All Chapters of Remarrying My Billionaire Ex: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

23 Chapters

Chapter Eleven

DAMIEN'S POVMarcus Webb was exactly what I expected.Mid-thirties, sharp suit, handshake that was professional but communicated clearly that he didn't like me. He sat across from my lawyer in the conference room Friday afternoon with a folder of documents already prepared, which told me Olivia had been planning the legal framework longer than she'd let on.Smart. I respected it even when it stung."My client is proposing a co-parenting agreement with joint legal custody and primary physical custody with Ms. Chen," Marcus said. "Mr. Ross will have scheduled visitation beginning after the birth, with a graduated increase as the child develops."My lawyer looked at me. I nodded."Mr. Ross agrees to primary physical custody with Ms. Chen," he said. "He'd like to propose unrestricted visitation by mutual agreement rather than a fixed schedule, with a formal schedule as backup if the mutual agreement breaks down."Marcus made a note. "Ms. Chen will consider it. Financial support?"We went

Chapter Twelve

OLIVIA'S POVEthan stood on the stairs. He'd known for four days. I'd told him myself, sitting on the edge of his bed after school, keeping it simple. I was moving to my own apartment but staying in New York. I would see him. That part wasn't changing.He nodded like he was processing a forecast. Then: "Is it because of the baby?""Partly. Babies need their own space to come home to.""Dad's baby is coming too. In four months.""I know.""That's going to be weird." He said it plainly, without cruelty. Just a child doing the math. "Two babies. Different moms.""Life gets complicated sometimes.""Yeah." He'd picked at a thread on his comforter. "Will your baby know me?""Your dad and I are going to make sure of it."That had settled him enough to sleep.Now he stood on the stairs watching me load the last box and I could see him working hard at being okay with it."I'll be at your school thing Thursday," I said. "The borough project presentation."His face shifted. "You remembered.""Of

Chapter Thirteen

DAMIEN'S POVDana called at six in the morning and I drove to the hospital alone. James offered to come. I told him no. Victoria offered. I told her no. This was something I needed to do without an audience.He was small and pink and furious about being in the world, which made me smile for the first time in the delivery room in eight years.The nurse put him in my arms and I stood there looking at him. Catherine's eyes, the genetic profile had suggested. Her bone structure in the set of his jaw. I'd wanted this for two years. Had planned it, contracted it, grief-engineered it from start to finish.I felt love. Clean and immediate. He was my son and I loved him.But the feeling underneath it was different from what I'd expected. I'd thought holding Catherine's biological child would feel like getting something back. Instead it felt like a door closing gently on something I'd been refusing to let go.She was gone. Nathan was here. They were not the same thing.I sat with him for two ho

Chapter Fourteen

OLIVIA'S POVThe eighteen week appointment fell on a Monday. I'd been awake since five. Not anxiety exactly, more like anticipation with nowhere to put itself. The baby had been active all weekend, long rolling movements that Grace said meant a strong personality, which she delivered like a warning.Damien was outside the clinic at nine fifty-eight.Same as last time. No jacket. Waiting without pacing. I'd noticed he never paced, processed everything internally while his exterior stayed still. Eighteen months of observation and I still couldn't always tell what was happening underneath it."Morning," he said."Morning."We went in.The waiting room had a different energy this time, or maybe I did. Last appointment I'd been focused on logistics, the co-parenting agreement still fresh, the apartment still new. Now I was settled enough to feel things I'd been managing around.In four weeks I'd be a mother.The reality of that landed differently every day. Some mornings it felt natural, l

Chapter Fifteen

DAMIEN'S POVMarcus sent the birth certificate conditions on a Wednesday.My lawyer called them aggressive. I called them reasonable and signed without amendments. If Damien Ross wanted to be listed as the father of Lily Chen, he would agree to a minimum of forty contact hours per month once Lily turned six weeks old, would maintain a residence within thirty minutes of Olivia's apartment for the first three years of Lily's life, and would submit to a review of the arrangement annually.I signed everything the same day it arrived.My lawyer thought I was being too accommodating. James thought the same when I told him over lunch."You didn't negotiate any of it?" James asked."No.""Damien. Standard practice is to…..""I know standard practice. I don't want to negotiate my daughter's birth certificate like a hostile merger." I set down my fork. "Olivia spent eighteen months in my house feeling like a transaction. I'm not doing that to her again."James was quiet for a moment. "How is sh

