Mom, Don't Cry! Here comes a new Daddy! novel Chapter 142

Chapter 126

Chapter 126

(Rosalie’s POV)

Back in my room, I watch the video seventeen times.

Ethan. On stage. Making that speech.

“A week from now, I’m getting married…”

My phone is shaking in my hand. Or maybe my hand is shaking. I can’t tell which.

The video was posted by some society blogger twenty minutes after the gala ended. Already has fifteen thousand views. The comments section is exploding.

OMG he’s getting married!

Who is she? She’s gorgeous!

Love this! He looks so happy!

Wait, she’s divorced? With a kid? Interesting choice…

Ethan is getting married.

In seven days, he’ll be married to a woman he’s known for less than a year.

A woman who isn’t me.

I’ve loved him for seventeen years. Seventeen years of waiting. Of being there. Of being exactly what he

needed even when he didn’t know he needed it.

And she gets him after knowing him for only three months.

The unfairness of it makes my chest tight. Makes it hard to breathe. I want to scream and hurl a glass at

the window.

Instead, I shut off the screen. Wipe my eyes. Stand up and walk to the window.

The city spreads out below me. Lights everywhere. People living their lives. Unaware that mine is ending.

Subtle isn’t working.

I’ve been playing the supportive sister. The concerned friend. Planting small seeds of doubt for Sabrina in Kate’s mind.

But it’s not enough.

Ethan just announced his engagement to five hundred people. Made it public. Made it impossible to deny the truth slapping me in the face.

He’s serious about her.

And if I’m going to stop this, the usual tricks won’t work. I need to do more than plant seeds.

<Chapter 126

Inced tu burn the whole garden down.

My phone buzzes. A text from Kate.

Are you awake?

Yes.

Come to my room. We need to talk.

I find her in the suite three doors down. She’s still in her gala gown but the diamonds are off. Hair down. Makeup removed. She looks older without all the armor.

Tired.

“Sit,” she says.

I sit in the chair by the window. The same position I was in minutes ago in my own room. Different view. Same desperation.

Kate pours herself a drink. Doesn’t offer me one. Just stands there, glass in hand, studying me with those eyes that see everything.

“How long?” she asks.

“How long what?”

“Don’t insult my intelligence, Rosalie. How long have you been in love with Ethan?”

The question hits like a punch.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about-”

“Yes, you do. I’ve suspected for years. But tonight confirmed it. The way you looked when he made that speech. The way you clung to the wall when he called her his family.” Kate takes a sip of her drink. “So I’m asking again. How long?”

I could lie. Should lie. But what’s the point?

“Since I was fourteen.”

Kate nods like this is exactly what she expected. “Does he know?”

“No.”

“Keep it that way.”

“But why? We’re not even blood related!”

“For starters, because he doesn’t feel the same. He never has. He never will. And telling him would only make things awkward for everyone.” She sets her glass down. Looks at me with something that might be pity. “You’re my granddaughter, Rosalie. I love you. But you’re not his sister by blood. You’re not his anything except through adoption. And that means-”

“I know what it means.”

<Chapter 126

“Do you? Because it seems like you’re holding onto hope that isn’t there.”

The words should hurt. They don’t. Because I’ve been telling myself the same thing for years.

“I’m trying to protect him,” say quietly. “From making a mistake.”

“Are you? Or are you trying to eliminate competition?”

I don’t answer.

Kate sits across from me. Leans forward. Her voice gets harder.

“And in case you forgot, let me repeat myself. I would sooner accept Sabrina Moore as my granddaughter-in-law than accept you as anything more than Ethan’s sister. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think you do. So let me be clearer. If you sabotage this relationship because you think it will give you a chance with Ethan, you’ll be the one who leaves. Not Sabrina. You. I’ll cut you out of this family faster than you can pack your bags.”

The threat lands exactly as she means it to.

“You’d really choose her over me?”

“I’d choose what’s best for Ethan. And between a scandalous relationship with his adopted sister, and a love story with a divorce? The later will be more acceptable and less damaging to the Hale name.” Kate’s gaze is ice. “You’ve been helpful these past weeks. Giving me information. Sharing your observations. But I’m not blind, Rosalie. I see what you’re doing. And it stops now.”

“But you hate her too-

“I don’t hate her. I question her suitability. There’s a difference. And yes, I’m concerned about complications she brings. About whether Ethan can handle the pressure. But my concerns are based on protecting him from repeating his father’s mistakes. Not on jealousy.”

“I’m not jealous-”

“You absolutely are. And it’s making you reckless.” Kate stands. Walks to the window. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to remove yourself from Sabrina and Ethan’s affairs. You’re going to take time, and decide. Do you want be a supportive sister and remain in his life or do you need to step back entirely.”

“Step back from Ethan?”

“Step back from the family. Give yourself room to explore the world outside the Hale’s. Learn, grow, and take some space to start a new life and move on. Because this-” she gestures between us, “–whatever you’re doing, it’s not healthy. For you or for him.”

I stand up. My hands are shaking.

“You don’t understand. I’ve been here through everything. Every breakup. Every business crisis. Every moment when he needed someone. I’ve been here.”

“Being present doesn’t entitle you to his love, Rosalie. It just means you were a good friend. A good sister.

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