His First Love, My Last Hope

in Boston, single aga

pean marriage had

sted n

a a couple of months back, spotting him across the

r: reclaim Ethan, h

ign with the precision

, initially tried to

see you," he' d said

d, Sarah. Going through a tough

ces felt holl

d at her, the old spar

y sense of securi

alated he

uencer, a "lifestyle guru,"

Instagram stories

at a cozy cafe

owsing an art gall

"accidental"

set up her new, lavish apartmen

her after an alleged "panic atta

igned to undermine me, to show me how ea

"She' s fragile, Sar

ing in my stomach. It was public hu

es were shif

t home be

helping Chloe w

ew agent. Helping he

rriage, diminish

he' d say, a convenient

stood being devalued. Anger si

proof came via a dir

t vide

the one he' d insisted I was too tired to

a softly lit alcove,

expression I hadn' t seen dire

aned in and

dly peck. A

sentimental moment between old friends. Thought

was like a final t

ungs, a profound sense of

o was ir

ollapse was sw

lutched in my hand, the video

hopes, my efforts,

ers. He had al

eholder, a conven

of it was s

age, a real family, shatt

clarity, but a cl

ve hardened

or a man who didn'

umiliate mys

n. My own well-b

the prior

o end it was f