After His Engagement, I Deleted Ten Years of Secret Love

After His Engagement, I Deleted Ten Years of Secret Love

Olivia

5.0
Comment(s)
12.7K
View
30
Chapters

For ten years, I lived in my guardian Ethan Hayes's home, loving him in secret. He was the sun I revolved around. Then, he announced his engagement, introducing the woman he loved as my future female guardian, and spent an entire year showing me I meant nothing to him. The night he came home drunk, he pulled me into his arms, murmuring another woman's name as his lips crashed down on mine. The next morning, his eyes filled with disgust as he accused me of climbing into his bed. "I never thought you would stoop this low," he said. His fiancée cornered me, calling me shameless and threatening to throw me onto the street. In that moment, a decade of devotion turned to ash. The love carved into my bones was finally scraped away. On the day of his birthday, I packed one small suitcase and walked out of the house that had been my prison. I left a final drawing on his desk with a simple note: "Goodbye, Ethan."

Chapter 1

For ten years, I lived in my guardian Ethan Hayes's home, loving him in secret. He was the sun I revolved around.

Then, he announced his engagement, introducing the woman he loved as my future female guardian, and spent an entire year showing me I meant nothing to him.

The night he came home drunk, he pulled me into his arms, murmuring another woman's name as his lips crashed down on mine.

The next morning, his eyes filled with disgust as he accused me of climbing into his bed.

"I never thought you would stoop this low," he said.

His fiancée cornered me, calling me shameless and threatening to throw me onto the street.

In that moment, a decade of devotion turned to ash. The love carved into my bones was finally scraped away.

On the day of his birthday, I packed one small suitcase and walked out of the house that had been my prison. I left a final drawing on his desk with a simple note: "Goodbye, Ethan."

Chapter 1

The day Ethan Hayes announced his engagement, I deleted the secret folder on my computer named "My Sun."

It contained ten years of my life. Every sketch I'd ever drawn of him, from the first time I saw him at eight years old, to the man he was now at twenty-eight.

The mouse hovered over the delete button. My finger felt heavy, but when I clicked, it was with a strange sense of release. A ten-gigabyte folder vanished in a blink. Just like the ten years of my devotion.

Wiped clean.

I picked up my phone and dialed my father's number.

The call connected instantly. "Ava."

"Dad, I got in."

A moment of silence, then his voice, filled with relief. "To NYU?"

"Yes," I said, my voice steady. "The art department."

"Good, that's very good," he said, the sound of a chair scraping in the background. "I'll have the funds transferred to your account tomorrow. The apartment is ready whenever you are. Just tell me when."

"Thank you, Dad."

"Don't thank me. This is what I should have done long ago." His voice was tinged with regret. "Are you leaving because of Ethan's engagement?"

I looked out the window at the manicured lawn of the Hayes estate. A place I had called home for a decade.

"He's getting engaged, Dad. I can't stay here forever."

A heavy sigh came through the phone. "He watched you grow up... I thought he... never mind. Leaving is for the best. Boston has been nothing but a cage for you."

I hung up and walked to the full-length mirror. The girl in the reflection had pale skin and eyes that were slightly red, but her gaze was calm. Chillingly calm.

I had loved Ethan Hayes for ten years. A love so deep it was carved into my bones.

Now, I was going to scrape it out, piece by piece, even if it meant flaying myself alive.

With the acceptance letter in hand, I walked to his study. The door was ajar. He was on a video call, his brow furrowed in concentration. He was always like this when he worked-impossibly handsome, focused, and exuding an aura that kept everyone at a distance.

He was my legal guardian. The man who took me in after my family went bankrupt and my parents divorced.

He had given me a home, but he had also built me a beautiful prison.

As if sensing my presence, he looked up. His gaze was cold, impatient. "What is it?"

Before I could speak, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, and the ice in his eyes melted instantly, replaced by a tenderness I hadn't seen in a very long time.

He answered, his voice dropping to a low, gentle murmur. "Amelia."

Amelia. The name felt like a shard of glass in my throat.

"I'm still at the office," he said, a faint smile on his lips. "Yes, I'll be there. I miss you too."

I stood there, frozen, the acceptance letter in my hand turning into a worthless piece of paper. He had never once said he missed me. Not when he was on business trips, not even when I was sick in the hospital.

I remembered my eighteenth birthday, when I gathered all my courage to confess to him, handing him a drawing I had spent a month on.

He had taken one look at it, his face hardening. He tore the drawing in two, the sound ripping through my heart.

"Ava," he had said, his voice devoid of any warmth. "You are my ward. I am your guardian. Do not cross this line. You need to understand your place."

Then, a year ago, Amelia returned from abroad. He started spending more and more time away from home.

Just last week, he sat me down in this very study.

He looked at me with the same cold eyes as now and said, "Ava, Amelia and I are getting engaged. She will be your guardian's wife. I expect you to respect her."

He introduced the woman he loved as my future female guardian.

He had spent an entire year teaching me, with his actions, that I was nothing to him.

I finally learned my lesson.

He ended the call and looked at me, his patience clearly gone. "What did you want?"

I lowered my gaze, hiding the desolation in my eyes.

"It's nothing," I said softly. "I just wanted to say... congratulations on your engagement, Ethan."

I would grant him his wish. I would disappear from his world completely.

Continue Reading

Other books by Olivia

More
Not Vanished: A Mother's Return

Not Vanished: A Mother's Return

Fantasy

5.0

I was Ava, a revered River Guardian, brimming with vibrant life. I found Marcus, a broken Stone Breaker, and poured my essence into saving him. I healed his wounds and shared my lineage's lore, empowering him to become the Apex he yearned to be. He swore eternal love. But my selfless devotion was repaid with chilling betrayal by his new partner, Chloe. They conspired, stripping me of influence and then, brutally, my life. I didn' t vanish; I died, murdered by their ambition. My Heart Spring dissolved, merging with my infant son Liam' s life current to save him. For ten agonizing years, I remained a helpless spirit, haunting my preserved body and watching Liam suffer. Gaunt and scarred, he bore Marcus's cruelty. Now Marcus, the cruel Apex, returned, demanding my Heart Spring for Chloe' s child. He taunted Liam, then bound him to a pyre, lighting the Breaker' s Fire. He aimed to force me, a spectral memory, to reveal myself or watch our son burn. How could the man I empowered, the father of our son, be capable of such chilling depravity? He sought to burn away the last vestige of my existence. But as unnatural flames licked Liam' s feet, a transformation began. His muted life current exploded into a radiant emerald glow. The true power of the Grove Heart I passed to him shimmered. Liam, no longer a wilting fern, but a powerful sapling, rose from the pyre unharmed. He stood ready to unveil all hidden truths and challenge the Apex who thought he had triumphed.

You'll also like

He Thought I Was A Doormat, Until I Ruined Him

He Thought I Was A Doormat, Until I Ruined Him

SHANA GRAY
4.5

The sterile white of the operating room blurred, then sharpened, as Skye Sterling felt the cold clawing its way up her body. The heart monitor flatlined, a steady, high-pitched whine announcing her end. Her uterus had been removed, a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, but the blood wouldn't clot. It just kept flowing, warm and sticky, pooling beneath her. Through heavy eyes, she saw a trembling nurse holding a phone on speaker. "Mr. Kensington," the nurse's voice cracked, "your wife... she's critical." A pause, then a sweet, poisonous giggle. Seraphina Miller. "Liam is in the shower," Seraphina's voice purred. "Stop calling, Skye. It's pathetic. Faking a medical emergency on our anniversary? Even for you, that's low." Then, Liam's bored voice: "If she dies, call the funeral home. I have a meeting in the morning." Click. The line went dead. A second later, so did Skye. The darkness that followed was absolute, suffocating, a black ocean crushing her lungs. She screamed into the void, a silent, agonizing wail of regret for loving a man who saw her as a nuisance, for dying without ever truly living. Until she died, she didn't understand. Why was her life so tragically wasted? Why did her husband, the man she loved, abandon her so cruelly? The injustice of it all burned hotter than the fever in her body. Then, the air rushed back in. Skye gasped, her body convulsing violently on the mattress. Her eyes flew open, wide and terrified, staring blindly into the darkness. Her trembling hand reached for her phone. May 12th. Five years ago. She was back.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book