The Ice-Cold General Learned Regret in the Language of Roses Novel

Chapter 13 One of the women from the base's entertainment troupe , bold and pretty , had had a quiet crush on him for a long time . Caught up in the buzz of the evening , she finally stepped forward to ask Ethan for a dance , her gaze hot and direct . The officers around them immediately started egging her on . " General Foster's an eligible bachelor now - this is your shot . " In the past , Ethan would have only felt irritated and turned her down without a second thought .

But in that moment , looking at the girl's shy , expectant face , what flashed through his mind wasn't her at all- it was Scarlett , blazing like open flame as she danced in the middle of the floor 10 , hot enough to pull every eye in the room , bright and reckless like the whole world was her stage . Next to that , this carefully made - up soldier suddenly seemed painfully dull . He shook his head , cold and unmoved , and was about to walk out of that suffocating room when a few officers who'd had too much to drink started talking loudly about Scarlett's divorce .

" Tsk , Miss Jones is a real knockout . Back when General Foster was guarding her , nobody dared make a move , but now ... heh ... " " I heard she partied pretty hard when she was overseas . Wonder if she's even wilder now ... " The leering tone and entitled certainty in their voices lit the fuse on a powder keg . Ethan snapped . He spun around , grabbed the loudest one by the collar , murder in his eyes , and before the man could react , drove his fist into his face . The punch landed with a sickening crack .

The man staggered back , crashing into a table and sending glasses and plates flying as the room erupted in chaos . Ethan stood there radiating raw , lethal rage , his gaze slicing across the room like an ice - edged blade . When he spoke , his voice wasn't loud , but the authority in it cut clean through the noise as he said , " Anyone who so much as talks about my wife like that again will answer for it under military regulations . " He still used the word wife . Silence fell like a dropped curtain .

Everyone stared at him in shock , unable to understand why the famously cold brigadier general, freshly divorced , would explode like that . That night , as if dragged by something he couldn't fight , Ethan found himself back at the little house and , Chapter 13 43.33 % almost like he wanted to hurt himself , walked straight into Scarlett's walk - in closet . Most of what had been in there was gone , taken with her , leaving only the clothes he'd bought that she'd explicitly said she didn't like . In the most hidden corner of the closet , he found a dusty cardboard box .

The moment he lifted the lid , it felt like an invisible hand clamped around his heart and squeezed until his lungs forgot how to work . Inside , there was nothing of real monetary value , just a handful of small , ordinary things . There was a stack of newspaper clippings , carefully cut out - every article that r already curling a little with age . d him , the edges There were a few candid shots of him in uniform , taken from odd angles that made it obvious someone had been sneaking photos of him . And there was ...

a half - finished sweater , the yarn a dark green almost identical to the color of his standard service uniform , the stitches crooked and uneven , with even a few missed rows . Underneath the sweater sat a small card . The handwriting was Scarlett's , a little childish , full of her familiar , bratty charm : [ Thought I'd knit a sweater for Mr. Iceberg so he'd stop freezing everyone out . Hmph . Even if he hates it , he still has to wear it . -Scarlett ] Ethan's eyes slammed shut , his tall frame swaying like he might not stay on his feet .

He had never known that the woman who always seemed so careless and frivolous , who acted like she only cared about having fun , had been quietly collecting every scrap of him she could find , clumsily and in secret as she tried to do something just for him . And what had he done in return ? He had built their marriage on lies . In a life - or - death moment , he had chosen someone else . To protect another woman , he had turned military law against Scarlett . He had even walked right past her when her head was split open and blood was running down her face , barely sparing her a glance .

Slowly , Ethan sank down onto the floor , hands shaking as he picked up the half - knitted sweater and pulled it tight against his chest like it was the last bit of warmth she'd left behind . 43.33 % He stayed there on the cold closet floor all night , wrapped in darkness and silence , without closing his eyes once . It felt like his heart had been left to soak in something bitter and corrosive , the ache spreading through every nerve until it hurt worse than any gunshot wound he'd ever taken . The sudden ring of the phone tore through the night , sharp and jarring .

He answered on autopilot , and Nora's soft , dependent voice spilled through the line . " Ethan , are you still awake ? I just took my meds and I feel so much better ... I just keep thinking about you and can't sleep . In the future , we ..." used to be whenever breathlessly sharing As she rambled about ordinary things , all he could see in his mind was the way she called - either chattering nonstop to complain about who'd ticked her off th some new thing she'd found that she thought was fun , vivid and alive like a bird that never landed . Now his world was nothing but dead quiet .

" Nora , " he cut in , his voice rough with exhaustion , " I've got urgent work to handle . Get some rest . " He hung up before she could answer . The busy signal humming in his ear felt as empty as the thud of his own heart . He'd lost her . It wasn't the kind of loss where you just don't see someone for a while . He had lost the woman who had once burned like fire trying to warm the ice he carried around inside him - completely , permanently , with no way back . And that realization , the weight of it , was a kind of regret and despair that threatened to swallow him whole . 43.33 % admin