All Chapters of THE WIFE HE THREW AWAY: My ex-husband's regret : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

54 Chapters

{ WE HAVE A WEDDING TO PLAN }

LEILA I sat in the passenger seat, my eyes fixed on the blurry streetlights outside, but my mind was stuck inside my office. My body was resting against the cushions, but I was replaying the kiss on a loop. The warmth of his mouth, the solid pressure of his hands on my shoulders, and the sharp sound of the plate breaking on the floor, it all blurred together into a heavy fog. I couldn't find my footing. The rules I had built across the table since I arrived felt like thin glass. I couldn't find a clean way to win back my control. The car slowed to a smooth halt at the curb outside my hotel. The engine hummed with a low sound that filled the quiet cabin, but neither of us moved toward the doors. I gripped the straps of my bag, my fingers cold as the silence between us grew thick. I needed to say something. "George," I started, my voice dry as I turned my he

{ LOCKED ON HER RUIN }

KARL The notice on my center screen didn't flash. It just sat there, a gray block of text against the white display that hit my chest like a dull blade. (CONTRACT TERMINATION: WESTERN MARKET EXPANSION. BIDOR STATUS: DISQUALIFIED.) A sudden coldness drained the blood from my face until my lips turned white. I stared at the bold letters, my hand locking around the crystal paperweight on my desk until my knuckles went pale. We were stopping here. The three-day push, the emergency training sessions, and the millions I had drained from our bank to rewrite the design files had failed before the board could even open our models. Alistair Vance had signed the final paper, and he had signed it in George's favour. The stock price hit would detonate within a minute of the investors final announcement. The Western Market Expansion was the single m

{ AN UNBOUGHT FREEDOM }

LEILA The double glass doors of the G3 Group building opened with their usual hiss, but the normal feel of the design floor was completely broken since yesterday afternoon. I walked past the front desk, my boots making a quiet sound against the dark slate floor, and immediately noticed a change. Two junior workers who usually hurried past my desk stopped dead in the hallway, stepping back against the metal columns to give me a wide space. Heads turned across the design rooms. Muted whispers died out the moment my shadow hit the wood slats. A new note of respect marked my progress as the staff watched me pass. I kept my chin up and my spine straight, though a strange tension tightened the back of my neck. I didn't fully connect their wide eyes to Doreen's frantic midnight warning until I reached my office and ran my fingers across the terminal screen.

{ LEILA, PLEASE STAY FOR ME }

GEORGE The contract was ours. We had won the bid, and we had raised more money for it than Karl’s company had ever touched on a single project in his entire life. I leaned back in my chair, looking at the numbers. It was a quiet, clean victory. For years, I had wanted to build something in this city that would completely outgrow the family name I was denied as a child. Now, it was done. I had beaten my brother at his own game, and it should have been the best moment of my week. But the good feeling walked right out the door the moment I thought about the calendar. Today was the last day of Leila’s contract. Three months had gone by faster than I ever expected. The victory against Karl felt completely empty now, pushed aside by the fact that at five o'clock today, her time at this firm was over.

{ I CAN'T SAY YES RIGHT NOW }

LEILA "Will you stay, Leila? Not for the contract. For me." His question sat in the air between us. I didn't answer right away. Saying yes wouldn't just mean staying at G3. It would mean staying close to him every day, building something real with him, while the biggest truth of my life stayed locked away behind my clothes. He didn't know about the baby. He didn't know she was Karl's. If I said yes tonight, I would be saying yes to all of it, the job, the closeness, whatever this was between us, and I would still be lying to him every single day I didn't tell him. I wasn't ready for that. Not the lie, and not the moment I'd eventually have to end it. I had a daughter to protect first. Whatever I felt for George would have to wait behind that. "No," I said. Letting it sit between us in the quiet office. Geo

{ THERE'S A PROBLEM ABOUT LEILA STONNE }

KARLTHe numbers on my monitor didn't move the way I wanted them to. Hawthorne Group, down eleven percent since the market opened. The headline running across every business feed in the country said the same thing in different words: Hawthorne Loses Western Market Bid to Rival Firm G3. I pulled up G3's ticker next to mine. Their stock had jumped overnight, climbing them into third place in the country. A firm that hadn't existed eighteen months ago was now standing three spots above where my empire's name had sat for two decades. I wasn't going to sit here and watch the number blink red. I picked up the phone and dialed my broker directly. "Pull whatever liquidity we have and get in front of this before the closing bell," I said. "I want a statement out within the hour. Something about restructuring, new direction, whatever sounds like a plan instead of a loss."&nb

{ WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME ANY OF US HEARD FROM YOUR FATHER? }

KARL"She succeeded in filing a civil suit against the Hawthorne Group two days ago," my attorney said. "Copyright infringement, unpaid labor claims, breach of intellectual property rights. She's got real counsel this time, a private firm called Vance and Associates. I already pulled the filing. She's got a hearing date locked in for six weeks from now.""Six weeks," I said, my teeth locking."Yes, Mr. Hawthorne.""Who's funding it?""It's her. Fully self-funded."Leila. George had been using her, hiding behind her the whole time, throwing punch after punch while pretending his hands were clean. He had joined hands with her to strip me of the contract. I would deal with George eventually. But first I was going to make sure she understood exactly what happened to people who thought they could walk away from me standing taller than before.I set the glass down too hard, wine sloshing over the rim onto my hand. "Get me everything on the presiding judge before morning," I said, my voice

{ NATALIA'S TRUTH }

GEORGE The investor meeting was supposed to start at four. I got to the hotel twenty minutes early, and found their assistant waiting in the lobby with an apologetic look on her face. "They're running behind," she said. "Traffic from the airport. Maybe fifteen minutes." "I'll wait in the lounge," I said. The hotel lounge was half full, the low hum of afternoon conversation blending with the clink of glasses at the bar. I noticed her before I recognized the voice. A table near the far wall had four women sitting around it, with glasses stacked at the center. The woman facing away from the door had her back to me, her dark hair loose over her shoulders, her laugh carrying louder than anyone else in the room. It took me a second longer than it should have to place her. Natalia. She was sitting with her back to the

{ WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE? }

LEILA The numbers on the page blurred for the third time in an hour. I blinked hard, pressing my palm flat against the desk to steady myself as the room tilted, just slightly, then settled back into place. I'd been at the desk since six in the morning, going over the presentation line by line, checking the same numbers I'd already checked twice. My back ached from the chair. My eyes burned from the screen. Somewhere behind my temples, a headache had been building since noon and hadn't let up. Five days left. I didn't have room to slow down now. I needed a dress for the finale, and I'd been putting it off for a week. Getting out of this room for an hour might do me more good than another hour staring at the same slide. I closed the laptop and reached for my coat. I ordered a ride to a small boutique downtown, the kind of place that didn't have a doorman or a w

{ WE CAN'T ACCOMMODATE YOU }

LEILA They finished packing faster than I could process it. One of them zipped my bag shut, another pressed a folded sheet of paper into my hands, a printed notice, cold and formal, no explanation beyond the words termination of stay, effective immediately. I didn't argue anymore. There was nothing left to argue with. They walked me down to the lobby in silence, my bags rolling behind me, the rain visible through the glass doors ahead, hammering the pavement outside. I stood under the awning and pulled out my phone, opening the ride app with numb fingers. Every driver near me showed as unavailable. I tried again. Nothing. I'd never owned a car. I've always booked rides. But standing there now, soaked before I'd even stepped into the rain properly, that felt like a mistake I couldn't undo tonight. I scrolled through my contacts anyway, some part of me hoping a name would jump out

1 2 3 4 5 6

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP