All Chapters of Billionaire's Regret : Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

Claire came downstairs at six and Jeff was already awake.He was sitting up on the couch with the blanket folded beside him and his elbows on his knees, his eyes were on the floor and he looked like a man who had spent the night in the same way she had, lying in the dark and just staring at the ceiling.He looked up when she came in and neither of them spoke immediately.Claire doesn't even know what to say so she went to the kitchen and made coffee and came back with two cups. She sat in the armchair across from him and set one on the table in front of him and he picked it up and took a sip.After a while Jeff said quietly, "I need to apologise properly, again and again. Not the way I did last night on your doorstep. Properly.""Stop already with the apologies Jeff." Claire said."Let me say it." He replied. "Please."She held her cup and shrugged.He looked at his coffee for a moment and then looked at her directly."I wasted years." He said. "I was cruel to you in ways I am still as

The paramedics arrived within minutes.They worked quickly, checking Zane's pupils with a small light, feeling along his neck before they moved him, careful hands and low steady voices that gave nothing away about how serious it might be. Jeff stood back because they told him to and it was the hardest thing he had done all morning, standing back while strangers touched his son.They lifted Zane carefully onto the stretcher and Jeff rode in the back of the ambulance with his son's small hand in his, cold and limp, and he could not stop saying sorry under his breath even though there was no way Zane could hear him.He was a terrible father, a horrible human being, how could he take out his grievances on a little child, how could he for a moment harbor the tiniest resentment towards him? Zane had lived with him for six years, since he was just a baby and he had no right to think about Zane that way for the crime of Irene.The paramedic asked what happened, staring at Jeff."He fell down t

Claire was up before her alarm, the kitchen already smelling of batter and butter by the time Adrian's feet hit the floor above her.He came downstairs in his birthday shirt, the blue one he had picked out himself the night before and laid across his chair with carefulness. He climbed onto his stool and looked at the stack of pancakes waiting for him with the particular seriousness he brought to everything that mattered."Six." He said, counting the stars on top without being asked."One for each year." Claire said smiling at him.He nodded and smiled back with a satisfied look then picked up his fork.He ate in silence for a moment before he looked up at her."Mama.""Yes my love.""Will daddy come for my birthday?""Of course baby, why would you even think that he is not coming?"Adrain just shrugged and didn't say anything, them after a moment, he asked again."Do you think Zane will still be sad today." He asked.Claire set down the spatula and looked at her son."He might be baby

Adrian brought his new toy to school on Tuesday, a small remote-controlled car Jeff had bought him the weekend before, and by break time a crowd of classmates had gathered around him in the corner of the playground where the tarmac gave way to a patch of grass.He drove it in careful circles, narrating each turn with complete seriousness, and the other children leaned in, delighted, asking to have a go.Zane watched from a few feet away.He had been standing near the fence with his hands in his pockets, and something tightened in his chest at the sight of it, the easy circle of attention Adrian had gathered without doing anything more than simply existing in the right place with the right toy.He walked over slowly with a smile pasted."Can I see?" He asked, and Adrian, always generous, handed the remote over without hesitation."I'm happy you have a dad now Adrian, no one can bully you because he'll protect you just like my dad, he is a superhero." Lisa said and Adrain smiled."Yes L

The morning meeting ran long.Claire and Jeff sat across from each other in his office, trying to fix some wrong numbers in the report together. Papers were spread everywhere between them as they worked through quarterly numbers with the easy rhythm they’d built back up over the past few weeks. From the outside, it looked like two normal coworkers, the kind of team that never let personal stuff get in the way. But whenever Jeff leaned across the desk to point at a number, his shoulder brushed against hers, leaving a quick flash of heat that neither of them mentioned, even though Claire’s breath caught just a second too late.Somewhere past eleven, Jeff looked up from a spreadsheet and frowned."Have you eaten?" he asked.Claire looked up, surprised by the question right in the middle of talking about vendor contracts."I had coffee," she replied."That's not eating," Jeff said, already grabbing his phone."Jeff, I'm fine...""You always do this," he said, scrolling for the phone numb