The Unseen Scars of Love

you sure a

o had worked with Dr. Eleanor Vance for decades. We stood in a steri

he continued, his voice low. "Your identity, your hom

ECRET. This was my mentor' s life' s work. The sustainable energy ini

, my voice steadier than I felt. "It was every

the quiet moments, a shared dream of a better world. An

ed sound. "Your husband, Ethan... D

a cold knot forming in my stom

at could change the world." He pushed the file toward me. "Go home. You have seven days to put

le. Its weigh

lt foreign. My mind wasn't on the future; it

s a shell of the brilliant woman I knew, her body ravaged by a rare, aggressive illness that

. The illness came on fast, too fast. I knew, with a scientist's chilling cert

t would destabilize global powers. Powerful people wanted it st

and cold, squeezed mine. "Protect it, Ava," she whispered, her

tive. A public record of her death, an autopsy, official inquiries... they would expo

hardest decisi

her forehead. "I'll finis

the plug on her life support machine. My hand trembled, but my res

osed around the plast

the hell ar

d disbelief. He saw my hand on the plug. He saw

ed, but the words died in my throat. How coul

. She rushed to his side, her eyes wide with fake shock

the poison that

rd I stumbled back, hitting the wall. The sound of my

back in, but it was too late. The long, flat

. He spun around, his eyes burning w

spered, his voice shakin

snapped my head to the side, my

ch," he

chest, sobbing. "Ethan, I'm so sorry. I can't believe she

, Ethan transformed. The loving, gentle man I married was go

om. He stopped speaking to

rde

'd never

ling of cheap perfume and whiskey. Chloe was always

the threshold, laughing. "To our forever, Ava," he'd said, kissing

diamond necklace I had admired once now hung around her neck. She wore it to

cooed, loud enough for me to hea

explaining. "Ethan, please. There are thing

cret lover couldn't wait for you to get your hands on

le, so far from the trut

om where I was sleeping. The smell of alcohol was overp

lurred, his face inches from mine.

I stopped fighting, my body going numb, my mind

ickness. I stared at the two pink lines on the pregnancy t

could fix us. A child, a piece of him

tting at his mother's desk,

olding the test in my sha

red. I saw a hint of the old Ethan,

around his shoulders from behind. "Pregnant?

lit match to hi

aid, his voice

e," I begged.

t his chair crashed to the floor. "Whose is it,

s streaming down my face. "

ealous of our friendship, Ethan.

his face contorted with rage. He grabbe

e spat. "You think you can replace

ing in the rug. I fell backward, my stomach hitting

omen, so intense it stole my breat

soaking through my dress,

e tiny, fragile hope I

his chest heaving. Chloe had a f

ty washed over my grief. This was not a man I c

as o

the project. My p

ew vow. I would disappear. I would complete