Chapter 8 - ETHAN'S ANGER HAD TO GROW UP
Ethan wanted to hate everyone.
It was easier.
Charles:
predator.
Rebecca:
traitor.
Claire:
collateral victim.
Himself:
fool.
But life refused to organize itself that cleanly.
Rebecca had cheated.
No excuse.
She had also been manipulated professionally.
Both were true.
She had accepted suspicious money.
No excuse.
She had also been used as a financial shield.
Both were true.
Charles betrayed his wife.
He also abused executive authority.
Different wrongs.
Different consequences.
Ethan started therapy because anger had become exhausting.
At first he hated that too.
Then he understood something.
He had spent weeks asking:
How could she do this to me?
Therapy shifted the question.
What do I do now that she did?
The answer was less dramatic.
Set boundaries.
Protect the baby from conflict.
Document communication.
Separate divorce issues from criminal investigation.
Stop interrogating every memory as if he could retroactively prevent betrayal.
One evening, Claire called him.
Not to discuss Charles.
To ask if he was all right.
Ethan laughed.
“No.”
“Same.”
They were not romantic.
Never became romantic.
That mattered too.
Two betrayed spouses did not need to become each other’s reward.
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They became witnesses.
Sometimes that was enough.
