All Chapters of Dating My Ex Husband's Billionaire Boss: His Regret: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Aria’s POVI woke up slowly, the way you do when your body registers comfort before your mind catches up. The bed was warm. Too warm to be empty. My muscles felt loose and heavy, that dull, pleasant ache reminding me exactly how the night had ended.Sunlight slipped through the half-closed curtains, landing in uneven lines across Ethan’s back. He was lying on his side, facing me, his arm draped loosely around my waist. His thumb moved in absentminded circles against my skin, unhurried, familiar.He was awake.I didn’t open my eyes right away. I just stayed there, breathing him in, letting the moment stretch. There was something fragile about mornings like this. They always felt borrowed, like if I moved too fast or spoke too soon, reality would snap back into place.Then the mattress shifted.His arm slipped away. Cool air replaced the warmth at my side. I opened my eyes just as he stood, pulling on yesterday’s sweatpants and running a hand through his hair. He didn’t say anything. Ju

Aria’s POV Fifteen minutes. That’s how long I sat there....knees drawn up, sheet clutched like a shield...staring at the closed door while the coffee turned completely cold and the rose dropped one petal onto the tray. Fifteen minutes of silence that wasn’t silence at all. I could hear them. Not clearly, but muffled through walls and doors...but enough to make my blood boil. Ethan’s low, steady voice: “Deep breaths… that’s it… tell me where it hurts most.” Sophia’s soft, broken replies: “Here… and here… it’s worse today… I’m scared, Ethan…” A rustle of fabric. A quiet gasp. The creak of the bedframe as someone sat. Then his voice again, gentler than I wanted to hear: “I’m right here. You’re not alone.” My stomach twisted. I knew that tone too well, I’d heard it last night when he carried her away. I’d heard it in the dark when he held me after we fought. It was the same voice he used when he meant every word. I pressed my palms to my eyes until spots danced behind my

Aria's Pov "I didn't expect you to stay up till now, you're still working on the designs?" Ethan asked, his voice pulling me back to reality. My head throbbed a little but I didn't care, I noticed a few missing designs in the project and decided to correct them.This was one of the few things I enjoyed doing back at my company, I never showed my face but I'd always ask my grandpa Thomas to display the works for investors to thirst on.I looked at Ethan with a smile on my face, and stretched myself. "I figured I'd work extra hours since you were busy with Silver's case, how did you not know she's a fraud?" I asked, wanting to dig more information even though I was the reason she was exposed. I was itching to hear that Sophia has been exposed too, that she's out of the picture and she's not faking to be some patient.But what I heard next shocked the day lights out of me."Apparently, it was a misunderstanding, the medical board reviewed her papers and she turns out to be a legit nurse

Aria's Pov I couldn’t speak. The words I wanted to say....stop, or leave, or I hate you....It dissolved the second his mouth crashed against mine.It wasn’t gentle. It was wet, deep, filthy in the best way. His tongue pushed past my lips like he had every right to invade me, stroking mine in long, deliberate drags that made my knees tremble. He tasted like anger and mint and something darker.....something that felt like ownership.One hand stayed locked around both my wrists, pinning them above my head against the cool wall. The other slid down my body, cupping my breast through my thin shirt before continuing its descent. When his fingers reached the waistband of my skirt, he didn’t ask. He simply shoved the fabric up, bunching it around my hips.“Ethan—” My voice cracked, half protest, half plea.He pulled back just enough to look at me, lips swollen and glistening from our kiss. “You don’t trust me,” he said, voice low and dangerous. “So I’m going to teach you how much yo

Aria's PovThe rest area was a forgotten pocket of the world, it was empty, shadowed and the kind of place people only stopped at when they had nowhere else to go. The Mercedes sat crooked under the dying light, rear bumper mangled, trunk lid buckled like torn paper. Pieces of taillight plastic glittered on the asphalt like broken red stars.Ethan killed the engine and the sudden silence was deafening.My ears still rang with the memory of screeching tires, shattering glass, metal screaming against metal.I couldn’t stop shaking.He turned to me slowly, like every movement cost him something precious.“Aria.” He said, scanning my face for any hint of saddness. My name flowed out of his tongue like honey.And it came out raw, cracked open, like he’d been holding it behind his teeth the entire chase.I looked at him worriedly. For a second, I couldn't help but assume whoever it was, was coming for me.Blood trickled from the cut above his eye, dark against his ashen skin. His hands...