All Chapters of BILLIONAIRE’s REGRET : I MARRIED EX- HUSBAND ENEMY: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

-LIANA-Peace never lasts long in my life.Elias had finally fallen asleep for his afternoon nap, curled on his stomach with one tiny arm tucked under the pillow — the exact position he always drifted into, as if it were stitched into him from birth. His curls were flattened on one side, his lashes resting on his cheeks, and the faintest little hum left his lips whenever he dreamed. The penthouse was quiet — rare, almost suspiciously so — and for a moment, I allowed myself to breathe.Not relax.Not rest.Just… breathe.I knew better than to ask for more.My eyes slipped closed for a heartbeat, maybe two. My muscles loosened by a fraction. The afternoon sun spilled across the living room in golden stripes. For the first time in days, the universe seemed willing to give me a sliver of stillness.Then my phone buzzed.At first, I ignored it. I wanted ten minutes. Just ten minutes of quiet to remember what it felt like not to exist in the center of a hurricane.But then it buzzed again.

-SCARLETT REED- Blood is harder to fake than people think. Not the color — anyone can buy theatrical blood. Not the consistency — corn syrup and dye mimic that easily. No. The smell. Humans react to the metallic tang of real blood in a way they don’t to fake mixtures. But Cassian Hale, for all his brilliance, never paid attention to details outside business. He never smelled blood long enough to know real from imitation. That was what I counted on. And now, sitting in the penthouse bathroom, cold tiles under my thighs, I stared at the open kit the nurse left me before she slipped out through the service elevator. Dark crimson packets. A sponge designed to leak slowly. A pressure-release capsule I would crack under my robe. And the most important part— A vial of stabilizer that simulates fainting symptoms. I rolled it between my fingers, admiring the way the liquid clung to the glass. “All this because you told a few lies too many,” I muttered to myself.

-TRISTAN HALENTI-The morning sunlight streamed through the penthouse windows like it had no idea my entire world had been knocked off its axis the night before.I sat at the dining table, untouched coffee cooling in front of me, while the TV droned softly in the background. Elias sat on the counter in his pajamas, swinging his little legs while Liana tried to get him to eat his oatmeal.“Open up,” she coaxed gently. “Like a big dinosaur.”Elias frowned at the spoon. “Dinosaur doesn’t eat this. Dinosaur wants pancakes.”Liana huffed. “Dinosaur had pancakes yesterday.”“Dinosaur wants them again.”I couldn’t help it — a small, reluctant smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. The two of them could bicker about breakfast like the world wasn’t burning outside.But I knew better.I felt it.The shift.The incoming storm.The once-familiar sinking in my chest — the warning of a war about to erupt.And then—DING. DING. DING.The news alert blared louder, and the headline flashed across the

-LIANA HALENTI-The moment the door clicked shut, the air inside the penthouse changed.Heavy.Electric.Like the atmosphere before a storm finally splits open.I held Elias so tightly against me that his little fingers curled in my shirt. His cheek was warm, soft, confused. He didn’t understand what had just happened — he only understood that someone angry had come to our home.“Mommy?” His voice was small. “Why was the man shouting?”My heart splintered at the fear in his tone.“It’s okay, sweetheart.” I smoothed his curls gently, even though my hands were shaking. “Everything is okay now.”But my voice wasn’t convincing.Because nothing felt okay.Not anymore.Tristan stood at the foyer with his hand still braced against the door, chest rising and falling in a slow, controlled rhythm. Too controlled. The kind of control he used when everything inside him was threatening to explode.He turned his head slightly, and for a moment his eyes met mine.Something unspoken passed between us

-SCARLETT REED-.Time was slipping.Bleeding through my fingers.If I didn’t fix everything before Cassian arrived, the entire plan—the pregnancy, the sympathy, the leverage I had over him—would crack like a cheap porcelain mask under a spotlight.“Miss Reed,” Nurse Lyla whispered sharply, her voice tight with urgency, “the text you sent said he saw something. What did he see?”“A crease,” I hissed, pacing the length of the hospital suite like a caged animal.“The smallest crease in the lower edge of the first silicone.”Just saying it made my pulse spike.A crease.A single goddamn crease.Barely visible unless you knew what to look for.But Cassian wasn’t an ordinary man.He’d built an empire by noticing details others dismissed.Fire a man for a crooked tie.Tear apart a contract over a misplaced comma.Spot a lie before it fully formed.He would’ve seen that crease.He would’ve thought.And thinking was dangerous.“We need to switch it out,” I said. “Now. The realistic one.”Nurs