All Chapters of My CEO Ex-Husband's Regret: Chasing His Dying Wife Back : Chapter 151 - Chapter 160

175 Chapters

151

IVYI stared at Alexander standing in my doorway looking like a broken man, and felt absolutely nothing.No satisfaction. No vindication. Just a weary kind of disgust."Please, Ivy." His voice cracked. "Can I come in? Just for a minute. I need to talk to you."I should have slammed the door in his face. Should have told him to communicate through lawyers like the court order specified.But Lucas was asleep down the hall, and the last thing I wanted was Alexander making a scene that would wake him."Five minutes," I said flatly, stepping aside.He walked in like he was entering a tomb, looking around at the penthouse with hollow eyes. "Nice place. Lucas mentioned it's really high up. Said he can see the whole city from his window.""You have four minutes. Say what you came to say."Alexander flinched at my tone but didn't argue. He deserved worse and we both knew it."I don't want to lose my son." The words came out in a rush. "I know the court gave you full custody. I know I only get

152

IVYTwo months later, and life had settled into something resembling normal.Lucas was thriving. His new school loved him, his teachers sent home glowing reports about his progress and his friendships. He'd stopped having nightmares. Stopped asking if Sophia was going to come take him away. Started drawing pictures where everyone was smiling instead of the dark, sad scribbles he'd made when he first came home.Work had transformed in ways I hadn't expected. After the custody hearing, after Ares's evidence about the sabotage had come to light, the Blackwood family members had backed off. Not warmly—we weren't friends, would probably never be friends—but they'd stopped the open antagonism. Stopped undermining me in meetings. Stopped questioning my every decision.Genevieve was civil now, if cold. Marcus barely spoke to me at all, which was an improvement. Even Damien had nodded at me in the hallway last week, which from him was practically a declaration of friendship.I suspected Vincen

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IVY"Mom?" Lucas tugged at my sleeve again, his voice curious and a little nervous. "Who is that man?"I looked at Ares standing in my doorway with those shopping bags and soft dark circles under his eyes, and I wanted to scream. Wanted to slam the door in his face. Wanted to demand what the hell he thought he was doing showing up here after I'd told him to stay away.But Lucas was watching with wide, innocent eyes, and I couldn't make a scene in front of my son."He's..." I swallowed hard, forcing the words out. "He's a neighbor. A friend."The word "friend" tasted like ash in my mouth. Ares's eyes flickered with something I couldn't read."Hi there." Ares crouched down to Lucas's level, his voice gentler than I'd ever heard it. "I'm Ares. I live across the way. Your mom and I know each other."Lucas tilted his head, studying this tall, intense stranger with the careful assessment of a child who'd learned to be wary of new people. "Why do you have bags?""I heard you just moved in pe

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IVYVincent stood in my hallway looking like he wanted to explode and apologize at the same time, his face caught between fury and something that looked like guilt."What do you want?" I repeated, my voice sharp enough to cut."What is Ares Mortivane doing here?" His voice was low, controlled, but I heard the anger simmering beneath it. "Why are you talking to him? Did I not warn you to stay away from that man? From that particular business?"Something in me snapped."Oh, you warned me?" I laughed, and it came out bitter and harsh. "You warned me to stay away from Ares? That's rich, Vincent. That's really fucking rich coming from you.""Ivy—""No. You don't get to do this. You don't get to show up at my door acting like a protective father when you've done nothing to earn that right." I stepped closer, all the rage and hurt I'd been holding back for months pouring out. "You want to know why I'm associating with Ares Mortivane? A murderer? A dangerous man connected to organized crime?"

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IVY"This is insane." Maya stared at the building across the street, then back at me. "We're actually doing this. We're actually about to commit a felony, breaking and entering.""Technically it's only breaking and entering if we break something," I said, pulling my dark hoodie tighter. "If we just... enter, it's trespassing.""Oh, well, that makes me feel so much better." She adjusted her own black jacket, looking simultaneously terrified and exhilarated. "Turner, please tell her this is insane."Turner sat in the driver's seat of his personal car—not the company vehicle, nothing that could be traced back to the Blackwoods—studying the traffic management office through binoculars. "It's insane," he agreed calmly. "Also necessary."It had been three days since Vincent's visit. Three days since I'd decided to stop waiting for justice and start taking it into my own hands.The first step was getting the CCTV footage from the intersection where my car had been run off the road. Simple, r

