All Chapters of Ex-husband Regrets: I married a Billionaire Single-Dad: Chapter 261 - Chapter 270

THE STEADY BEEP of the heart monitor was the only thing anchoring Emily to the present. White light pressed against her eyelids even when they were closed, the hospital room too bright, too clean, too sterile for the weight sitting on her chest. The faint ache at the back of her skull reminded her she was still healing, that the surgery had been real, that she had survived it—barely. Her head felt wrapped in cotton and painkillers, her thoughts slow but stubbornly persistent.Emily lay half-awake, eyes drifting open and closed, while Keisha sat beside her bed, legs crossed, scrolling through her phone and talking in that soft, forced brightness people used around the injured. She had been talking for a while now, Emily had no idea how long. Time didn’t behave properly in hospitals. Minutes stretched. Hours collapsed.“…and the nurse said if you keep eating like this, you’ll be out of here in no time,” Keisha said gently, setting the phone aside. “You should’ve seen Adam earlier, Em. H

The hospital smelled like antiseptic and over-brewed coffee.Avery kept her head down as she walked through the sliding glass doors of St. Jude Medical Center, the brim of her baseball cap shadowing half her face. Large sunglasses hid the rest. A pale wigitched against her scalp. The oversized hoodie and loose jeans disguised the lines of her body. The woman moving through the lobby looked nothing like Dr. Avery Quinn.That was the point because to the world, she was dead.To the press, she was a tragic headline.If anyone knew that she was alive, it would be a bigger risk on her, and everyone who tried to help her. Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag as she approached the reception desk.“Emily Levrone,” she said quietly, pitching her voice lower. “Room number?”The nurse glanced at her screen. “Fourth floor. 417. But visiting hours are...”“I won’t be long.”Avery said, slipping away before the nurse could complete her sentence. Her pulse didn’t steady until the eleva

The grand study was already filled when Konstantin entered. He had called the meeting impromptu, but the family of Russia knew better than to give him excuse or show defiance. The heavy oak doors shut behind him with a quiet thud, sealing the room in tense silence. Morning light filtered through the tall windows, cutting across the long conference table where the heads of the Russian families sat waiting.They were older men for the most part. Dangerous in the quiet way men became after decades of power. Their conversations died the moment Konstantin stepped into the room.Every pair of eyes followed him as he walked slowly toward the head of the table. The polished floor reflected the dark line of his suit as he moved.Konstantin reached his chair and pulled it back before sitting down.The chair at his right remained empty. It was the chair that belonged to Nadia, but he made sure his men kept her away from here.He made eye contact with everyone in the room, as if daring them to sp

THE MANSION HAS been quirt ever since the news of my “death,” the mansion has felt like a hollow shell of what it used to be. The staff walk softer. Conversations die the moment someone enters a room. Even the air feels restrained.Like the house itself is grieving.I lean against the cold marble of the hallway wall and close my eyes for a moment.Emily knows that I am alive. The thought alone lifts something from my chest.For days the guilt had been unbearable. Watching from the shadows while the people I loved mourned me had felt like a slow torture. When I heard she had fallen because she believed I was gone. I thought the guilt would destroy me.But now she knows the truth.She knows I’m alive.A faint smile touches my lips.It doesn’t erase the guilt completely. It still lingers somewhere deep inside me, quiet and persistent, but it’s lighter now.I push away from the wall and glance toward the wide staircase that leads to the main hall.The mansion is still quiet.Adriano hasn’

IRIS SMALL CHEST rises once, and then again as if she was struggling to breathe.For a moment she just stares at me, like her mind is still trying to catch up with what her eyes are seeing.“…Doctor Avery?” The words come out softer this time.Then suddenly her face crumples and sharp sob escapes her mouth. It happens so fast that it startles both of us.Tears spill down her cheeks as her small hands clutch the blanket around her.“Iris,” Adriano says immediately, stepping closer to the bed. His voice softens in a way I rarely hear. “Hey… hey, it’s okay.” He reaches for her, but Iris doesn’t reach back.Instead, her tear-filled eyes stay locked on me, her hand lifts weakly from the bed toward me. “…Doctor Avery.”My heart breaks all over again and I move to the bed without thinking. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” I whisper as I set Nana’s flowers carefully on the bedside table. I take her hand gently, cradling it in mine. The moment our fingers touch, Iris grips my hand tightly, like she’s