บททั้งหมดของ ON YOUR KNEES, EX-HUSBAND : บทที่ 61 - บทที่ 70

Carla~“Slow down!”Damian’s amused voice barely registered as I shoveled another spoonful of food into my mouth. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was until the first bite hit my tongue. I was finally having some real food again.I hadn’t eaten properly since the hospital. Everything there had tasted like cardboard and pity, and most of the time I’d been too sick with worry to care anyway.Now? I was starving.Damian leaned back in his chair, arms crossed loosely over his chest, watching me with open amusement as I scarfed down the meal like it might disappear if I didn’t finish fast enough.“Carla,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re going to choke.”I ignored him and kept eating.By the time I finally pushed the plate away, breathing a little heavier than necessary, the maids were already approaching to clear the table. I wiped my mouth with a napkin and looked up, only to find Damian still staring at me like I were some exotic bird.His lips were curved into a grin.“What?”

Carla~Pain dragged me back to consciousness slowly, cruelly.It throbbed at the base of my skull, spreading forward until it felt like my entire head had been stuffed with cotton and struck repeatedly. A groan slipped from my lips before I could stop it.The first thing I noticed was the scent.Lavender, clean sheets and a familiar air. I was back at the mansion.I cracked my eyes open and squinted against the soft lighting above me. The ceiling stared down at me in all it's beauty, the patterns feeling familiar.Damian’s mansion.“Damn,” I muttered hoarsely. “My head hurts.”“You’re awake.”Damian’s voice came from beside the bed. I turned my head slightly and found him seated there, shoulders relaxed, his gaze fixed on me as though he’d been watching for hours.Before I could say anything else, he was already lifting a glass of water toward me.“Slowly,” he warned.I accepted it gratefully, my fingers weak as they curled around the glass. I took a careful sip, then another, letting

Carla~“You sure about this?”Damian’s voice cut through the low hum of the idling engine. I had already unbuckled my seatbelt, one hand on the door handle, the other resting on my thigh as I stared through the tinted window at the looming structure ahead.The warehouse looked abandoned, rusted metal doors, cracked concrete, dust clinging to everything like a second skin. The kind of place people disappeared into and were never spoken of again.I turned to him and smiled.Not the soft, uncertain smile he was used to these days. This one was calm and quite sure.I leaned across the console, grabbed his collar before he could say another word, and kissed him. It wasn’t rushed or desperate, it was deliberate...reassuring.And that seemed to do the trick.“I’ll be right back,” I said against his lips.He searched my face like he wanted to memorize it, like he was afraid this place might swallow me whole. “Carla...”“I know,” I interrupted gently. “Just trust me.”Reluctantly, he nodded an

Xavier~Estelle.A murderer?The word echoed over and over in my skull as I stood there, hands clenched at my sides, staring at nothing. Conversations buzzed around me, officers talking, doors slamming, footsteps...but none of it registered.Estelle had murdered my father.Not Carla.Her.My chest tightened painfully.So Carla had been right all along.The realization felt like a blade twisting deep inside me. Every accusation I had hurled at Carla. Every look of disgust. Every ounce of hatred I had fed myself for years, it had all been misplaced.I swallowed hard.How had I been so blind?“Mr. Lockwood,” an officer said, drawing my attention back. “This way.”I nodded stiffly and followed him down the corridor, my footsteps heavy, my thoughts spiraling.All this time… all this time, Estelle had been the one pulling the strings. The one who had destroyed my family. The one who had put the gun in my hand and pointed it at the wrong person.And I had let her.Worse, I had helped her.Th

Carla~I never imagined this moment would come so quietly.No courtrooms.No lawyers circling like vultures.No long, bitter fight where my past was dragged through the mud for strangers to dissect.Just Xavier… standing across from me, hands folded tightly in front of him, eyes hollow in a way I had never seen before.“I won’t fight you for him,” he said.For a second, I thought I’d misheard.The room felt too still. Too fragile. Even the air seemed to pause between us.“You can have Ryan,” Xavier continued, his voice steady but stripped of its usual authority. “There’s no need for any legal battle.”My heart stuttered.I stared at him, searching his face for sarcasm. For manipulation. For the cold calculation I had grown used to.There was none.Instead, there was exhaustion. Regret. Something very close to shame.“I was wrong,” he said quietly. “About Estelle. About everything.”My throat tightened.“I thought… I thought I could protect him,” he went on, swallowing hard. “I thought