All Chapters of Her Return: His Regret : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

67 Chapters

21: Collision Course

Third POVRonan hadn’t gone home after leaving the firm.Andrea had texted him twice that afternoon, sharp, accusatory messages about how he’d barely looked at her in days, how he kept staring at his phone like it held answers she couldn’t give.When he finally walked through the door of their apartment, she was waiting in the living room, arms folded, eyes red from crying or rage or both.“You still love her,” she said before he could even drop his keys. “Don’t lie to me, Ronan. I see it every time you come home smelling like her perfume or not coming home at all.”He didn’t deny it. Couldn’t. The words stuck in his throat like broken glass.Andrea laughed, a short, bitter sound. “You’re pathetic. You threw away a woman who would have died for you, and now you’re chasing the ghost of what you lost. Get out. Sleep somewhere else tonight.”He left without a word. Packed a small bag, checked into the first hotel he passed on the way downtown. The room was generic, beige walls, king bed,

22: The Ex-Wife Strikes

Destiny POVMonday morning hit me like a cold shower I hadn’t asked for.I’d spent Sunday in a haze, half-asleep on the couch with Kevin curled against my side, watching cartoons I wasn’t really seeing. William had come home from his meeting with takeout and that quiet, steady smile he always wore when he knew I was fraying at the edges. He didn’t push. Didn’t ask why I’d come home smelling faintly of hotel soap and regret. He just kissed my temple, ordered pizza, and let me breathe. I loved him for that. Loved how he made space for my storms without trying to fix them. But the guilt wasn’t about betraying him, not really. William never demanded pieces of me he didn’t already have. The guilt was deeper, uglier: I was afraid I was losing the one thing I’d sworn I’d never lose again. Control.By the time I walked into the firm, the weekend felt like a bruise under my skin. Tender, hidden, throbbing every time I moved wrong. I wore a high-necked blouse to cover the faint marks Ronan h

23: Heat in the Glass Tower

Third POVWhen Ronan received Destiny's call, telling him to rush to her office, he wasted no time. He left his reverie and took the elevator to her office. Maybe Destiny was in trouble and needed Ronan to do something, or maybe she just missed his kisses. The scene from the night in the hotel room, just the two of them, was still fresh in his mind. But all those thoughts vanished as soon as he saw Andrea in the hallway, leaving Destiny's office. "What are you doing here?" he hissed, grabbing her elbow urgently. Andrea pulled his arm away forcefully. "I just came to confirm what I already knew," she threw in his face and then left. Ronan scratched his temple, cursing under his breath. And then he went to the CEO's office.Destiny was still standing behind her desk, arms crossed tight enough to leave marks on her own skin, breathing through her nose like she was trying not to scream. The air still carried the faint echo of Andrea’s perfume, something cheap and floral, and the sting

24: Heart Matters

Third POV Jules had been watching the hallway like it was a tennis match.He’d seen Andrea storm out of Destiny’s office earlier, face red, eyes wet, coat flapping like she was trying to outrun her own embarrassment. He’d kept his head down after that, pretending to review the Nordic shipping file for the third time. But when Ronan emerged from the CEO’s suite ten minutes later, Jules couldn’t help it. He stared.Ronan wasn’t walking. He was floating. Shoulders loose, mouth curved in a stupid, dazed smile that looked like it had been superglued there. His tie was crooked, hair slightly mussed, and there was a faint red mark on his lower lip that hadn’t been there at the morning stand-up. Jules recognized that look. He’d seen it before, years ago, at Ronan and Destiny’s courthouse wedding, when Ronan had stared at her like she’d personally hung the moon.Jules waited exactly ninety seconds before he sauntered over to Ronan’s desk.Ronan had already collapsed into his chair, head tip

25: Devotion and Desire

Destiny POVI stand in the middle of the walk-in closet, the soft glow of the recessed lights turning the black dress into liquid shadow against my skin. It’s one of those rare pieces that feels like armor and sin at the same time, silk jersey that clings without clinging too hard, neckline plunging just enough to remind anyone looking that I know exactly what I’m doing. The fabric whispers when I move, cool against the heat still simmering under my skin from the memory of Ronan’s hands this afternoon. I step into the red Louboutins, sharp, blood-red, the kind of heel that announces arrival before I even speak. Smokey eyes, dark liner winged to a lethal point, lips stained a deep berry that looks almost black in low light. Hair loose, waves tumbling over one shoulder like I didn’t spend twenty minutes with a curling iron making them look effortless.I look dangerous. I feel dangerous.My phone buzzes on the marble vanity. Ronan’s message. The rooftop address in SoHo, a photo attach

