When He Stopped Loving Me Chapter 4

Ethan stood in the doorway, witnessing Claire slapping Rachel.

His expression darkened instantly. He stormed in and shoved Claire hard!

Already weak, Claire staggered backward, her back slamming into the cold wall. She groaned in pain.

"Claire! What are you doing?!" Ethan pulled Rachel protectively behind him, voice thundering, eyes murderous.

Rachel immediately nestled into his chest, crying pitifully, twisting the truth. "Ethan... don't blame Mrs. Pierce... it's my fault... I shouldn't have come..."

Ethan looked at the clear handprint on her face with distress, then glared at Claire with intensified fury. "Claire! I never thought you could be this vicious! Rachel came to check on you out of kindness, and you hit her?!"

Completely enraged, he ordered the bodyguards coldly: "Someone, come here! Hit her! One hundred slaps! Repay her tenfold for what she did to Rachel!"

Rachel made a show of trying to stop him. "No, Ethan! Mrs. Pierce just had a miscarriage—her body can't take it..."

But Ethan held her tighter, voice mixing affection with anger. "You're too kind! That's why she keeps bullying you! She needs to learn a lesson today! Do it!"

The bodyguards moved forward, their large shadows engulfing Claire.

Thunderstruck, Claire stared at the man she'd loved for nine years—watching him so carefully protect another woman, treating her with such cruel indifference...

He'd once protected HER the same way!

As the bodyguard's hand rose to strike, she used her last bit of strength to scream out her deepest pain and resentment: "Ethan Pierce! Do you remember what you promised at my parents' grave?! You said you'd protect me forever, never let me suffer! You said I was your life! Have you forgotten all of it?!"

Ethan's body stiffened. His arm around Rachel tightened slightly.

Something seemed to surge violently in his eyes, but ultimately it was all covered by his concern for Rachel.

He turned to look at her, eyes cold, exhausted, and carrying a sense of finality.

"I remember." He paused, each word landing like a hammer on Claire's heart. "Claire, I did love you once."

"But I don't love you anymore. That's also true."

"Now, Rachel is the person I love most. You hurt her—you pay the price!"

He didn't look at Claire's empty, desperate eyes again. Tenderly embracing Rachel, he turned and left the hospital room.

The heavy door closed behind him, cutting off his retreating figure and severing the last light in Claire's life.

SLAP!

The first vicious blow landed on her face, burning hot.

Then came the second, the third...

She stopped struggling, stopped questioning, accepting this humiliating punishment like a broken doll.

One hundred slaps.

They shattered nine years of devotion, shattered all her illusions, shattered her last belief in love.

When it ended, she collapsed on the floor, suddenly coughing up bright red blood.

Looking at that glaring crimson, she suddenly laughed—a desolate, bitter sound.

Ethan Pierce, oh Ethan Pierce.

Those who betray true hearts will swallow ten thousand needles!