NovelOnlineElodie never imagined Jarrod would say something like that.
His expression hadn't changed-still composed, distant, and dignified. Yet beneath that calm exterior, was there a
flicker of...hurt? She couldn't quite tell, and that confused her. Jarrod was never someone to show vulnerability
like this.
And that line-"I've minded it for nearly three of our four years of marriage..."
It left her stunned for a moment. She pressed her lips together and lifted her chin to look at him. "What exactly
do you know?"
There had been good times between her and Jarrod, once. Later, when he changed suddenly, she'd chalked it up
to his self-restraint, believing that's why he'd been so attentive that first year. When things cooled off, she
assumed he'd simply lost interest. Even long after what she considered their "divorce," she'd held onto that
explanation.
But now...
Jarrod was saying he'd always cared about Ivan.
Yet in all those years, Jarrod had never once mentioned Ivan. Not a hint, not a slip. After all, once she married
Jarrod, she'd devoted herself to their marriage, drawing a clear line between past and present. She'd never even
thought of Ivan during those years.
She had no idea how, or when, Jarrod had learned about Ivan—or why he'd started to care.
Jarrod kept his eyes fixed on her, watching her every reaction. He didn't try to hide anything now. "I know you
two grew up together. | know you once had feelings for each other. | know you marriedbecause of Ivan-not
just because of that one night. Even when you agreed to marry me, it wasn't really what you wanted."
He was just stating facts.
Elodie had no way to refute him; what happened in the past was true. But even so, she hadn't spoken Ivan's
nonce since they married. Malcolm and the others all tacitly understood not to bring it up.
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"How did you find out?" she asked softly.
Jarrod exhaled and looked up at her again. "You remember that laptop you kept asking about? The one | told you
I'd lost? | didn't. It's been in my study this whole time."
Elodie's eyes widened in shock.
Suddenly, she understood exactly what he meant.
She'd had that laptop for years, ever since high school. It was filled with
fragments of her life-including traces of Ivan.
She met Jarrod's gaze, lips pressed tight.
Now, finally, she understood why Jarrod had changed so abruptly back then.
All he saw in her eyes was a flicker of surprise, nothing more. She didn't seem to care what he'd seen, or what he
might be feeling.
"So, was itthat ruined your chance at happiness?" Jarrod's voice was soft, almost casual, but his eyes were
shadowed with something dark. "Is that why you wanted to marry him instead? Is that why you changed your
last nto his—so it would all make sense?"
He finally asked the question he'd been holding back.
There was so much on that laptop-so much about Ivan. Back then, Jarrod had only known that Malcolm had
forced Elodie to marry him, but not who she'd done it for. It was only later, after overhearing a conversation
between Elodie and Malcolm, that he realized she'd given in to help reduce Ivan's sentence, that Malcolm had
used
that as leverage against her.
He'd even found a line in one of her
journal entries: "Today Ivan asked if
I'd just change my last n0.
Thorne, think it's:3 %bidea she
hadhlt Whiten the rest, but it wasn't
hard to guess. If Elodie never
changed her name, she'd always be
his sister in name, but if she left the
Harcourt family and took the Thorne
name, things would be different. The
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Hearing Jarrod's words, Elodie's face
grew distant for a mornent, agfirghe
was remembering tat day She
fibahy understood what Jarrod had
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been resenting all this time. But... The
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She still didn't bother to explain.
Jarrod's lashes lowered, a faint,
bitter smile touching his lips. "And our house. He filmed you once,
asking how you pictured your future.
You described it in detail, and it was
exactly like the OTe vs epden Up
po Rein f'that place was
just your dream with him cto
life. Even if it was only those two
things, they toldenough-how
much you cared about him." The
content is on novelenglish.net! Read
the latest chapter there!
That's why, when he bought the house, he'd torn everything out and started over from scratch.
Except for the bedroom he'd shared with Elodie for three years. That, in the end, was the one thing he couldn't
bring himself to destroy.
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