All Chapters of His regret; Too late to love me now ex-husband: Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

Layla's POV. For a moment... just a moment, I let myself stay there.In his arms.Wrapped in his dangerously familiar warmth, like slipping into a place my body still remembered even when my mind had spent years trying to forget it, and the worst part of it all wasn’t even the hug itself, it was the way my heart responded, the way it softened, the way it leaned into him without permission, without remembering why I had left in the first place.And that was exactly why I had to stop it.Before it went any further, before I forgot myself completely.My hands came up slowly, pressing lightly against his chest, not forceful as I pushed him away from me.“Liam…” I said softly.He didn’t let go immediately.His arms tightened for a brief second, like he was resisting, trying to hold onto something he had just found again after years of searching.“Liam,” I repeated, a little more rigid this time.That was when he finally loosened his grip.Slowly.Reluctantly.His hands slid away from me,

Layla's POV.I don’t know exactly when I agreed to it.Maybe it was the way he looked at me across that conference table, like he had finally found something he had been searching for across continents and wasn’t willing to let it slip away again.Maybe it was the ease with which we slipped into conversation, almost like the years between us had simply folded in on themselves and disappeared.Or maybe...It was because a part of me, no matter how much I tried to deny it, still wanted this.Still wanted him.Either way, the next thing I knew, I was walking beside him toward the car, my guard lower than it had any right to be.And just like last night, he moved ahead of me, and opened the door, he held it out so gentlemanly and I almost blushed. “Thank you,” I mumbled softly as I stepped in.He nodded, closing the door gently before walking around to the driver’s side.The entire ride was filled with a kind of silence that wasn't worrisome, we both sure had a lot running through our mi

Layla's POV. I wish I could say I saw it coming.That I noticed the shift, how the line blurred from careful distance to dangerous closeness. But the truth is, I didn't.It didn’t happen all at once, there was no grand moment, or clear turning point, no conscious decision where I told myself, "yes, this is where I let him back in."It happened in pieces... The way he showed up every morning in my office with breakfast like it was the most natural thing in the world.In the way he remembered things I didn’t even realize I had forgotten about myself.And goodness, the way he spoke to me, like nothing in the world mattered more than the conversation we were having, like he had never stopped loving me.And somehow, without realizing it, I started saying yes.Yes to lunch.Yes to quick drives after work.Yes to just a few minutes that turned into hours.And the worst part?I stopped fighting it as hard as I should have....Tonight, we weren’t going anywhere in particular.No destination

Layla's POV.“Look at you,” Adrian said the moment his face appeared on my screen, leaning back in his chair like he had all the time in the world, his lips slowly stretching into that familiar, teasing smile I had grown up with, “I still can’t believe it. Four years, Layla. Four whole years, and you vanished like smoke. Not even Liam, with all his resources and stubbornness, could find you until four years later. Do you know how insane that is?”I rolled my eyes, though a small smile still betrayed me as I adjusted the phone against my desk, trying to act like his words didn’t affect me as much as they did. “I didn’t vanish,” I said, keeping my tone steady even though I knew very well that I had done exactly that. “I just… relocated.”“Relocated?” he repeated, letting out a low laugh as he shook his head. “You relocated so well that you built an entirely new life, a company, a whole thriving company Layla, and still managed to stay hidden from two men who practically turned the world

Layla's POV.Hope fell asleep faster than I expected the moment we got home, despite the first round of sleep she had at the office. Maybe it was the excitement of the day, or the hours she spent laughing, playing, and clinging to a man she didn’t even know was tied to her in ways she couldn’t yet understand, or maybe it was just the comfort of being close to me after an unexpected afternoon at the office, but whatever it was, by the time I carried her into her room and laid her gently on the bed, she barely stirred, only shifting slightly as her small fingers curled into the fabric of my sleeve before relaxing again.I sat beside her for a while.Longer than I had planned, just watching her.Because there was something about moments like this that grounded me in a way nothing else could, something about the steady rise and fall of her chest, the softness of her features as she slept, the innocence that still clung to her despite everything life had already tangled around us.My hand