When He Stopped Loving Me Chapter 12

Airport? Never return?

Ethan immediately ordered people to check flight information while using his connections to investigate divorce records.

Feedback came quickly: Claire's flight had departed hours ago, destination Europe.

Divorce records showed the paperwork had been completed days prior, using an early blank authorization document Ethan had signed—legally binding.

Ethan froze in place, body ice cold.

That blank document... the one he'd given her years ago in deepest love, representing infinite trust and devotion.

She'd treasured it, unwilling to use it.

He never imagined her first use would be to end their marriage!

A sense of being completely severed, unilaterally sentenced to exile, mixed with fury, gnawing at his heart like venomous snakes!

How dare she?! How could she be so absolute?!

Just as his mind churned in chaos and rage blazed, the hospital called—the nurse caring for Rachel: "Mr. Pierce, Miss Chen is emotionally unstable. The fetus shows distress. Could you come?"

Ethan rubbed his temples irritably, suppressing the turbulent emotions, forced to rush to the hospital again.

In the hospital room, Rachel had obviously seen the news. Face pale, eyes red, seeing him enter, she immediately nestled weakly into his embrace, voice tearful and cautiously probing: "Ethan... I saw the news... You two... really divorced?"

Ethan looked at the woman in his arms—her slightly swollen belly, her pitiful face. He forcibly pushed down the inexplicable emptiness and irritation, pulling her close, deliberately keeping his voice steady: "Yes. Divorced."

Rachel's eyes flashed with barely concealed joy, but she quickly switched to worried consideration: "Divorced... that's good. Now we and the baby can be together openly. You won't be torn anymore... Just... I feel bad for Claire..."

She gently stroked her belly. "It's just... hard on Claire..."

Hearing "Claire," Ethan's heart twitched like a needle prick. He cut Rachel off, tone carrying unrecognized harshness: "She's not wronged. When feelings are gone, separation is inevitable. I'll give you and the baby legitimacy."

To calm public opinion and stabilize Pierce Industries' stock price, Ethan quickly held an emergency press conference.

At the conference, face stern, he spoke one brief sentence:

"Ethan Pierce and Ms. Claire Morrison have dissolved their marriage due to irreconcilable differences after careful consideration. Thank you for your concern. No further comment will be made."

"Dissolved due to differences"? "Careful consideration"?

Those four words starkly contrasted Claire's tweet mentioning "fell for someone else," sparking more speculation and discussion.

But Ethan used aggressive tactics to suppress all negative coverage, guiding narrative toward "incompatible personalities, amicable separation."

After discharge, Ethan moved Rachel into a prepared top-tier luxury apartment.

Everything there was brand new, decorated in Rachel's preferred cozy style, containing not a trace of Claire.

Rachel indeed seemed as he'd hoped—"domestic and nurturing." She'd light the lamps waiting for his return, serve warm stomach-soothing soup when he came home late from business dinners, carefully organize his clothes, speak softly, never lose her temper.

This should have been the peaceful life he'd longed for—so different from needing to "look up to and carefully manage" Claire.

Yet somehow, Ethan felt the enormous apartment was hollow, missing something.

That pervasive quiet, rather than comforting, felt suffocatingly oppressive and... dull.

Especially late nights working in his study, staring at his computer screen, he'd find himself compulsively typing "Claire Morrison" into the search bar.

Countless news items and old stories about her flooded the screen.

Among them, a CP fan's carefully edited video titled "Pierce & Morrison: Nine Years from School Uniforms to Wedding Gowns—The Love We Believed In" topped the results.

He unconsciously clicked play.