From Ruin to Radiance

Nora woke in a hospital bed.

Her head was wrapped in layers of gauze that bit into her skin like needles.

The ward was empty. She parted her cracked lips to ask a nurse for water, but her throat burned and she coughed violently.

She doubled over, tears slipping out from the strain.

A pair of leather shoes entered her vision. She looked up and found Ethan staring down, his face cold.

The usual lazy mockery was gone, replaced by tight-lipped tension.

For once his eyes met hers, but they carried only suspicion.

"What did you do to her that day?" he demanded, voice icy.

Nora blinked, then understood he meant Rosalyn.

The stab in her chest made her smile twist. "Ethan, you'd rather trust a stranger than me?"

His fingers twitched at the sight of that forced smile, yet his tone stayed flat. "She's Rosalyn's younger sister. Of course I believe her."

"You're insane," Nora choked, then flared. "You actually found Rosalyn's sister to be her stand-in!"

She clutched his sleeve, eyes red. "Can't you… forget Rosalyn?"

He was silent a moment, then lifted eyes dark with obsession and pain. "I will never forget her in this life."

Nora bit her lip so hard her shoulders shook.

Then she heard his next words, cold and final. "I want a divorce."

Her body went rigid. Tears shimmered, yet she lifted her chin. "Fine! Think I care? Your nightly filth sickens me. If not for the marriage alliance, I'd never have married you!"

Ethan's face turned livid, chest heaving. "I'm sick of your tantrums. Spoiled and sharp-tongued—every second with you is agony!"

He spun away and strode out.

Nora watched until he vanished, then burst into sobs.

She hated him for throwing divorce at her over groundless doubt.

...

That afternoon Ethan dragged her to the courthouse.

She sat frozen, refusing to sign.

He scowled. "Sign, or I cut every cent to the Payne Group."

They had reached this door before and always turned back.

Now she saw only resolve in his eyes, no warmth.

The chill stabbed her and she blurted, "I'll sign!"

Her hand shook so badly the name sprawled crooked.

Standing outside the courthouse, Nora knew that the divorce would be final in thirty days.

Once the process ended, she and Ethan would no longer be husband and wife.

She turned away so he would not see her tears drip onto the tiles.

Ethan stared at the small wet spots, something flickering across his face.

The woman before him, bandaged and trembling, looked nothing like the spitfire he knew.

He pressed his lips tight, said nothing, and left.

Nora drifted back to hospital.

A nurse shrieked, "Miss Payne, your head is bleeding!"

She touched her scalp and found her hand crimson. "Oh, I fell," she mumbled.

The nurse hurried her to a doctor who scolded while rebandaging the wound.

When Nora returned to her room she saw her wedding ring lying on the blanket, the ring she had worn three years.

Tears spilled as she snatched it and ran.

She had to tell Ethan she had changed her mind, she did not want the divorce.

She burst through the front door and saw Ethan seated on the sofa, Lilah's hand in his.

Ethan's father, Jake Stanley, muttered, "You can keep her somewhere else. Why bring her home? Nora will raise hell."

Ethan's mother, Madison Stanley, whispered, "Hide her better, I don't want another police visit."

Then she spotted Nora at the threshold. "Nora, what happened to your head?"

Nora ignored her, strode to Ethan, eyes bright with pleading.

Before she could speak he tossed out a sentence like a knife. "She's carrying my child."

The words poured over her like ice water, dashing every last hope.