Semua Bab His Billion-Dollar Regret: The Forgotten Wife Returns: Bab 101 - Bab 110

POV: Yessica | Location: EdinburghShe opened the door and read his face before he said a word.Not crisis. Not the way he'd looked coming back from London — that particular exhaustion of a man who'd been in rooms making hard decisions. This was different. Quieter.Like something had moved that he hadn't expected to move."What did he say," she said.Lewis looked at her. "Can I come back in."She stepped aside.He came in, sat at the kitchen table — the same chair, the same posture as an hour ago, but everything slightly different in a way she couldn't name yet."He said he wanted to speak to you," Lewis said. "About the girls. Not the company. Not the board.""Okay.""And then he said—" Lewis stopped. His hands were flat on the table. "He said he was sorry. That's it. Two words. He's not a man who says them. In thirty-four years I've heard them once."Yessica sat down."What do you want me to do with that," she said."I don't know." Lewis looked at her directly. "That's why I came ba

POV: Yessica | Location: EdinburghDr. Chen looked at Yessica first."Would you like to explain what you wrote? In your own words."The paper was already in Yessica's hands. She'd read it out loud sixty seconds ago. Now she had to say what it actually meant."I wrote that I'm afraid Lewis still doesn't know I almost didn't come back," Yessica said. "When he first moved to Edinburgh. When he started the six-month plan, the therapy, the visits with Claire. There was a three-week period where I had a flat lined up in Glasgow. I had a solicitor ready to file for a formal custody schedule. I was going to leave Edinburgh entirely and make this a co-parenting arrangement across cities."Lewis was very still beside her."What stopped you," Dr. Chen said."Claire." Yessica kept her voice level. "She asked me why we couldn't all live in the same city as Daddy. She was four. She thought it was a simple question." She looked at her hands. "And I realized I was about to dismantle my entire life in

POV: Yessica | Location: EdinburghHarrison Sterling arrived exactly on time.That was the first thing Yessica noticed. Not early — which would have been a power move — and not late, which would have been dismissive. He rang the bell at seven PM precisely, as if he'd been waiting on the pavement until the second hand moved.Lewis opened the door.Father and son stood in the hallway of the restaurant — a private dining room at a quiet place on Dundas Street, neutral ground, Yessica's choice — and looked at each other with the particular economy of men who had recently said things that couldn't be unsaid."Lewis," Harrison said."Dad."They didn't embrace. But Lewis's hand briefly gripped his father's arm before they moved inside, and Harrison's jaw tightened once in a way that Yessica was beginning to recognise as his version of visible emotion.Harrison looked older than she'd expected.She'd built a version of him in her mind over two years — the cold architect of every obstacle they

POV: Lewis | Location: EdinburghLewis called Sienna directly.She picked up on the third ring."The Granville Terrace offer," he said. "That's you."A pause. "Yes.""You're trying to buy our house.""I'm trying to buy a house." Her voice was careful. "I didn't know it was the specific one you'd chosen until my agent sent me the address this morning. By then the offer was already in."Lewis looked at Yessica. She was watching his face, reading it the way she'd learned to over the past year.He put the call on speaker."You could withdraw the offer," Lewis said."I could," Sienna said. "But I'd like to explain something first.""Go ahead.""I'm leaving London," she said. "Permanently. I gave notice on my flat two weeks ago. The Edinburgh office — the one Harrison funded — I've bought out his stake in it. It's mine outright now." A beat. "I'm moving here. That's not about you. That's not about Lewis. It's about the fact that I built something here and I'm not going to let Harrison Sterl

POV: Lewis | Location: EdinburghHe'd spent four hours on the bookshelves.Floor-to-ceiling, both alcoves flanking the chimney breast, exactly as Yessica had described on the day they'd first viewed the house. He'd sourced the same oak as the existing shelving in the hallway so it matched. He'd checked the measurements twice. He'd even grouped the books she'd already unpacked by the system she used at Bellamy Holdings — subject, then author, then date.He'd thought it would make her happy.He was wrong.Yessica came home at six from the client meeting, walked into the room, and stood in the doorway.Thirty seconds of silence."You went in my room," she said."I wanted to surprise you. The shelves—""I can see the shelves." Her voice was completely level. That was worse than anger. "Lewis, I told you. This room was mine.""I know, I just thought—""You thought." She turned to look at him. "You thought, so you made a decision about my space without asking me.""It was supposed to be—""