The Red Rose of Manhattan Chapter 18

After returning from the party, Ethan's mood was dangerously dark.

Serena sensed his abnormality, becoming even more cautious, trying to soothe his irritation with gentle care.

That evening, she brought him warm milk, seeing him standing at the window smoking, his back lonely and rigid. She approached, speaking softly: "Ethan, you've been working too hard lately. Should I massage your head? Remember when we first met—I tried to save a cat stuck in a tree, almost fell off the ladder, you caught me, and after that we got together. I used to massage you like this, and you said it felt really good..."

She tried to evoke tender memories of their romantic first meeting.

However, as Ethan listened, his frown only deepened.

For some reason, he suddenly remembered something an old Sterling family servant had once muttered privately—that Miss Serena seemed to... dislike small animals as a child, had even secretly killed a neighbor's cat.

And Lily's mocking dismissal of it...

He'd never paid attention before, even thinking Lily was maliciously slandering Serena. But now it sprouted like a seed in his mind.

He calmly pushed away Serena's hand, his tone indifferent: "No need. I want to be alone."

Serena's eyes dimmed, but she didn't dare say more, retreating dejectedly.

Fate's turning points sometimes come unexpectedly.

A few days later, Ethan's capable assistant stumbled upon a buried investigative report while sorting through old files transferred from their New York office—

An analysis of suspicious details from Lily's mother's fatal car accident years ago.

The report showed the accident wasn't simple—there were signs of manipulation, and the prime beneficiary pointed directly to Marcus, who'd quickly taken control of Sterling Industries!

Almost simultaneously, Ethan's plant inside Sterling Industries sent urgent news: the company was a shell! Marcus had been embezzling massive funds for years, laundering money through complex overseas transactions, and Serena and Linda weren't just aware—they were deeply involved! Sterling Industries was drowning in debt, on the verge of bankruptcy!

What made Ethan feel thunderstruck was a secret recording his contact sent next.

It was a phone conversation between Serena and a so-called friend, the voices clear, the tone triumphant and vicious:

"Hmph, if I hadn't deliberately fallen off that ladder pretending to save a cat, how would Ethan have noticed me? Men like him fall for the weak, pitiful act!"

"The garden thing was self-directed too. I knew Ethan was about to come out, timed it perfectly and ran into the stone myself! And that club light fixture—I paid someone to loosen it, wanted to get hurt worse so Ethan would feel more sorry for me and completely hate that bitch Lily! Didn't expect just a scratch... but the effect was the same, ha ha!"

"Who does Lily Sterling think she is? Competing with me? Ethan only ever had me in his heart! I used a few tricks, and he believed everything, even had Lily locked up for days! So satisfying!"

...

Piece by piece, the truth was like the sharpest scalpel, bloodily dissecting everything Ethan had believed in for years!

The kind, fragile, woman needing protection he thought she was—it was all an elaborate, carefully planned deception!

A lie built on manipulation and malice!

And his treatment of Lily—

All based on these despicable lies!

The massive shock and overwhelming regret crashed over Ethan like a tsunami!

He staggered back, collapsing into his chair, face pale as paper, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

His heart seized with wave after wave of intense pain, making it almost impossible to breathe!

He immediately had Serena "invited" to his room.

When he threw the evidence in her face, Serena initially tried to deny and cry, but under the ironclad proof and Ethan's ice-cold gaze, her psychological defenses completely crumbled. She collapsed on the floor, sobbing and admitting everything.

"Ethan... I... I loved you too much! I was jealous of Lily! I just... just wanted you to feel more sorry for me, to hate her more... I was wrong! I know I was wrong! Please give me another chance..."

Her makeup ran, her face contorted, looking ugly and pathetic.

Ethan looked down at her coldly, feeling no pity, only icy desolation and intense disgust. Unbidden, Lily's face filled his mind.

Even at her most pathetic, most hurt—misunderstood and wounded by him—she'd never groveled like Serena. She was always proud, even with tears threatening to fall, her spine stayed straight.

In that moment, he finally understood completely.

What he'd missed, what had moved him, what he truly couldn't let go of deep in his heart was never this fake "old flame" illusion built on lies.

It was that vivid, real, passionate woman—like burning flame—who'd given him her whole heart unreservedly despite being hurt until she was unrecognizable.

His supposed responsibility and lingering feelings for Serena were ridiculous self-deception!

