---- Chapter 22 22 "Ava, please," Ethan whispered, his voice cracking. "| made mistakes. Terrible mistakes. | know that now. I'm so sorry. For everything." His vulnerability was... unsettling. This broken, pleading man was a stranger. The arrogant, dismissive Ethan | knew would never have begged. | looked at him, and all | felt was a distant, clinical disgust. My eyes were cold. Empty of any feeling for him. Liam's arm tightened around me. "| think you've said enough, Cole," Liam said, his voice low and dangerous. "Ava has moved on. You should too." He looked Ethan up and down. "You had your chance. You blew it. Repeatedly. Spectacularly." Ethan flinched as if struck. He looked from Liam to me, seeing the unspoken solidarity, the quiet intimacy between us. He took a step back. Then another. But he didn't leave. He lingered at the edge of the ballroom, his eyes following me, a lost soul haunting the periphery of my new, happy life. Later, as Liam and | were leaving, he was still there. Watching. Chloe approached him, her face a mixture of hope and desperation. ---- "Ethan," she said, her voice wheedling. "She's clearly moved on. With him. So, it's just us now, right? We can try again." Ethan looked at her, his eyes cold, empty. "You're no longer useful to me, Chloe," he said, his voice flat. Devoid of any emotion. Chloe gasped. "Useful? Is that all | ever was to you?" "Pretty much," he said, with a shrug of devastating indifference. Tears welled in Chloe's eyes. "But Ethan... |... I'm pregnant." A desperate, last-ditch lie. It had to be. Ethan didn't even blink. "Are you now?" he said, his tone bored. "Well, that's unfortunate. For you." He pulled out his checkbook. "How much will it take to make this... problem... go away?" Chloe stared at him, horrified. "You... you want me to...?" "Terminate it? Yes," he said, as if discussing the weather. "It's not mine. And even if it were, | wouldn't want a child with you." The casual cruelty was breathtaking Chloe began to sob. "But Ethan... we were happy once... remember Paris? Remember the vineyard? Forget Ava! Please, Ethan, forget her!" Ethan just looked tired. So incredibly tired. "| can't forget her, Chloe. And | don't want to." He sighed. "This thing between us... it's been over for years. | was just too stupid to see it. We've caused each other enough pain. It needs to stop." ---- He turned and walked away, leaving Chloe weeping alone in the glittering ballroom. Her hatred for me, for him, was a palpable thing. Later, | heard through the grapevine, Chloe did terminate a pregnancy. Whether it was Ethan's or someone else's, | never knew. Never cared to know. She took a large sum of money from him. A final payoff. And then, she simply... disappeared. Her life, once so full of drama and glamour, now empty. Devoid of hope. Devoid of purpose. A fitting end for a woman who thrived on chaos and other people's pain.