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Home / Romance / Divorced by my Billionaire Ex, Now He Wants Me Back! / Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

All Chapters of Divorced by my Billionaire Ex, Now He Wants Me Back! : Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

257 Chapters

111

111Stella.The morning started like most others—too early, too loud, Eli bouncing on the end of my bed asking for pancakes, Emma whining that she’d lost her favorite sock. I managed to drag myself up, hair wild, t-shirt wrinkled, and herd them into the kitchen before Josh left for the clinic. He pressed a mug of coffee into my hand and kissed my forehead, the kind of sibling ritual that sometimes felt more like a tether than a comfort. I needed that today.It was only after the twins had left for school with Josh that I noticed Anna’s car in the driveway. She’d texted the night before—Got groceries, swinging by in the morning. Don’t bother to brush your hair. At first, I was grateful. Lately, the idea of grocery shopping made me nervous; too many people, too many places for someone to be watching.When Anna let herself in, arms laden with bags, she took in the blinking blue lights at the corner of the living room ceiling before even saying good morning.“Wow,” she said, setting down

112

112Alex.I meant it when I told Stella I’d sleep on the couch. The day had been long, emotionally draining, but beneath the exhaustion was a hum of something like hope—a fragile thread connecting us that felt stronger with every shared glance, every accidental brush of hands in the kitchen. I stretched out under the old knitted blanket, letting the murmur of voices from the twins’ room upstairs lull me. It was a sound I could listen to forever: muffled giggles, the padding of feet on wood, the faint creak of a mattress as someone shifted in their sleep.The house settled around me, breathing in the dark. I watched the streetlights flicker through the living room curtains and tried not to overthink. I’d told myself a hundred times that I wouldn’t push, wouldn’t cross lines. It was enough just to be here, to know Stella and the twins were safe—if only for tonight.But sleep wouldn’t come. I stared at the ceiling, listening to every sound. The radiator hissed and clicked; a car rumbled

113

113Stella.The image glowed cold and unnatural on Alex’s phone. I stared at it, heart pounding, mind racing—numb with the shock of seeing myself through someone else’s eyes, in the safety of my own living room. The timestamp was only hours ago, proof that someone had been watching. Proof that nowhere was safe.For a second I couldn’t breathe. My first instinct was to run—to scoop up the twins, to lock every door, to call Josh, to hide. Instead I just stood there in my own kitchen, clutching the counter, while Alex swore quietly and scrolled for more messages.“It’s from the camera feed,” he muttered, voice low and controlled in that way he got when everything was slipping. “They’ve hacked us, Stel. The whole system.”His words sliced through the fog in my mind. “Turn it off. All of it. Now.”He was already moving, crossing to the router, yanking out cords, disabling the app on his phone and mine. My skin crawled as the lights on the cameras blinked out, one by one—like closing the ey

114

114Alex.I didn’t sleep the night after the camera hack. Even after the specialist’s report and Stella’s insistence that I go home, I found myself driving the dark city streets with no real plan—just circling, searching for something I couldn’t name. My mind kept replaying the images: Stella curled in my arms, the twins’ faces caught in the grainy glow of surveillance. The feeling was part shame, part fury, and something colder, more familiar—a sense of helplessness I hadn’t felt in years.I told myself I wouldn’t confront Sophie—not yet, not until I had more than suspicion. But that didn’t stop me from driving past her house just after midnight. Her place was a stately brick building on a tree-lined street, not far from the city center. The porch lights were on. I slowed as I passed, my grip tight on the wheel, the engine idling low. Sophie sat on the porch swing, legs curled under her, a silk robe slipping off one shoulder. She was scrolling her phone, thumb tapping a rhythm agains

115

115Stella.The incident with the car haunted me. For two days I tried to convince myself it was nothing—a lost Uber driver, a neighbor’s new guest, a trick of my overworked imagination. But I wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all myself. The way the engine idled, the way the headlights never turned on, the way the car disappeared as soon as Alex stepped outside—all of it felt deliberate, rehearsed, a shadow cast over the fragile routine we’d built.I went through the next morning on autopilot. The twins bounced into the kitchen before sunrise, full of questions about the day ahead—Emma wanted her hair braided in “two perfect ropes,” Eli wanted toast cut into triangles, not squares. I tried to match their energy, smiled at their demands, even managed a joke about Patch stealing socks from the laundry basket. But there was a tightness in my chest that didn’t ease, a low-level hum of anxiety I couldn’t shake.Alex had stayed over, camped on the living room couch, and when I found him in t