And his feelings for Lily had long since—through three years of intimate moments, through all those seemingly ordinary but accumulated details—seeped into his bones, become part of his life!

Only he'd willfully ignored it, forcibly suppressed it with his blind stubbornness and absurd "old flame" obsession!

This belated, blood-soaked awakening brought not relief but devastating regret and agony!

It nearly destroyed him completely!

After the truth came out, Ethan took swift, ruthless action.

He forced Marcus to return all illegally seized assets and used his connections to hand evidence of Serena and Linda's economic crimes to the authorities.

He broke up with Serena completely, severing all ties without hesitation.

After handling everything, he felt not relief but deeper emptiness and urgency.

He had to see Lily immediately! He had to ask her forgiveness! Even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance!

For the first time, he set aside all his pride and dignity, like any ordinary man begging for a second chance, waiting outside Lily's quiet villa—the address his assistant had found.

Night fell, the air growing cold.

He held a delicate paper bag containing her once-favorite treats—signature desserts from that old bakery, specially flown in.

He remembered her sweet tooth—how a bite of sugar could smooth out the furrow in her brow when she was upset, like a contented cat.

He waited in his car all night, the ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts, his eyes bloodshot, stubble shadowing his jaw, looking haggard and disheveled.

Not until dawn broke did he see a familiar sports car pull up and park at the villa entrance.

Ryan got out of the driver's seat, circled to the passenger side, and opened the door for Lily.

Lily wore casual home clothes, looking slightly tired but relaxed.

Ryan ruffled her hair, said something that made her smile. The atmosphere between them was warm and natural.

That scene was like a thorn in Ethan's heart.

He pushed open his car door, quickly approaching.

"Lily." His voice was hoarse and dry from the sleepless night and tension. "We need to talk."

Hearing his voice, Lily turned, saw it was him, and immediately frowned, her eyes instantly filling with wariness and distance, as if looking at an unwelcome intruder: "Mr. Frost? What are you doing here? We have nothing to talk about."

Her coldness was like ice water poured over his heart.

He stepped forward urgently, almost incoherent, pulling out his phone to show the evidence: "Lily, listen to me! Everything Serena and her family did—I've found out! I was wrong about you! The garden incident, the club light fixture, and... your mother's accident... none of it was accidental! It was them! I was stupid! I was blind! They fooled me..."

But Lily raised her hand, cutting him off, her eyes cold as Siberian permafrost, not a ripple of emotion: "So what?"

Ethan froze.

Lily looked at him, lips curving into a faint, deeply mocking smile: "The truth is out, so what? Ethan Frost, your apology, your regret—they mean nothing to me."

She spoke each word slowly, clearly, like a dull knife sawing flesh: "The damage is already done. The humiliation when you threw me aside like garbage, the agony of my wrist being broken in that cell, the despair as I dove into freezing water searching for my mother's necklace... None of that disappears because you say 'I was wrong' or show me this so-called evidence."

Her gaze dropped to the delicate paper bag in his hands, and she scoffed: "You remember I used to like desserts from that bakery? Must have taken effort, Mr. Frost, flying them in from across the country."

She looked up, meeting his instantly pale face, her tone light but lethal: "But I stopped eating sweet things a long time ago. Too rich. Makes me sick."

With that, she didn't spare him another glance, turned, used her fingerprint to unlock the door, and walked inside.

"Click"—the heavy wooden door closed in his face, completely blocking his view and all his humble hopes.

Ethan stood frozen like a statue abandoned in the cold wind.

The paper bag with the dessert in his hand felt impossibly heavy, as if it contained all his regret and futility.

Inside the villa, Lily's back slid down the cold door until she sat on the floor.

Outside, rain began to fall, soft at first, then harder.

Saying it didn't hurt would be a lie. Her heart still ached with that familiar, sharp pain.

But more than that, she felt a settling finality and exhaustion.

Turns out letting go wasn't as hard as she'd thought.

She pulled out her phone. The screen lit up with a message Ryan had sent minutes ago:

[You okay?]

Lily looked at the message, her finger hovering over the screen before typing three words in reply: [I'm fine. It's all in the past.]

Yes. All in the past.

Outside, the rain intensified.

Ethan still stood in the downpour, his expensive suit soaked through, clinging to his body, outlining his thin, pathetic frame.

Rain streamed down his chiseled face—impossible to tell if it was rain or tears.

He looked up at the window that would never open for him again, his eyes filled with dead, gray despair.

He knew. What he'd lost might be gone forever.