A knot tightened in my stomach. The weight in his voice told me it wasn't something simple. I nodded, urging him to continue, trying to suppress the rising anxiety.
"There was a... family arrangement," he began, clearly uncomfortable with the words.
"Before I met you, my family and a business tycoon—one of our close associates—had this agreement that I'd consider an engagement to his daughter. She's part of a cosmetics empire, and it was... a corporate thing. But I didn't want it."
The words hit me like a punch to the chest, but I stayed silent, waiting for him to explain further. The idea of a family arrangement was a concept I understood, but I never imagined it would involve Ethan, especially not after everything we had been through together.
