บททั้งหมดของ His Billion-Dollar Regret: The Forgotten Wife Returns: บทที่ 241 - บทที่ 250

[POV: Yessica] (Location: Edinburgh)The landline rang once.Lewis looked at it from across the kitchen. Neither of them moved for that one second — just long enough to register that this was not an accident, not a misdial, and not something they could ignore.He picked it up on the second ring.Yessica watched his face."Who is this?" he said.A pause. Then his expression did something she could read clearly — not fear, not anger. The specific neutrality he deployed when something required him to stay completely controlled.He put it on speaker.A woman's voice, careful and unhurried. "Mr. Sterling. I'm not going to give you my name. But I need you to know that what's happening tonight isn't what Victoria told Patricia Lorne it was.""Then what is it?" Lewis said."Victoria told Patricia the plan was to retrieve something from your property. Documents she believes prove her wrongful committal. She said no one would be harmed." A pause. "That's not the actual plan.""Who authorized

The call came on a Tuesday morning, six weeks after the vow renewal.Lewis was standing in the kitchen, mug in hand, when Eleanor's name lit up his screen. He set down the coffee and answered."She's filed a request." Eleanor didn't waste time on a greeting. "Supervised meeting. Her parole conditions allow it if both parties consent and I facilitate."Lewis didn't respond."She wants to see you. Her words—I'm reading directly—*I want to apologize to my son. Explain myself. Seek forgiveness before I die.*"Through the baby monitor on the counter, he could hear Yessica moving upstairs. The creak of the floorboards he kept meaning to fix. Ordinary sounds. The kind he'd spent years fighting for."Before she dies," he repeated. "She's sixty-five.""Prison aged her. Whether that's medical fact or rhetorical strategy, I genuinely can't say."He looked at Grace. Four weeks old, asleep in her bassinet, her tiny fist curling against the fleece blanket. Technically, she had no grandmother. She h

Lewis helped Harrison into his shirt that morning.Harrison had asked to be dressed properly. No hospital gown, no compromise. A real shirt, his navy cardigan, his hair combed.He looked at himself in the handheld mirror when they finished and said, "Good enough."Lewis set the mirror down. The car would arrive at half past ten. He had twenty minutes, and he spent them sitting in the hallway outside his father's door, listening to the house breathe.He heard the car before he saw it.He opened the front door himself.The woman who stepped out of the supervised transport stopped him cold. He had prepared for Catherine Sterling — sixty-five, prison-aged, diminished.He had not prepared for the degree of it. Her hair had gone entirely white. She was thin in a way that looked like something systematic had taken place over a long time. She wore dark trousers and a pale blouse, nothing like the armored designer suits she had built her identity around.Her hands, clasped in front of her, sho

Four years. That was how long it had taken for Regina's hallway to feel like this.Lewis stood in the doorway holding Grace's car seat and a bottle of wine, while behind him Claire and Rose negotiated loudly about who was carrying what bag. He looked at the photo wall running the length of the hallway — framed wedding photos, hospital shots from Ollie's birth, holidays, ordinary Tuesday evenings someone had thought to photograph.Visual proof of a family that had built itself by choice."Welcome!" Regina's arms were already open, already reaching for Claire. "Can you believe it's been four years?"Ethan had already vanished into the living room. The sound of him explaining a Lego structure to anyone who would listen filled the house within thirty seconds.David took coats with the ease of a man comfortable in his own home. Rose installed herself beside Ollie's high chair with the authority of someone who had decided babies were her area. Grace sat in her bouncy seat between Lewis and

The holiday planning had started as a spreadsheet.Two households, eight people, two infants, five children across a thirteen-year age range. Dietary requirements, nap schedules, Ollie's current developmental phase where he considered everything within reach a personal snack."Seven-bedroom house," Regina said over the phone. Lewis could hear Ollie investigating something in the background. "Outside Edinburgh. Sea views, enclosed garden. Big enough that we won't be on top of each other.""Send it."She sent it. It was perfect and expensive, and Lewis booked it before Yessica could see the full price.The group chat had evolved from functional to genuinely entertaining. David replied to everything with extremely specific logistical follow-ups. Regina added three items to the packing list for every one removed. Yessica had started labelling categories: Essential, Probably Essential, Arguably Essential, and Lewis Is Going To Think This Is Not Essential But He's Wrong.Ethan, during his w