Even After Death by Lilting Champ

Chapter 29

Tears streamed down Olivia’s cheeks.

She knew that she and Ethan could never go back to how things were before. He had betrayed her and destroyed the Fordhamns, and the Fordhams owed him his sister’s life.

Those debts could never be settled. Trying to resolve them would only serve to tighten the knots of their relationship, suffocating them and leading to an inevitable end.

Ethan held her face in his hands, wiping away her tears with his cheeks. “Liv, don’t love me. Hate me instead. t betrayed you, I killed our child, and I can never turn back.”

She sensed his inner turmoil, but amidst that, she could feel the tenderness he still had for her like a calm oasis in a turbulent desert sandstorm. However, she knew that the oasis would soon be destroyed by the raging winds.

Ethan left the room, leaving Olivia behind. Olivia knew that this was their final farewell.

be seen. The kind–hearted Madam Burgess had always

was the singular and rightful Mrs. Miller,

wasn’t until Madam Burgess left that Olivia was hit by the emptiness of the house and the tedium of

sky outside was already dark, and there was a pot of chowder Madam Burgess had made waiting in the kitchen. Olivia poured herself some into a bowl.

Olivia’s expression was calm. She had found a solution to the

the debt my father owes you,” she thought

to enjoy

he would no longer be burdened by hatred and his conflicted. feelings upon

to have a better life, she would just have to give up her own. He would have the beloved wife and a child he had always longed for

she would be gone, everything would be fine, and that would be wonderful. Olivia suddenly

from her own constraints.

the Miller residence was as silent as