All Chapters of CHASING HIS EX-WIFE: My ex-husband wants me-too late: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

She couldn't talk, could barely breathe between coughs, her vision starting to blur at the edges while panic clawed up her throat. Finally the spasms eased enough that she could pull in a gasping breath, could wipe her mouth with a shaking hand, could try to compose herself before Lucas made it to her location.But he was already there by the time she managed to straighten up, already pulling open the car door with concern etched deep into every line of his face."What happened?" he demanded, his hands already checking her over like he expected to find injury."Just a coughing fit," she managed, her voice raw and rough. "Went down the wrong way."His eyes narrowed as he took in her pale face, her trembling hands, the way she was very carefully keeping her right palm hidden. "Let me see your hand.""It's fine.""Jayda." His voice held a warning. "Let me see your hand."She had no choice but to show him, to let him see the blood smeared across her palm even though she'd tried to wipe mo

She followed him into the small office tucked into the corner of the garage, the space barely large enough for a desk and two chairs, the walls covered with racing posters and schedules and photographs of drivers Lucas had trained over the years.He closed the door, turned to face her with an expression that held equal parts fury and fear."You almost killed yourself and another driver out there," he said, his voice tight with control that was clearly costing him effort to maintain. "Your vision blurred mid-turn, I saw it happen, I saw you overcorrect and almost cause a pile-up that could have injured or killed multiple people.""I'm fine," she said automatically, the lie so practiced now it came without thought. "It was just a mistake.""It wasn't a mistake, it was your body failing you mid-race, this is exactly what I was afraid of, exactly why I didn't want you racing yet." He moved closer, his hands gentle as they gripped her shoulders. "You're not healthy enough for this, somethi

Finally Lucas spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. "One race," he said. "This race and then no more, you do this race and then you rest, you do palliative care, you stop destroying your body trying to prove you're still the racer you used to be.""Deal," she said immediately, relief flooding through her so powerfully she felt dizzy."And if you collapse again," Lucas added, his eyes meeting hers with an intensity that made her want to look away, "if your body shows any signs it can't handle the race, if your vision blurs or your breathing gets too labored or anything happens that suggests you're in immediate danger, I'm pulling you off that track myself, I don't care if you hate me for it.""I won't collapse.""You don't know that, you can't know that, your body is unpredictable right now.""I have to believe it," she said quietly, her hand tightening on his. "Because if I don't believe I can finish this race then I have nothing left to hope for, nothing left to fight for, nothing

Jayda didn't sleep.She lay in bed staring at the ceiling while her mind replayed that photo on an endless loop—Antonio's hand on Lisa's back, Lisa's smile bright and intimate, the caption that confirmed everything she'd suspected and tried desperately not to believe.Several weeks.Which meant he'd been with Lisa almost immediately after the divorce, maybe even before, maybe the entire time Jayda had been slowly dying in their mansion he'd been planning his exit strategy, planning his future with someone who wasn't sick, wasn't broken, wasn't a burden he had to carry.The betrayal felt fresh and sharp despite the weeks that had passed since the divorce, despite telling herself she'd moved on, despite believing she didn't care anymore what Antonio did or who he did it with. Seeing the photo had ripped open wounds she'd thought were healing, exposed pain she'd buried beneath training and exhaustion and the consuming focus of preparing for a race her body probably couldn't survive.She

That night Jayda couldn't sleep.She lay in bed staring at the ceiling while her mind ran through every possible scenario, every potential disaster, every way tomorrow could go catastrophically wrong.Finally at two in the morning she gave up on sleep, got up, pulled out paper and a pen.If tomorrow went wrong, if her body gave out, if this was truly the end, she wanted certain people to know certain things.She started with Lucas.Lucas,Thank you for believing in me when I didn't believe in myself. Thank you for training me even when you knew I was dying. Thank you for giving me these last few months of feeling alive instead of just surviving. You gave me back something I thought I'd lost forever. Whatever happens on that track, please know that none of it is your fault. You gave me exactly what I asked for—a chance to be myself one more time.Thank you for everything.JaydaShe sealed it in an envelope, wrote his name across the front.Next she wrote to Margaret.Margaret,Thank yo