All Chapters of The Hockey Billionaire's Regretted Wife: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

POV: AudreyI stare at the gold ring on my finger and adjust the strap of my dress, watching the clock hands creep past eight o'clock, while the candles on the table burn down and the chair opposite mine remains completely empty, because two years ago I never thought I would stand in this apartment waiting for Roman Hayes, let alone care whether he showed up for dinner, and back then he was just the owner of the Boston Vipers who forced my hand with a business contract by buying out my father's agency and demanding my hand in exchange, so I hated him for it and expected our marriage to last twelve months before we parted ways, but one year quietly stretched into two, and the walls I built around myself started crumbling because Roman changed the rules without telling me, starting to come home early, waiting for me outside my lab, remembering how I take my coffee without me saying a word, staying beside the bed when I caught the flu last winter, and glaring at anyone who insulted me at

POV: AudreyThe kitchen lights stay on for hours while Roman and two men from the Vipers security team question me at the kitchen table, and I sit there with my hands folded in my lap, answering every question they throw at me because I have nothing to hide."Mrs Hayes, the security log shows your specific login credentials were used to export the playbook at eight-fifteen tonight, so we need to know who else knew your password," the head of security says, leaning forward and staring at me like I am already guilty."Nobody else knew my password, because I keep it in my head, but my computer stays docked in the performance lab during the day, and anyone on the coaching staff could walk into that room," I reply, keeping my voice steady while I look right at Roman to see if he is even listening to me."Were you in the building at eight-fifteen tonight, Audrey?" Roman asks, his voice sounding completely cold as he sits at the end of the table with his arms crossed over his chest."I told

POV: RomanI wake up, reaching across the mattress to pull Audrey into my arms like I usually do, but my hand hits flat sheets that feel completely empty, so I sit up quickly and look over at her side of the bed."Audrey?" I call out into the room, but no one answers, and when I stand up and walk over to the walk-in closet, I notice half of her clothes and shoes are completely gone.My heart drops into my stomach as I rush down the stairs to my study, and right there in the middle of my desk sits our wedding ring, resting next to the unsigned divorce papers."Damn it, Audrey, where did you go?" I mutter to myself, grabbing my phone off the bedside table to call her cell, but it goes straight to voicemail after a single ring.I dial her number again and listen to the monotonous ringing tone, my frustration boiling over into pure panic because she cannot just walk out of here in the middle of the night."Pick up the phone, Audrey," I say through clenched teeth, hitting redial before to

POV: Roman"Sir, the meeting is still in session, and the ownership group is asking whether you plan to return," my assistant says from the doorway of the empty stairwell where I have been standing for ten minutes, one hand pressed against the concrete wall, trying to remember how to breathe."Tell them the meeting is postponed until Monday," I say without turning around, because my voice is not steady enough to let her hear anything else."Yes, Mr. Hayes," she says, and the door clicks shut behind her.I have owned this franchise for eleven years. I have fired coaches with a single phone call and bought out rival owners over lunch, and I have never once lost the feeling in my legs, but I lose it now, and I sit down on the cold steps with my elbows on my knees, because a little boy just told me his name was Ethan Hayes and that he was two and three quarters.Three years. She carried my son for nine months, she gave birth to him without me, and she raised him alone while I sat in this

POV: AudreyI do not remember deciding to leave the hotel. I remember the elevator, the cab, and Marcus's voicemail promising to sit with Ethan, and then I am standing outside the ownership office at the Vipers arena at eleven at night, with the glass door lit from inside and one man's shadow bent over a desk.I do not knock."Audrey?" Roman rises so fast his chair rolls into the wall. "Is Ethan all right? Did something happen?""Ethan is asleep, and this is not about him," I say, closing the door behind me and staying near it, because I do not trust my body to stay steady if I move closer. "Somebody called me tonight, Roman.""Who?" he asks, and I watch his expression sharpen from worry into something dangerous."The same voice that phoned me at the airport three years ago, the one who told me not to leave Boston," I say. "Tonight the voice told me my father's agency did not fail by accident, and that I should ask you who made sure it did."Roman does not move. He does not scoff, and