Chapter 4

Hearing Linda's words, I was stunned for a second.

Then it clicked. She probably found out about Ethan's alcohol allergy and was here to put the blame on me.

Sure enough, she began to interrogate me in a harsh tone.

"You knew Ethan is severely allergic to alcohol! Why did you join those people to force him to drink? What are you trying to pull?"

"Are you trying to kill him so you can take his money and find another man?"

The explanation died in my throat. I completely lost interest in arguing with her.

I just let out a cold laugh. "Did Ethan tell you that?"

Linda didn't answer, but her expression gave it away.

Right then, my phone rang.

I looked at the screen. It was my mother, Sarah.

Why was she calling me now?

With a heavy heart, I answered the phone.

The moment it connected, my mother's worried voice came through.

"Valerie, what's going on?"

"Even if you're mad at Ethan, you shouldn't have forced him to drink! If something had happened to him, you would have regretted it for the rest of your life."

The exact same topic.

But unlike Linda, my mother's tone wasn't accusatory; she was just deeply concerned and slightly disapproving of my alleged behavior.

So, Ethan had run to both of our families to play the victim?

I curled my lips, feeling a deep sense of disgust.

But then again, this was classic Ethan.

In the past, whenever we had a disagreement, he would never argue with me directly. Instead, he would complain to our parents.

Then, they would come and pressure me to compromise.

But those were minor things in the past.

This time, he didn't just complain—he twisted the truth to make me look like a monster. It was sickening.

"Mom, I'll go over to your place later and explain everything," I said, then hung up.

I turned back to Linda. "What do you want?"

My priority right now was to get rid of my mother-in-law. It was finally my day off, and I didn't want to waste it on her.

Hearing my question, Linda immediately snapped, "Get dressed right now and come to the hospital with me! You are going to apologize to Ethan and bring him home to take care of him!"

There was no way in hell I was going to the hospital to take care of him. I was furious.

Let alone a simple allergy—even if he were dying in that hospital, I wouldn't shed a single tear for him right now.

"He's a grown man. Can't he walk home by himself? It was just a few drinks. It's not going to kill him!" I said, my voice dripping with impatience.

This was the first time I had ever shown my real temper in front of Linda.

Naturally, she got even angrier.

"What do you know?"

"Do you know he almost died from drinking years ago? If that worthless girl hadn't run away back then, I would have made her pay!"

Seeing the venomous expression on her face, I froze.

The "worthless girl" she was referring to... had to be Chloe, right?

So, Linda only knew Ethan had an allergy, but she had no idea he drank this time to save Chloe?

Now, this was getting interesting.

Realizing she had said too much, Linda quickly avoided my gaze and nervously changed the subject.

"I don't care! You must come to the hospital with me, or I'll make Ethan divorce you!"

She was obviously terrified that I would press her on what she just let slip.

To be honest, I didn't care about the threat of divorce. I was planning on leaving Ethan anyway.

But now, I had changed my mind. I wanted to go to the hospital.

I really wanted to see what kind of face Linda would make when she ran into Chloe there.