart.
Before I could say more, her phone rang, its shrill tone unmistakable—the ringtone she reserved only for Ryan’s emergency calls.
Claire immediately answered.
“What is it, Doctor? Is Ryan unwell again?”
“Ms. Miller, it’s bad. Ryan has disappeared. His phone is off, and he’s removed his tracking bracelet.”
The doctor’s voice trembled with urgency.
Claire’s face blanched with panic.
“Ethan, Ryan’s in trouble—I don’t have time for your tantrums right now.”
Watching her rush out in a frenzy, a wave of helplessness crushed me.
Just like every other time—the moment that ringtone sounded.
Whether it was three in the morning, in the middle of a meeting, or even during our most intimate moments—
Claire would abandon everything to run to Ryan.
Sometimes she even brought him to the office, just to keep an eye on him.
Privately, employees had already begun calling him “little boss.” Claire never denied it—she even introduced him warmly to the whole company.
She had even gone so far as to secretly terminate our barely-formed pregnancy, just to focus on caring for Ryan.
“We can have another baby later. Right now, Ryan’s health comes first.”
That little life we had waited over five years for—she ended it as if it were nothing.
The last flicker of emotion I held for her vanished with her fading silhouette.
I waited at home for Claire Miller for two days, but instead, what came was her social media post.
The caption read: “I hope you’ll always be healthy and full of sunshine.”
The background was a honeymoon island resort.
Claire stood in the center of the photo, smiling brightly as Ryan Carter, the man who had supposedly disappeared, held her by the waist.
I couldn’t help but comment:
“Ms. Miller, please come back and sign the divorce papers, so you don’t delay your honeymoon with your new husband.”
Three seconds later, Claire’s furious voice exploded over the phone:
“Ethan Brooks, do you know that when I found Ryan at the Carter family’s old house, he almost jumped off the roof?”
“I finally persuaded him to go out for a little trip, just to stop him from taking his own life. And now he saw your comment, and his emotions are spiraling again.”