All Chapters of Five years later, My Billionaire Ex-husband wants me back: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

JanetThe rhythmic clink of glass bottles being arranged on industrial metal shelving was the sweetest sound in the world.Several more months had passed, stretching the quiet coastal autumn into the brisk chill of winter. I was now well into my second trimester, but carrying four growing infants meant a significant, heavy portion of the pregnancy still lay ahead of me. Every day was an exercise in physical endurance, yet watching Jade Bloom evolve gave me the strength to bear it.Our growth had not been an overnight miracle. There were no viral social media sensations or sudden windfalls of corporate capital. Instead, it was an agonizingly slow, steady climb built brick by brick. When the boxes of amber glass jars, bulk buckets of raw organic shea butter, and shipping cartons completely overwhelmed our small kitchen and hallway, Daniel and I finally took the leap: we rented a tiny, two-room commercial workspace in a light-industrial park on the edge of town.I sat on a high-backed er

JanetThe heavy parchment letter from The Grand Azure sat in the center of our small wooden prep table, practically glowing under the fluorescent shop lights.They wanted custom travel-sized collections—our signature New Dawn Butter, the gentle Oat & Chamomile Cleansing Bar, and the Golden Hour Face Oil—to furnish the VIP penthouse suites across four premier coastal locations. Five thousand amenity sets. It was an order larger than everything Jade Bloom had produced over the last three months combined.My heart hammered against my ribs, caught in a wild battle between thrilling disbelief and sheer terror."We take it," Daniel declared without hesitation, leaning over the table with his sleeves rolled up, his eyes bright. "Opportunities like this don't come knocking twice, Janet. If we land The Grand Azure, our brand gets placed directly in front of the wealthiest travelers on the coast. It puts us on the map.""Daniel, look around this room," I argued gently, gesturing to our modest s

GarrettThe private dining room atop the city's grandest hotel glittered with cut crystal, sterling silver, and the quiet murmur of old money.Around the oval table sat seven senior corporate partners, each accompanied by their wife. The women wore vintage diamonds and bespoke evening gowns, trading effortless pleasantries about summer galas in Europe and private charity boards.For three years, I had occupied seats just like this with Janet by my side.Tonight, my right side was empty. The pristine linen, the untouched silver butter knife, and the vacant chair felt like an accusation carved directly into the mahogany table.I stared at the empty space, my fingers tightening around the stem of my water glass. Memories I had buried under months of corporate balance sheets began surfacing, sharp and unsparing. I remembered the way Janet used to sit beside me in rooms just like this—shoulders straight, chin lifted, a soft, polite smile fixed on her face even as my mother’s society friend

JanetThe clinical scent of antiseptic suddenly felt suffocating. Dr. Laura’s words seemed to hang in the chilly air of the examination room like an executioner's blade."Is something wrong?" My voice came out thin, fragile, and laced with naked terror. I gripped the edges of the padded examination table so tightly that my knuckles turned paper-white. "Are the babies in distress? Is one of their hearts failing?""No, Janet, breathe," Dr. Laura said immediately, her tone dropping into a calm, grounding cadence as she placed her warm palm over my trembling fingers. "Nothing is currently wrong. All four heart rates are strong, the amniotic fluid pockets are within safe limits, and their vital organ development is on track. But quadruplet gestations do not follow the rules of a singleton pregnancy. The human body is simply not designed to carry four infants to forty weeks. The average gestation for quadruplets is around twenty-nine to thirty-two weeks. You are at twenty-seven.""Twenty-se

VanessaThe silence from the head of the Crawford dining table had become deafening over the last two weeks.Garrett didn't yell. He didn't issue threats. He simply looked straight through me with eyes as cold as slate, signing corporate documents without glancing up, answering my pleasantries with monosyllabic grunts before retreating into his locked study. His warmth was gone, replaced by a chilling, calculated distance that made my stomach churn every time his footsteps echoed down the marble hallway.He knew. I didn't know how much Marcus had dredged up from the banks, but Garrett’s sudden, icy detachment wasn't grief anymore. It was an executioner taking his time to sharpen the blade.My hands shook as I unlocked the side terrace door of my private bungalow on the estate grounds.Bianca was already waiting inside. She stood near the floor-to-ceiling glass doors, clutching her designer leather bag to her chest, pacing the parquet floor like a caged leopard. Her golden hair was sli