My Husband Called Me a Thief; I Proved Him GuiltyChapter 2

Ethan shoved me into the back seat without another word.

The car's AC was cranked up.

Chloe sneezed. Ethan immediately draped his prepared coat over her.

I was wearing the short sleeves I'd been arrested in fifteen days ago, shivering from the cold.

He saw me. He didn't turn up the temperature.

"She likes this temperature," he said. "You're not as sensitive to cold as she is."

A cramp twisted through my abdomen. I clenched my teeth and made no sound.

On the eighth day of detention, the police arranged a physical. They found I was three months pregnant.

I hadn't known I was pregnant when I was arrested.

After they found out, I tried to have the female officer contact Ethan.

He replied with one line: "Don't use something like that to lie to me."

After that, I never brought it up again.

The car phone rang. Ethan put it on speaker. A hospital staff member's voice came through.

"Mr. Carter, your mother-in-law's body has been in the morgue for fifteen days. If no one claims it by five this afternoon, we'll have to cremate it according to procedure."

Ethan said impatiently, "I'm not claiming it. Cremate it according to procedure. Dump the ashes in the sea. I'm not paying."

I was about to beg him to change his mind. He'd already hung up.

"Stop the car!" My voice shook. "I need to get to the hospital before five to claim my mother."

"That can't be your mother. Chloe checked. She took the fifty thousand and left the country a long time ago."

"Come to the hospital with me. Just look at the body and confirm whether it's my mother."

The car pulled into the Carter driveway.

Ethan told me to sign the divorce papers first. He said he'd take me to the hospital later.

I found the papers upstairs and signed my name.

The jasmine plant in the corner had withered.

Five years ago, Ethan said he'd buy the café where the jasmine grew and give it to me.

Now the flowers were dead. My marriage was almost over too.

Margaret Carter pushed the door open, saw the divorce papers, and asked urgently, "Who bullied you? Tell me. I'll make it right."

Chloe answered first. "Lily stole fifty thousand dollars with the card. Ethan has already filed charges."

Margaret looked at Ethan. "How long did the lawyer say?"

"Fifteen years."

Her expression changed.

"The Carter family won't let a woman with a criminal record be the mother of a child."

Chloe's hand moved instinctively to her stomach.

I'd seen her make that gesture many times.

Every time Ethan was present, she did it.

I used to think her stomach just bothered her.

I looked at her. Then at Ethan.

"You two have a child?"

Ethan smiled for the first time.

I also pressed my hand to my own abdomen.