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IVY We didn't go home. Too risky, too public, too many cameras in my building that could place us arriving at midnight looking guilty as hell. Instead, Turner drove us to a twenty-four-hour diner on the outskirts of the city—the kind of place where nobody asked questions and the coffee was terrible but strong. Maya slid into the booth across from me while Turner took the seat beside me, effectively blocking me in. Protecting me even now, even here. "Okay." Maya's hands were shaking as she wrapped them around her coffee mug. "We just committed a felony. We broke into a government building. We stole evidence. Are we processing that or are we just moving forward and pretending we're not criminals now?" "We're moving forward." I pulled out my laptop, connecting the flash drive with hands that weren't quite steady. "We can have a breakdown later. Right now, we need to see what we risked our freedom for." The diner was nearly empty—just us, a tired waitress refilling coffee pots,

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IVYI stared at the mystery name on Turner's phone until the letters blurred together.Sophia Sterling. Visitor access. 6:55 PM - 7:08 PM."That bitch." The words came out soft, deadly. "That fucking bitch was in the parking garage."Maya leaned over to look. "Sophia? Alexander's wife Sophia? What would she be doing at Blackwood Industries?""Sabotaging my car." I stood up from the booth, my hands shaking with rage. "She knew I had the custody hearing coming up. Knew if I was dead, Lucas would go straight to Alexander and her. No custody battle. No judge questioning her fitness as a mother. Just permanent access to my son.""But how would she know which car was yours?" Turner asked. "The parking garage has hundreds of vehicles.""Because Marcus or Genevieve told her." I started pacing the small space beside our booth, my mind racing. "They worked together. The Blackwoods wanted me gone for business reasons. Sophia wanted me gone so she could have Lucas. They found each other somehow a

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IVYFinding Marcus wasn't hard.Turner made three calls and had his location within minutes. The Vanguard Club in the financial district—exactly where I'd expected him to be. Drinking away his guilt or celebrating what he thought was a perfect crime.Either way, he was about to have a very bad night."You don't have to do this," Maya said as Turner drove through the empty pre-dawn streets. "You could just send the footage to Vincent. Let him handle it.""No." I stared out the window at the city lights. "I need to look Marcus in the eye when I show him what I have. I need to see his face when he realizes he's caught.""And if he tries something? If he gets violent?""Then Turner will stop him." I glanced at Turner in the rearview mirror. "Right?""Absolutely, Ms. Blackwood." His voice was grim. "Nobody touches you. Not again."The Vanguard Club was the kind of exclusive establishment that only existed for people like the Blackwoods—old money, older secrets, and the understanding that w

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IVYThe Blackwood family conference room at nine AM looked like a gathering of vultures.They'd all arrived—Marcus, Genevieve, Damien, Isabella, and a handful of other executives who shared the Blackwood name and stock options. All of them wearing expensive suits and confused expressions, wondering why Vincent had called an emergency meeting with less than five hours' notice.Marcus sat at the far end of the table, his face carefully neutral. He hadn't looked at me once since I'd entered the room.Genevieve was next to him, her perfectly manicured fingers drumming on the table. Impatient. Annoyed at being dragged out of bed for this.They had no idea what was coming.Vincent stood at the head of the table, his presence commanding immediate silence. He looked like he hadn't slept—probably hadn't—but his voice was steady when he spoke."Thank you all for coming on short notice. What I'm about to show you is extremely serious. It concerns the future of this family and this company.""Vin

160 (Warning! Explicit Scene) 🚨

IVYI was exhausted.The family meeting had drained every ounce of energy I had left. Watching Marcus storm out, seeing Vincent's devastation, feeling the weight of becoming the family pariah—it was too much.All I wanted was to go home, hug Lucas, and pretend the Blackwood drama didn't exist for a few hours.Turner dropped me off at my building around noon. "You sure you don't want me to stay? After Marcus's threats—""I'll be fine. I just need to sleep." I gave him a tired smile. "Go home, Turner. Get some rest. We've all earned it."He hesitated but eventually nodded. "Call me if you need anything. Anything at all."I took the elevator up to my floor, my body moving on autopilot. Inside my penthouse, everything was quiet. Maya was at work. Lucas was at school. Just me and the silence and the exhaustion pressing down on my shoulders.I made it as far as the couch before collapsing.Then I slept off immediately.***I woke to someone's hand over my mouth.My eyes flew open. Ilias sto

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