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Chapter Twenty-Three

Author: Excel
last update publish date: 2026-04-18 15:32:10

DAMIEN'S POV

I stayed for dinner.

Olivia made pasta, the simple kind, olive oil and garlic and whatever was in the refrigerator. I sat at the kitchen counter with Nathan in the bassinet beside me and watched her move around the small kitchen with the ease of someone fully inhabiting their space.

This was different from the Ross house. There she'd always been slightly careful, slightly aware of the edges of what she was allowed to occupy. Here everything was hers. The coffee cups hung in a speci
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  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Twenty-Six

    OLIVIA'S POVLily was six weeks old had developed opinions about everything. She had a preferred side to sleep on, a specific objection to the purple blanket Grace had knitted, and a clear preference for Damien's voice over most other sounds, which she demonstrated by going still and tracking whenever he spoke.I noticed it every visit and said nothing.Grace noticed me noticing and said plenty."She knows her father," Grace said on a Tuesday morning, watching Lily track Damien across the kitchen from her bouncer. "That's not learned. That's instinct.""She's six weeks old. Everything is instinct.""Including yours." Grace picked up her tea. "How are things?""Careful.""Still?""Carefully less careful." I watched Damien show Ethan something on his phone at the counter, Nathan on his shoulder, Lily making her tracking face. All of them in my kitchen on a Tuesday morning. "It's a lot to hold.""It looks like a family," Grace said."Grace.""I'm observing. Not pushing.""You're always p

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Twenty-Five

    DAMIEN'S POVThursday morning I was at her door at seven twenty-eight.Two minutes early because I'd been sitting in my car outside for six minutes talking myself out of being too early and miscalculated. I stood in the hallway and knocked and heard her moving inside.She opened the door in her scrubs.I hadn't seen her in work clothes before. Not these. The hospital ID clipped to her chest, hair back, the particular readiness of someone who knew what they were walking into. She looked like herself in a way that was different from every other version of herself I'd seen. Competent and specific and completely grounded."You're early," she said."Two minutes.""I said seven thirty.""I know. I was in the car."She looked at me for a second. Then stepped back to let me in.The apartment was quiet. Lily was already with Grace, dropped off twenty minutes ago according to the text Olivia had sent me last night when she'd been managing logistics the way she managed everything, systematically

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Twenty-four

    OLIVIA'S POVGrace knew immediately. I came downstairs Sunday morning with Lily for our usual coffee and she looked at my face for approximately four seconds and said "something happened.""Nothing happened.""Something almost happened."I sat down. "I touched his face."Grace set down her cup. "You touched his face.""Briefly. Three seconds maybe."She studied me. "And?""And he left. And I stood in my kitchen for twenty minutes after thinking about three seconds of contact like a person who has completely lost perspective.""You haven't lost perspective. You've been alone for six weeks with a newborn and before that you spent months being careful and controlled." She refilled her coffee. "Three seconds is significant when you've been that careful.""It can't move fast.""It doesn't sound fast to me. It sounds like it's been moving for months and you're only just letting yourself feel it."I looked at Lily in the bouncer on Grace's kitchen floor. She was studying the ceiling fan with

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Twenty-Three

    DAMIEN'S POVI stayed for dinner.Olivia made pasta, the simple kind, olive oil and garlic and whatever was in the refrigerator. I sat at the kitchen counter with Nathan in the bassinet beside me and watched her move around the small kitchen with the ease of someone fully inhabiting their space.This was different from the Ross house. There she'd always been slightly careful, slightly aware of the edges of what she was allowed to occupy. Here everything was hers. The coffee cups hung in a specific order. The windowsill had three plants and the ultrasound image she'd never moved. The dish towels were mismatched and the good knife was in the wrong drawer and all of it was completely and specifically Olivia.I liked being in it."You're staring," she said without turning around."I'm watching you cook.""Same thing.""Different intention."She paused briefly at the stove. Just a pause. Then she kept stirring.The monitor on the counter crackled softly. Lily shifting in her sleep. We both

  • Remarrying My Billionaire Ex   Chapter Twenty Two

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