Chapter Sixteen

OLIVIA'S POVThree weeks before my due date, the braxton hicks contractions started.I knew what they were. I'd coached enough pregnant mothers through them as a nurse to recognize the difference between practice and the real thing. But knowing something clinically and experiencing it at two in the morning alone in an apartment was different.I breathed through it and didn't call anyone.The second one came twenty minutes later and I sat up and turned on the lamp and looked at the nursery door across the hall. Yellow light under the gap where the nightlight was on. Everything is ready and waiting.I thought about calling Damien.I didn't. Not because of the boundaries, not this time, but because I needed to sit with it alone for a moment. The last weeks of this pregnancy were mine. The fear and the anticipation and the two AM contractions that meant nothing yet. I'd carried this alone for long enough that some part of me needed to finish it the same way.That was what I told myself.T

Chapter Seventeen

DAMIEN'S POVTwo weeks before the due date, Emma called.I let it go to voicemail. She called again. I let that go too. The third time I picked up because ignoring it wasn't making it stop."I want to see Nathan," she said."You can arrange a visit through my lawyer.""Damien. He's Catherine's son. I'm his aunt.""You're his biological aunt. The terms of the surrogacy agreement outline your visitation rights. Use them."A pause. The kind that meant she was recalibrating. "I heard Olivia is still in New York.""That's not your concern.""She's having your baby in two weeks. That affects Nathan. That affects this family.""Emma." I kept my voice flat. "Olivia and Lily are not your concern. Nathan's scheduled visitation is outlined in the agreement. Anything beyond that goes through lawyers. Don't call this number again about Olivia."I hung up.James called ten minutes later, which meant Emma had called him first, which meant she was building something. I'd seen her do it before, workin

Chapter Eighteen

OLIVIA'S POVLabor started at eleven forty-seven PM on a Tuesday.Not the practice contractions. The real ones. I knew the difference immediately, the way every nurse who'd ever coached a mother through it said you would. A different quality of pain. Purposeful. Insistent.I breathed through the first one and looked at the clock.The second came eight minutes later.I called Grace first, purely instinctively, then remembered what she'd said about practice and picked up the phone again.Damien answered before the second ring. "Olivia.""It's real this time."A beat. "How far apart.""Eight minutes. Just started.""I'm leaving now. Call your midwife. I'll meet you at the hospital.""Damien—""Midwife first. Then pack what you need. I'll be there in twenty minutes."He hung up.I called my midwife, who told me to come in when contractions hit five minutes apart. I had time. I moved through the apartment slowly, gathering the bag I'd packed two weeks ago, checking things I'd already check

Chapter Nineteen

DAMIEN'S POVI stayed until seven.Grace woke at six, assessed the room with the efficiency of someone who'd raised three children, declared Olivia needed real food and went to find the hospital cafeteria. The midwife cycled in and out. A pediatric nurse came to check Lily's vitals and declared everything excellent with the cheerful certainty of someone who loved their job.Olivia was exhausted in a way that was different from tired. Deep and cellular. She held Lily through most of it, only handing her to nurses when required, and watched everything happening in the room with the careful attention of someone cataloguing it.At six thirty she looked at me. "You should go home. Ethan will be up soon.""Mrs. Patterson is there.""Still. He'll want to see you."She was right and she knew I knew it. I stood and looked at Lily in her arms. Dark hair, fists unclenched now, sleeping with the absolute commitment of someone who had no concerns whatsoever."I'll come back this afternoon," I said

Chapter Twenty

OLIVIA'S POVI came home on a Thursday.Grace had the apartment ready. Clean sheets, the refrigerator stocked with things I could eat one-handed, the nursery nightlight on. She stood in the doorway while I carried Lily in and didn't say anything sentimental, which was exactly right.I stood in the middle of my living room with my daughter in my arms and felt the particular quiet of a life that had changed while I wasn't looking."I'll be down the hall," Grace said. "Shout if you need me.""I'm fine.""You've said that in approximately every difficult situation I've witnessed. Shout anyway."She left.I stood there for another moment. Then I took Lily to the nursery and set her in the crib she was too small for yet and stood over her in the yellow light.She slept like she had no concerns.I wished I had that.**************Damien came the next morning with Ethan.I'd told him ten o'clock. They arrived at ten exactly, which I expected from Damien and was surprised to find was also Eth

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