CHAPTER 13 — The Letter Ethan Was Never Supposed to Write
Eight months after Ethan was transferred to federal prison, I received an envelope with no return address.
The handwriting stopped me cold.
It was Ethan's.
For three days, I left it unopened on my kitchen counter.
Claire told me to throw it away.
Sophia said I didn't owe him anything.
They were both right.
Yet on the fourth morning, curiosity won.
Inside was a single handwritten letter.
No excuses.
No requests.
No self-pity.
Just the truth.
"Madison,
Every day in prison, I replay the moment I saw you walk onto that stage.
I thought you were there to embarrass me.
I was wrong.
You were there because you finally refused to let me rewrite your story.
The affair wasn't my first betrayal.
It was simply the first one you discovered.
I spent years convincing myself that every compromise was temporary.
One dishonest report.
One fake invoice.
One more payment.
Eventually, I couldn't remember where the lies ended.
The worst thing I ever did wasn't cheating on you.
It was believing you would always clean up the mess I created.
I don't deserve forgiveness.
I only hope one day you'll stop remembering me as the man I became... and remember the young doctor you once believed in."
When I reached the final page, something slipped onto the floor.
A photograph.
Our honeymoon.
Fifteen years earlier.
Two people laughing on a beach.
Two strangers now.
I quietly placed the photograph back into the envelope.
Some memories deserve to stay in the past.
May you like
Not because they were fake.
But because they belonged to people who no longer existed.
