Chapter 2The Choice He Couldn't Make: My Ex-Husband's Bitter Regret

Once we were home, Arthur gave me his explanation.

I sat on the bed, motionless for a long time.

He stood on the balcony of my room and smoked for the entire night.

I knew exactly what he was doing. He was using this self-destructive behavior to make my heart ache for him.

When it came to me, he always knew exactly how to exploit my weaknesses.

As dawn broke, Arthur turned, walked inside, and sat beside me.

"Are you hungry? Tell me what you want, I'll cook."

I stopped him with a hoarse voice.

"Arthur, we need to talk."

His footsteps halted. For a long time, he didn't turn around.

He knew my personality well. He knew I cared deeply about loyalty.

I cared a lot.

Even if he had too much to drink that night, even if his contact with that girl was an unintentional mistake.

I could never forgive him.

Knowing this, Arthur had hidden the truth from me.

But no one expected that this strange girl, someone he claimed was just a one-night mistake, would get pregnant.

And because of a rare medical condition, she couldn't safely terminate the pregnancy.

That was how we ended up here.

Arthur walked out. He didn't dare face the words he knew I was about to say.

I knew he loved me.

If he didn't, we wouldn't have survived years of a marathon romance to finally get married.

If he didn't, he wouldn't have spoiled me to the point where I felt safe enough to throw tantrums and cry over the smallest things.

For the next week, Arthur didn't come home.

Yet, every single day, he called our housekeeper to ask about every detail of my life and how I was doing.

The housekeeper tried to persuade me:

"Ma'am, you and Mr. Sterling are the most loving couple I've ever seen. Whatever happened, just talk it out and it will pass. Mr. Sterling... he's lost so much weight recently."

She had worked for us for years and had never seen us have a single fight.

Even Arthur's mother, who had been displeased with me in our early years, gradually accepted me as her daughter-in-law simply because Arthur and I were so blissfully happy together.

My phone rang. It was one of Arthur's friends.

"Eleanor, Arthur is black-out drunk. Could you come pick him up?"

"Leave him be!"

After hanging up, the heavy knot in my chest only grew tighter.

My mind kept replaying the sight of his back as he walked out the door a week ago—his posture seemed to have bent under the weight of it all.

In the end, I couldn't be ruthless enough to just leave him there alone.

After a brief internal struggle, I grabbed my car keys and strode out the door.