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116Alex.Her words stopped me cold. Not just about the kids. I heard the hope and the fear in her voice, and it hit me harder than I expected. My heart hammered in my chest. I wanted to pull her close, to erase every bit of pain I’d ever caused, but I knew I couldn’t. There was no erasing the years—no way to undo all the distance, all the anger, all the nights I’d spent resenting her for leaving, and resenting myself even more for letting her go.“It’s not just about the kids,” I said quietly, my voice rougher than I meant. “But I don’t know how to fix any of this. I wish I did. I wish I could make everything right for you, for them, for us… but all I know is that I want to try. That’s all I can promise right now, Stella. I want to try.”She didn’t answer. She just watched me, her eyes searching my face, her own expression unreadable. I could see how tired she was—how much weight she carried in her posture, in the way she twisted her ring around her finger, in the tension that never

117

117Stella.The house felt different after that crash. The kids went to bed early, clinging to their nightlights, and I found myself double-checking every window, every lock, every forgotten shadow in the hallway. Alex insisted on staying again, pacing the house as if he could somehow scare away the night. I let him. I didn’t have it in me to argue, not after what we’d been through.But there are some things you can’t keep out, no matter how many doors you check.It was almost midnight when it happened. I was curled up in bed with a book, the twins finally asleep in their room, and Alex downstairs. The house had gone quiet, save for the steady tick of the clock and the whisper of wind against the siding. I remember glancing at the clock, willing my eyes to close, but every time I relaxed, I saw flashes of broken glass and the wild, terrified look in Emma’s eyes.Then, suddenly, a crack—a sharp, sickening sound that split the night in half. It wasn’t the dull clatter of something dropp

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118Alex.The note burned a hole in my pocket all morning. I palmed it before the twins could see, folding it twice and slipping it into my jeans as I walked back into the kitchen. I kept my face neutral, careful not to let any of the rage and worry slip out in front of the kids, but inside, everything was boiling. I couldn’t stop picturing the words: I warned you. Every time I blinked, the letters reappeared, stark and final.Stella tried to carry on as if nothing had happened. She made pancakes for the kids, humming under her breath, her hands steady even though I could see the tension in her shoulders. Emma and Eli ate quietly, casting glances at the taped-up window but not daring to ask. I joined them at the table, pouring coffee I barely tasted and answering the twins’ chatter with practiced calm. If they noticed my jaw was clenched, they didn’t mention it.The handyman arrived just after breakfast. I let him in, explaining the situation in clipped sentences, careful not to revea

119

119Stella.I watched Alex’s broad silhouette moving through the quiet house as he double-checked the locks. He was trying to be subtle for the twins’ sake, for mine, but his vigilance crackled in the air. When he finally climbed into bed beside me, I pretended to be asleep. It wasn’t that I didn’t want his comfort. I just needed to lie there with my own breath, letting my heart slow down, staring at the faint moonlight striping the ceiling, willing myself to believe that everything was fine.But the image wouldn’t leave me. The camera lens. That flash, barely there—so small, it could’ve been nothing, a trick of the streetlights or a moth glancing off glass. Except I knew better. Fear had its own shape, and I’d learned to trust it.The next morning was all sunlight and cereal and Eli’s sock stuck to the back of his pajamas. Emma sang as she brushed her teeth. For a few precious minutes, the night receded; the world shrank down to juice boxes, lost lunch notes, and Patch’s clumsy paws

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120Alex.I never pretended I had the kind of patience Stella did. When it came to threats—especially the kind that stalked in the night and crept through the seams of a life I was just starting to piece back together—I could feel all the worst parts of me rise to the surface. The text wasn’t even clever. Four words, cold and direct. But they did the job. I could see it in Stella’s eyes, the tension in her shoulders, the way she held the phone just a little tighter as she moved around the house. Like it was a lifeline and a loaded gun all at once.I took the phone from her before breakfast, heart pounding. “Show me.”She hesitated, thumb hovering over the screen, then passed it to me without a word. I read the message once. Then again. My blood ran hot, my jaw clenched.“Did you block the number?”“It’s already blocked. There’s nothing else—no ID, no callback. Just that.” Her voice was steady, but her hands weren’t.I forced myself to keep my tone calm, even as my insides twisted. “Le

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