All Chapters of Five years later, My Billionaire Ex-husband wants me back: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

JanetThe salty breeze coming off the bay felt different today. It carried no sting of cold terror, no phantom scent of hospital antiseptic, and no heavy dread of an impending medical collapse.Four months had carved a new rhythm into our lives.The chaos had not vanished—raising four infants simultaneously was still an exhausting, unyielding marathon of sterilizer cycles, pureed vegetables, midnight teething cries, and mountains of tiny laundry. But the brutal fear that had shadowed every hour in the NICU had softened into bone-deep gratitude.All four were thriving. Gavin had developed chubby cheeks and a deep, belly-shaking chortle whenever Daniel tossed him gently in the air. Grayson was already rolling over with determined grunts, demanding attention with loud, imperious coos. Grace was fascinated by her own toes and would babble contentedly to the flutter of the nursery curtains. And Gabriella—my Little Fighter—though still a pound lighter than her siblings, had finally crossed

JanetThe gold leaf seemed to scorch the air between us.Crawford International Group.Five years. For sixty uninterrupted months, I had carefully insulated my world from that name. I had built a fortress of clean ledgers, coastal salt air, and honest labor, believing the vast expanse of the country and my quiet legal rebirth as Janet Hale had severed the umbilical cord forever.Now, the monster of my past had laid its calling card directly on my conference table."No," I said, shoving the midnight-blue leather dossier away from me like a venomous reptile. It slid across the polished mahogany, coming to a halt against Daniel’s coffee mug. "Absolutely not. Reject it immediately.""Janet, look at the terms before you throw it away," Daniel pleaded quietly, keeping his hands flat on the wood. "They aren't offering a hostile buyout. They aren't trying to absorb our intellectual property. It’s an exclusive distribution and licensing partnership. Two hundred premier concessions across Europ

GarrettMy first, instinctual reaction was to reach for my private phone, order the company jet readied at the private hangar, and fly directly to the coast.I wanted to stand in front of her. I wanted to see her breathe. I wanted to look into those deep brown eyes and say the words I had rewritten a hundred times on crumpled sheets of stationery. The impulse was violent, electric, and desperate—the reaction of a man who had wandered five years through a graveyard and suddenly caught a glimpse of living light.My hand hovered an inch above the telephone on my desk.Then, slowly, I pulled my fingers back.“I threw her away,” I reminded myself in the silence of my study. “There is a difference.”During our marriage, I had dictated the terms of her existence. I had decided which galas she attended, which dresses suited the Crawford image, and how she should conduct herself before the board. And on the night everything shattered, I had made the most brutal, unilateral decision of all: I h

GavinThe sliver of hall light vanished as Mom’s footsteps faded down the corridor toward her bedroom."You're making stuff up," Grayson hissed back, propping himself on his elbows, his messy curls sticking out in every direction. "Mom said he was just a businessman with stores. You can't know who our dad is from a screen.""I'm not making it up," I whispered, staying crouched on the braided rug between our beds. "Get up. Look at me."Grayson squinted through the dim amber glow of our nightlight."Look at my jaw," I insisted, pointing to the side of my face just like I had seen in the window glass downstairs. "And look at your eyebrows in the mirror. We don't have Mom’s nose. We don't have Daniel’s chin. His hair is dark like ours, his shoulders are straight, and his eyes are gray. Exactly like mine."A floorboard creaked across the room.Before either of us could move, a small shadow dropped off the opposite bed. Gabriella padded silently across the rug in her mismatched dinosaur soc

GarrettThe sixty-foot video wall had gone black twenty minutes ago, yet I remained in the empty boardroom, staring at the polished, dark glass.Seeing her again had not brought the closure I foolishly imagined it might. It had torn the scab from a five-year-old wound, leaving the raw nerve exposed to freezing air.Janet had not screamed. She had not wept, sneered, or flinched. She had looked through the high-definition lens, straight into my eyes, and addressed me with the crisp, untouchable detachment reserved for an unfamiliar vendor.“That will suffice, Mr. Crawford.”She looked radiant. Stronger, sharper, infinitely more beautiful than the timid girl I had brought into high society. The quiet vulnerability that Eleanor and Vanessa had weaponized against her was gone, replaced by an iron poise that placed her entirely beyond my reach.What broke me was the absolute absence of hatred in her eyes. Hatred was an active emotion; it meant a person still occupied space in your soul. Jan