My Mother Killed Me For Her Stepdaughter novel Chapter 31

When Ethan Carter returned home in a daze, what greeted him was an empty house.

Liam had been thorough—there wasn't a single trace of me left.

Ethan slid down against the wall, collapsing to the floor.

He didn't turn on the lights; only a sliver of moonlight from the window illuminated the nightstand.

There, a small sticky note rested—a list of reminders I had written.

Ethan rarely came home, so I had made sure to leave notes about the important things before leaving.

I watched as he searched every corner of the house—from the living room to the kitchen, and finally to the bedroom.

In every place, he found my notes.

He collected them all, clutching them tightly in his hands.

Then I heard him call Liam again.

"Where is her luggage? Where did you put it?"

Liam paused, hesitating before replying cautiously,

"Didn't you say that if no one claimed it, we should throw it out…?"

Ethan hung up the phone and slapped himself hard across the face.

Moments later, he stumbled to his feet, jumped into his car, and drove to the landfill where my belongings had been discarded.

It was a massive garbage processing facility, with piles of trash stacked like mountains.

"I lost Claire. All her things are gone.

How will she find her way home now…"

"Claire, I was wrong, I was wrong… Please come back.

Let's not get divorced. Don't leave me…"

A grown man, crying like this in front of so many people…

I couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow.

I sat quietly beside him, smiling through my tears as they fell once more.

Ethan Carter, why couldn't you have done this sooner?