Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Ex-wife He Regrets Losing!: Kabanata 61 - Kabanata 70

MABEL The hospital social worker convinced Andrew to get back in the car. "Let me talk to him," she'd said after security called her. "Sometimes they need a neutral party." Twenty minutes later, she returned. "He's on his way back to Meadowbrook. But I have to be honest, his commitment seems shaky." "How shaky?" I asked. "He left against medical advice after only two weeks. That's not a good sign." She handed me her card. "If he leaves again, call me. We can try to get him into a different program." Two weeks. He'd only lasted two weeks out of the thirty-day program. Bella took the card without comment. Three days later, Lily was discharged with her new insulin pump. The doctors were confident she'd be fine with proper monitoring. We settled back into a routine. Bella working. Lily going to school. Me trying to figure out my next move with Vanessa. Then, one week after Lily's hospitalization, there was a knock on our hotel suite door at eleven PM. I opened it to find Andrew

ANDREW - Fifteen Years Earlier Andrew James had never seen his wife cry before the day Claire Hoss destroyed her. Elena had always been strong. Vibrant. Full of dreams and determination. But that day, sitting at their kitchen table with the letter in her hands, she'd wept like something inside her had shattered. "She took everything," Elena whispered. "My designs. My reputation. Everything I worked for." Andrew stood helplessly in the doorway, not knowing what to say. "We'll fight this," he tried. "We'll get a lawyer. Sue her for theft…" "With what money?" Elena looked up at him with red eyes. "Do you know who Claire Hoss is? What she's capable of?" "I don't care…" "I do. I care." Elena crumpled the letter. "She's already spread lies about me. Told everyone in the industry that I copied her, not the other way around. No one will believe me over her." "Then we go to the press…" "And say what? That the powerful Claire Hoss stole designs from a nobody stylist?" Elena laughed bi

MABEL I returned to the hotel suite to find Bella awake, sitting on the sofa with coffee. "Where were you?" she asked. "With Dad." Her expression hardened. "Why?" "Because he needed help. And I wasn't going to leave him drunk on the street." "He made his choice…" "And I made mine." I sat beside her. "Bella, I know you're angry. You have every right to be. But he's still your father." "A father who's let me down my entire life." "I know. But what if this time is different?" Bella laughed bitterly. "It won't be. He'll go back to Meadowbrook, last a week, and leave again. That's what he does." "Not if we hold him accountable. Not if we actually help instead of just hoping he'll figure it out himself." "We've tried helping…" "No, we've tried enabling. There's a difference." I pulled out my phone. "I've been researching. Meadowbrook is fine, but there are better programs. More intensive. Better success rates." "More expensive, you mean." "Yes. But money isn't the issue. Commi

MABEL I spent the rest of the day pacing the hotel suite, the anonymous warning playing on repeat in my mind. *Hailey hired a PI to investigate you and Liam.* If Hailey was investigating, she was looking for something specific. She suspected a connection between me and Liam. Maybe she'd already figured it out. Which meant time was running out. If Hailey got to Vanessa first, if she told her version of the story before I could explain, I'd lose everything. Vanessa would see me as a threat. A liar. Someone who'd infiltrated her life with malicious intent. I needed to control the narrative. Tell the truth on my own terms. Before Hailey could twist it into something uglier. I pulled out my phone and stared at Vanessa's contact information. One call. That's all it would take. But what would I say? “Hi Vanessa, I need to meet with you. I have something important to tell you about your son.” No. Too ominous. “Vanessa, we need to talk about Liam's adoption.” Worse. That would mak

MABEL Margaret followed me into Lily's hospital room despite the security guards' protests. "Lily!" She pushed past me. "Baby, it's Mommy!" Lily looked up, confused and scared. "Mom?" "Get out," Bella stood, positioning herself between Margaret and Lily. "Now." "I just want to talk to my daughter, " "Your daughter?" Bella's voice was sharp. "You gave up that title when you abandoned us!" Margaret's eyes filled with tears. "I made a mistake. I was overwhelmed, depressed, I didn't know how to cope…." "So you left two children alone? One of them diabetic?" "I thought Andrew would take care of you…." "Andrew was drinking himself to death!" Bella's voice rose. "We were evicted. We had no food. Lily's insulin was running out. We had nothing!" Margaret wiped at her tears. "I know. I know I failed you. But I want to make it right now." "Make it right?" Bella laughed bitterly. "You can't just show up three years later and fix this." "I can try. I want to try." Margaret looked at Li