26: Rooftop Reign

Third POV The elevator doors opened onto the rooftop, and for a moment Destiny simply stood there, letting the night air brush against her skin.The space was everything Ronan had promised and more. A private terrace perched high above SoHo, glass railings offering an unobstructed 360-degree view of Manhattan’s glittering sprawl. The Brooklyn Bridge glowed in the distance like a string of amber lights suspended over black water. A single table waited near the edge—candlelit, white roses in a low crystal vase, two flutes already poured from a chilled bottle of 1996 Dom Pérignon. Soft jazz drifted from hidden speakers, the kind of music that felt like velvet against bare skin. Beyond the table, a glass door led to an adjoining suite: king bed visible through sheer curtains, jacuzzi bubbling quietly on the private terrace extension.Ronan stood by the railing, back to her at first. Black suit, no tie, shirt open at the throat. When he turned, his eyes found her immediately, and lit.H

27: The Edge of Power

Third POVAndrea Foley had never considered herself a vengeful woman.She had spent years telling herself she was the practical one, the one who stayed, who forgave, who built something stable out of the wreckage Ronan left behind when he chose her over Destiny. She had been the assistant who knew every file in his drawer, every client’s preference, every late-night deadline he met because Destiny had quietly pulled strings to get him there. When he proposed, she said yes because she believed love was a choice, not a feeling. When they married, she accepted the promotion to senior paralegal because she believed she had earned it. When Kevin’s name started appearing in Ronan’s sleep-talking months ago, she told herself it was guilt, not love, that the child was a ghost from a life he’d abandoned.But ghosts don’t leave perfume on shirts.They don’t make a man come home smelling like expensive jasmine and betrayal.They don’t turn the husband who once promised forever into someone who

28: Dangerous Games

Destiny POVThe morning after the rooftop felt like walking a tightrope made of silk and razor wire.I arrived at the firm at 7:50, earlier than usual, because sleep had been a lost cause. My body still carried the imprint of Ronan, faint bruises on my hips where his fingers had gripped, a delicious soreness between my thighs, the ghost of his mouth on every inch of skin he’d claimed. I’d showered twice before dawn, layered perfume over perfume, chosen a charcoal pencil skirt and cream silk blouse that screamed control, but every time I moved, I felt him. The way he’d groaned my name when I’d ridden him slow and deliberate in the jacuzzi. The way his eyes had darkened when I’d whispered exactly how I wanted him. The way he’d looked at me afterward, like I was the only religion he’d ever believed in.I hated how much I liked it.I hated more that I wanted it again.The executive floor was quiet when I walked in. My assistant handed me the day’s agenda without comment. I thanked her,

29: Whispers in the Wires

Third POVJules Anthony had never been the type to run through the corridors of Morgan & Associates. The firm was built for measured strides, every step calculated, every turn deliberate, every footfall echoing with the quiet authority of people who knew their worth was measured in billable hours and closed deals. Marble floors, glass walls, the faint scent of expensive coffee and printer ink, it was a place where panic was supposed to be buried under layers of professionalism. But today Jules was sprinting. Tie flapping against his chest like a flag of surrender, phone gripped so tightly his knuckles had gone white, breath coming in short, ragged bursts that echoed off the walls. The push notification had hit his screen at 9:03 a.m., and the headline alone had been enough to make his stomach plummet: *Breaking: Secret CEO of Morgan & Associates Linked to Extramarital Scandal?*He needed Ronan. Now. Yesterday. Five minutes ago.The executive elevators loomed ahead. He rounded the

30: Cracks in the Crown

Destiny POVI slumped onto the leather chaise in the corner of my office, the one I’d bought because it looked expensive and because sometimes I needed to lie down and pretend the world wasn’t trying to eat me alive. My heels were off, kicked haphazardly under the coffee table. My fingers pressed hard against my temples, rubbing slow circles as if I could massage the headache, or the panic, out of my skull.Cameron stood near the door, arms crossed loosely, watching me with that quiet concern she never quite managed to hide. She hadn’t said much since Jules and Ronan left. She didn’t have to. The muted television on the wall was still frozen on the news channel’s looping graphic: my face, my name, the word *scandal* in bold red letters beneath it like a brand.“How bad can this really get?” I asked, voice low, almost to myself. “This narrative that I’m sleeping with a married man. How catastrophic can it actually be for me? For the firm?”Cameron didn’t answer right away. She walked

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