Chapter 24 "I'm Afraid I Might Ruin Your Family"
She knew he had truly loved her. He had waited for her, he had suffered for her, and he had mourned her. So she forgave him.
Even though her heart was hurting terribly, she thought to herself, Thank goodness he was only sad for a few years.
If he had continued to wait in absolute agony for a ghost who had vanished without a trace, his life would have been a pure, unmitigated tragedy. She couldn’t hold him to an impossible standard just to stroke her own ego.
Truthfully, Nathan still loved her deeply. The thought of losing someone who cherished her so profoundly sent fresh waves of anguish through Chloe’s chest. She grieved, yet felt a strange, bitter relief.
A month passed in a quiet, fragile routine. Chloe slowly adjusted to her new life.
She commuted to the agency daily. In the evenings, Nathan would come to the old house. He taught her how to navigate the modern internet, patiently explaining the video editing and graphic design software she needed for work. Sitting beside him, listening to his deep, steady voice, it felt exactly like high school all over again. Her heart would grow calm and warm, completely free of the terrifying reality outside those walls.
Until reality knocked on the door.
One evening, as Chloe walked up the front steps of her building, she stopped dead.
A woman in her late thirties was standing on her porch. Dressed in a simple, impeccably tailored dark blue business suit, the woman turned to face Chloe. Surprise briefly flickered across her elegant features before her expression smoothed into perfect, cold composure.
“Who are you?” the woman asked.
“Who are you?” Chloe countered, her guard instantly up.
“I followed Nathan here. I saw him carrying groceries inside,” the woman said, looking Chloe up and down with assessing eyes. “Do you live here?”
Chloe’s stomach dropped. She had a very good idea who this woman was.
She pressed her lips together, her voice tight. “I live here. Why?”
The woman stared at the front door, her tone tinged with a quiet, seething resentment. “He’s been leaving the lab early and coming home late every single day. I thought he was busy with the new trial data. It turns out, he’s been coming here to see you.”
Chloe gripped the wooden railing.
She actually admired the woman for maintaining such terrifying composure. If Chloe had caught her husband sneaking off to another woman’s house with groceries, she would have stormed the door, started a screaming match, and thrown a chair at his head by now.
The woman took a slow, deep breath. “I know Nathan is charming. But he has a family.”
Chloe flinched.
“His son starts high school next year, and then college after that,” the woman continued, her voice perfectly level, weaponising every word. “For at least the next four years, Nathan will absolutely not let a personal scandal interfere with his child’s education. By the time he’s free, he’ll be nearly fifty. I admit, you are very young. You can afford to waste your youth waiting for him. But is it really worth it?”
The woman took a step closer, her gaze turning pitying. “Besides, you’re beautiful. You could find a single man with no baggage. Nathan is famous, yes, but he’s an academic, not a billionaire tycoon. What he can offer a mistress is severely limited. I believe you’re smart enough to do the math. I hope we never meet again.”
With that, the woman descended the stairs, her heels clicking sharply against the concrete.
As she passed, she paused and murmured over her shoulder, “Don’t tell him I came here. This is between us.”
Without waiting for a response, she walked away.
Chloe stood frozen on the steps, feeling too humiliated to even lift her head.
She was furious, yet she couldn’t utter a single word in her own defense. She felt utterly degraded. She was his wife! Why was she being spoken to like a cheap mistress trying to homewreck a family?
This woman was the latecomer! In Chloe’s day, the second wife would never have dared to act so brazenly.
Chloe dug her fingernails into her palms, her chest burning with a violent mix of shame and fury. She spun around, ready to flee back down the street, when the front door clicked open.
Nathan stood in the doorway, wearing an apron over his dress shirt, smiling gently. “I heard footsteps. I was just coming down to get you.”
Chloe swallowed hard, lowered her head, and brushed past him into the house.
As she took off her coat, she couldn’t stop thinking about the woman outside. She was beautiful, refined, and undeniably well-mannered. Even though she thought she had caught Nathan hiding a mistress, she had maintained her dignity. She was clearly terrified of losing him.
And then Chloe thought of Mason.
The boy didn’t look much like Nathan, but his demeanor was identical. He was a good, polite kid who clearly revered his father. If he ever found out about her, it would devastate him. And a man as softhearted and kind as Nathan would be completely consumed by guilt if he destroyed his son’s life.
Chloe’s heart fractured completely.
Nathan brought the steaming dishes to the table and pulled out her chair. She sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and mechanically forced the food down her throat.
As always, Nathan sat across from her, not eating, just watching her with a quiet, profound contentment in his dark eyes.
“How is it?” he asked softly.
“It’s good,” Chloe replied rigidly.
“Then I’ll come cook for you every night.”
Chloe’s hand stopped mid-air.
She set her chopsticks down on the ceramic rest. She looked up at him.
“It’s not necessary, Nathan. You don’t have to do this anymore.”
Nathan paused, a hint of confusion in his eyes. “Do what?”
Chloe forced her voice to stay steady, though her throat was burning. “Please don’t come see me anymore.”
Nathan froze. The knife and fork in his hands clattered onto his plate.
“You don’t need to drive me to work either,” Chloe continued, staring blankly at his collarbone to avoid his eyes. “I know how the subway works now. I’ll stay in this apartment temporarily, but once I save up enough paychecks, I’ll move out.”
“Chloe—”
“Don’t worry about me, and don’t try to manage me. I can handle it. I know how to use Apple Pay. I know how to order delivery. I have a job. I can support myself.”
Nathan’s eyes instantly turned red. “But you still need someone to take care of you.”
“No, I don’t,” Chloe snapped, her hands clenching into tight fists in her lap. “I don’t need your care! I can do it alone!”
Nathan stared at her in absolute silence. The air in the room grew suffocatingly thin.
“What happened?” he asked, his voice dropping to a dangerously calm whisper. “Did someone say something to you?”
He’s always too perceptive, Chloe thought bitterly. She could never hide anything from him.
“Your wife came to see me,” Chloe said flatly.
“My wife?” Nathan’s brow furrowed in genuine, utter confusion. He stared at her as if trying to decipher a foreign language.
Chloe couldn’t bear to look at him anymore. She stared at the wood grain of the table. “Nathan, you know I have terrible impulse control. I’ve been trying so hard to keep my distance. But if you keep coming here, if you keep taking care of me like this… I’m afraid I’m going to ruin your family.”
Tears finally spilled over her lashes, splashing onto the table.
“I don’t want to become that kind of woman. And I refuse to let you become a man who cheats on his family. I don’t want our past to turn into something ugly and despised.”
She looked up at him, her face wrecked with sorrow. “I want you to always remain the best thing that ever happened to me. Thank you for taking care of me since I woke up. I know you still feel responsible for me, but this isn’t right.”
She gave a wet, broken laugh. “I was the one who chased you back then. This time… let me be the one to end it.”
She stood up. “Nathan. This is where we stop.”
Nathan sat completely paralyzed, his head bowed, the shadows hiding his eyes.
“Go home,” Chloe whispered, her voice shattering. “Your son is waiting for you.”