All Chapters of THE EX-WIFE MAKES A COMEBACK : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

(Lena's POV)"Your flight is at three, while mine's at seven."Adrian said as we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We'd woken up much later after I joined him to sleep back. I had ordered room service first, afterward, but then decided we needed real coffee and not the ones that come in small pots with tiny creamer cups, that the hotel room service offers.I cut my egg as I respond. "That works. I have a call with Dr. Tanaka at five London time anyway. I need to be settled before then.""Did you discover new data?" He asked, looking up with interest."Preliminary results from the first cohort. Nothing conclusive yet but he wants to review before we present it to the board next week."“That's great.”We continued eating in silence for a few minutes. The restaurant was half empty. Most people had already checked out or were still sleeping off whatever they'd done the night before."When will you be back in London?" I asked."Thursday. Or Friday at least. It depends on how the Bosto

(Adrian's POV)I knocked on the door even though I had a key. A stupid habit. The house was technically mine now, as he'd signed it over ago along with most of his assets because according to him, "death taxes are robbery and I'd rather you have it now than let the government take half.”Mrs. Patterson, his live-out maid, answered. She'd been crying recently. I could tell from her eyes even though she'd clearly tried to fix her makeup before coming to the door."Adrian, love. Come in, come in. He's been asking after you since breakfast.""How's he doing?"She made a funny face. "He ate a bit of toast this morning. Didn't throw it up, which is something. The new pain medication makes him sick but the old one stopped working so..." She trailed off with a shrug that said more.The house smelled weird. Like someone had been scrubbing everything with bleach and those horrible lemon-scented disinfectants that don't actually smell like lemons at all. My mother would have hated it. She alway

(Lena's POV)"How long have you had these?" I asked. "Since you wrote them,” he responded.I picked up one of the pages. It was my original BioGen business plan. I put that page down and picked up another. My five-year revenue projection."You kept all of these," I said."I did.""Why?""Because I wanted to see if you'd do what I thought you would do. And you did. Better than I thought, actually."I stared at him. I didn't know if I was impressed or not. But I knew I wasn't angry."Come on," he said, standing up. "I'm making dinner. We can look through the rest of these later if you want.""You're cooking again?""I've been practicing. Trying new things. Figured if I'm going to feed you regularly I should learn how to make more than one dish."I laughed,and let him pull me along.***In the kitchen he pulled out ingredients from the fridge. Fish. Vegetables. Lemons. He must have really planned for this one.I sat at the counter as usual, watching him work. He moved around with more

(Lena's POV)For three weeks I kept the engagement private from the outside world .The ring stayed on my hand at home but came off every morning before I left for work. I'd set it carefully on my dresser. Look at it one more time, then walk out the door and spend the day being just CEO Lena Blackwood.At night I'd put it back on. Sit on my sofa or Adrian's and turn my hand to watch how the stone shone under the light. Adrian never asked when I planned to tell people. He let me savor the privacy, and I loved him more for that.***Three weeks later I was drowning in emails at my desk.From meeting requests from investors who wanted face time. To industry newsletters with headlines like "10 Biotech Trends You Can't Ignore" that I absolutely could and would ignore.Then I saw a name that made me stop scrolling. Melissa Christine.My brain took a second to recall it. The woman from the cafe. Three years ago. Adrian’s ex. I opened the email.“Dear Dr. Blackwood,I hope this email finds y

(Lena's POV)The filing went public on a Tuesday morning at nine forty-seven A.m.I was in a board meeting explaining Q4 budget allocations when Elena slipped into the room. She tried to be as quiet as possible and walked to where I was sitting at the head of the table and placed a folded piece of paper next to my laptop.I glanced down at it while Dr. Tanaka was responding to a question about research equipment costs.“It's live. Thank court documents are public. The press already has it.”I read it once, and felt something shift in my chest but kept my expression neutral. I folded the note carefully and slipped it into my jacket pocket.And then went right back to talking about budget projections like nothing happened.The meeting lasted another forty-three minutes. When we finally adjourned I walked calmly back to my office. Elena was already there when I walked in. Sitting at my desk with her laptop open and her phone in her hand."Show me," I said.She turned the screen toward m