Unbroken: A Love That Defies the World – by L.J. Hart – Chapter 8: Shattered Walls

Unbroken: A Love That Defies the World – by L.J. Hart – Chapter 8: Shattered Walls

The storm finally broke.

It began with a phone call.

Ethan was in his room, finishing homework he could barely concentrate on, when his father’s voice boomed from the living room, sharp, commanding. A voice Ethan had grown up learning to fear.

“Ethan! Come here. Now.”

His heart plummeted.

Every cell in his body screamed that something was wrong. He moved slowly, almost mechanically, like walking to his own execution.

When he entered the living room, his father was standing rigidly, phone in one hand, his other clenched into a tight fist. His mother sat on the couch, pale, lips pressed together so tightly they were white. She looked like she wanted to speak but couldn’t.

Ethan’s stomach twisted into knots.

“What’s going on?”

His father’s eyes burned into him, voice low, shaking with fury. “Do you have something you want to tell me?”

Ethan’s breath caught. This was it. The moment he’d feared every single day.

He tried to steady his voice. “About what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me!” his father roared, throwing the phone onto the coffee table. The screen lit up with a series of messages — screenshots from a conversation. Private messages.

Between him and Nathan.

Photos. Words. Confessions.

I love you.
I need you.
You make me feel alive.

All of it laid bare.

Exposed.

Ethan’s legs nearly gave out beneath him.

“I—” his voice broke. “Dad, I can explain—”

His father’s face twisted into disgust. “Explain? Explain what? That you’re a fucking disgrace? That my son is one of them?”

Ethan’s chest heaved, tears burning behind his eyes. “It’s not like that—”

“Don’t lie to me!” his father thundered, stepping closer. “You’ve brought shame into this house. Into this family. Do you know what people will say? What they’re already saying?!”

His mother finally whispered, almost pleading, “John, please—”

But his father silenced her with a sharp glare. “No. He needs to hear this. I won’t have a son living under my roof, parading around like some—some perversion.”

The words sliced through Ethan’s chest like blades.

He felt like he couldn’t breathe. The room was spinning.

“You don’t understand,” Ethan whispered, his voice shaking. “I love him.”

Those four words hung heavy in the air.

His father’s face turned red with rage. “You disgust me.”

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Then came the final blow.

“You are no son of mine.”

The words landed with such force that Ethan physically staggered back, as if struck.

His mother finally stood, reaching for him, tears in her eyes. “Ethan, please—”

But Ethan couldn’t stay. He couldn’t breathe. The walls were caving in.

He bolted for the door, hearing his father’s voice behind him one last time:

“Don’t come back until you’ve fixed yourself.”

The cold night air slapped him in the face as he stumbled into the darkness, shaking uncontrollably. The world blurred around him.

He pulled out his phone with trembling hands and called the only person who could still anchor him.

Nathan.

Minutes later, Nathan’s headlights appeared through the darkness like salvation.

Ethan barely had time to open the car door before Nathan was out, rushing toward him. Without hesitation, he pulled Ethan into his arms, holding him tightly as Ethan finally broke.

“I—I tried…” Ethan sobbed into Nathan’s shoulder. “I tried to keep it together… I didn’t want it to happen like this.”

Nathan rocked him gently, his own voice breaking. “I know, baby. I know. I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

They stood like that for what felt like forever—two souls clinging to each other in a world that had turned against them.

When Nathan finally guided him into the car, he didn’t ask where to go. He simply drove. Away from everything.

Away from the wreckage.

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<< Unbroken: A Love That Defies the World – by L.J. Hart – Chapter 7: Midnight ConfessionsUnbroken: A Love That Defies the World – by L.J. Hart – Chapter 9: The Safe Haven >>