The air between them was thick with tension as Ella stepped back, clutching the custody papers in her trembling hands. Her pulse pounded in her ears, and her chest felt tight, as if her heart was being squeezed by the weight of everything that had happened.
“I thought… I thought you wanted to make things right,” Ella said, her voice breaking. “But this? This is unforgivable.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened, his face etched with regret. “I’m trying, Ella. I just… I don’t know how else to do this. I want to be a part of their lives.”
Ella took a deep breath, fighting to regain her composure. “Taking them away from me? That’s your solution?”
Ethan’s hands dropped to his sides, helpless. “I don’t want to take them from you. But you won’t let me in, Ella. You won’t give me a chance.”
“Because I don’t trust you!” she shouted. “How could I, after everything? You married my sister. You let her into our home, our lives. And now you want to come back and act like none of that matters?”
Ethan ran a hand through his hair, his frustration mounting. “It wasn’t that simple. I thought you were dead, Ella. You don’t know what that did to me.”
“I don’t care what it did to you,” she snapped. “This isn’t about you. This is about them. Leo and Liam.”
Her words cut through him like a knife. Ethan exhaled sharply, his eyes flickering with guilt. “You’re right. This isn’t about me. But I won’t give up on them, Ella. Not now, not ever.”
Ella turned away from him, her mind racing. The idea of Ethan fighting for custody of the twins terrified her, not because she thought he would win, but because it would force her to confront everything she had been avoiding their past, their present, and the uncertain future they now faced.
“We’ll settle this in court, then,” she said, her voice cold. “But don’t expect me to make it easy for you.”
Ethan looked at her, the hurt in his eyes palpable. “I never wanted it to come to this.”
Ella didn’t respond. She simply turned and walked away, her heart heavy with the weight of what was to come. As she left the pier, her mind was already spinning with plans. She wasn’t going to lose her boys, no matter what it took.