“You were.”
“That’s worse.”
He wiped his face.
“I convinced myself they would both be better off without me.”
“Do not romanticize this.”
He looked up.
“What?”
“Do not turn lying to your wife and abandoning your daughter into some noble sacrifice.”
“I’m not.”
“You just said they’d be better off without you.”
“That lets you sound heroic.”
“You weren’t protecting Vanessa.”
“You were protecting the version of yourself she believed in.”
He went completely still.
That was the truth.
Ethan had built his identity around being the provider.
The stable twin.
The responsible husband.
After our parents died, he handled paperwork.
After my divorce, he helped me.
When Vanessa struggled, he was the one who promised everything would be okay.
Then suddenly he was the person who needed help.
