Billionaire’s Regret After Losing Her (Aurelia) novel Chapter 18

Chapter 18 Dominic Panicked–1

After lunch, Aurelia started feeling drowsy.

She just laid down on the bed when the faint buzz of a notification cut through her sleepy haze.

Fumbling for her phone, she saw a message from the bank notifying her that her card had been canceled.

Card… canceled?

Aurelia double–checked the card number. It was the one Dominic had Jason set up for her a while back.

The account was under Dominic’s name, but linked to her phone number.

The card had been axed outright, which meant the other two supplementary cards he’d given her were probably frozen.

A cold smile tugged at Aurelia’s lips.

Cancel my cards? Did he really think I paid for all the buzz with his money?

Well, he’ll see if this little move could make the story die down!

Her phone buzzed again.

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It was a text message.

[Aurelia, you bitch, are you trying to ruin me?]

[What’s the deal? Can’t hold onto Dominic anymore, so you’re stooping to these dirty tricks? Just wait, I won’t let you get away with this!]

Even through the screen, Aurelia could practically feel Lauren’s rage and desperation.

Aurelia didn’t bother responding. She just blocked the

unknown number.

Opening Facebook, she saw a handful of friend requests pop

1. up.

There was one from Dominic, one from Lauren, and one from Jason–all people she’d already blocked.

Then there was another request… from Eleanor.

Eleanor, who’d always been so arrogant she’d never deigned to send her a request before.

The message attached read: [Aurelia, have you completely lost your mind? What exactly are you trying to pull?]

Aurelia rejected each request one by one, not leaving a single.54

message in response.

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Outside, public opinion was spiraling into chaos. But she remained completely unfazed.

It was driving Lauren, Eleanor, and the rest of them absolutely

crazy.

Dominic had it the worst of all.

His expression thunderous, he fired off another friend request.

[Where are you? I’m coming to pick you up.]

Staring at that message, Aurelia went completely quiet.

They were all scrambling to talk to her, but she no longer wanted to give them the chance.

On the other end, Dominic waited for her to either accept the request or reject it with some kind of message.

But there was nothing. Not a single peep.

He ground his teeth and demanded, “Have you found out which hotel she’s staying at?”

Canceling all her cards would force her home tomorrow, but Dominic still wanted to track her down as fast as possible.

Jason had just gotten back with the intel. When Dominic 3/6

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asked, he shook his head gravely.

“We’ve checked every hotel in the area. Mrs. Hawthorne isn’t staying at any of them.”

Dominic rubbed his throbbing temple.

Where the hell is she? And who is she with?

Jason spoke up again, “However, there is one bit of news…”

As he said it, Jason’s expression turned visibly anxious, like he wasn’t sure if he should share it or not.

Dominic shot him a frigid glare. “Spit it out.”

Jason flinched under his stare, then pressed on, “Mrs. Hawthorne was discharged from the hospital this morning, and it was a German man who handled all the paperwork.”

Dominic’s eyes widened. “What?”

Isn’t she with Chloe? How had a random German man suddenly popped up?

Seeing Dominic’s confusion, Jason clarified, “Ms. Taylor was there at the time, too.”

Chloe was present, but so was a German man. 4/6

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Dominic’s brow furrowed. “A man?”

Jason nodded. “Yes, sir.”

The room went dead silent the second he confirmed it.

Dominic leaned forward, his voice sharp. “Is this guy connected to Chloe? Or to her?”

Jason dropped his gaze. “We can’t confirm that yet.”

It was unclear who the man was tied to. But one thing was certain.

He reported, “After handling the discharge, Ms. Taylor went straight home. And Mrs. Hawthorne… she vanished.”

Aurelia hadn’t gone home, hadn’t returned to Evergreen Residences, and hadn’t headed to Chloe’s.

By that logic, it was far more likely the German man was

connected to Aurelia.

Dominic’s breathing grew ragged.

He ground out the words, “That German man.”

They’d been married for three years, plus the three years

he’d

spent chasing her before that–six years total. How had he 5/6 never known she knew any Germans?

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Had she met him recently? Or maybe…

Suddenly, Grant’s words flashed through his mind.

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special offer: 800 bonus free to you

Chapter 18 Dominic Panicked–2

“I support your divorce!” he’d said.

Grant’s company recruited talent from all over the world. Did he send some German guy to pick Aurelia up?

Grant had spent nearly two–thirds of his time at Hawthorne Manor over the past six months. It wouldn’t be impossible for Aurelia to have developed some kind of contact with him.

Dominic’s breathing turned even more labored. “Find out immediately where that German man took her! And also…”

At that point, every trace of warmth had drained from

Dominic’s face.

Finally, he sighed. “Never mind, just focus on tracking her down first.”

Jason nodded. “Yes, sir.”

After Jason left, Dominic called Grant directly.

Grant answered quickly. “What is it?”

Three words, cold and distant.

Hearing that tone, Dominic’s anger flared instantly.

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He’d always thought Grant was just boring and aloof. Now it felt like outright hostility….

Dominic bit out, “Are you at the office? I’m coming to see you.”

Grant sounded surprised. “You have time to see me now?”

Dominic frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Have time?” There was a clear edge of sarcasm in Grant’s

voice.

The usually emotionless Grant was being snarky? Why? Because of Aurelia?

Dominic’s grip on the phone tightened until his knuckles whitened.

Grant let out a dry laugh. “Your sister–in–law has been having depressive episodes every few days… no, every few hours lately. You can’t even take care of your own family, but you have time to come see me?”

It was rare to hear Grant ramble on like this. And every word only stoked Dominic’s frustration further.

Had he really changed this much because of Aurelia?

Dominic hung up without another word, grabbed his coat, and Bolted out the door.

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In the car, Dominic thought for a minute, then finally called

Lucas.

Lucas answered with a sigh. “Dominic, what exactly are you trying to accomplish here?”

He’d never realized how much Dominic dragged him into his fights with Aurelia until now.

Dominic said, “Call Aurelia and tell her…”

Before he could finish, Lucas cut him off. “She’s never going to

tell me where she is. You know that.”

Lucas was genuinely fed up.

When Dominic camped out at Hawthorne Manor doting on Lauren, he hadn’t spared a single thought for Aurelia running

off.

Now that she was actually gone and he couldn’t find her, he was dragging everyone else into his mess?

Dominic insisted, “Just tell her I’m going to see Grant.”

Lucas was completely confused. “Huh?”

He was going to see Grant and wanted him to pass that along

to Aurelia? What did that mean?

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Lucas asked, “Wait, how is Grant mixed up in this again? Did Lauren feed you some kind of lie?”

Lucas‘ first thought was that Lauren had been stirring up trouble between Dominic and Aurelia once more.

Dominic went silent.

Lucas kept going, “Look, if you can’t even explain your whole thing with Lauren clearly, don’t go around accusing Aurelia of stuff.

“When women get hurt like this, you might never fix it. No matter how hard you try.”

In Lucas‘ opinion, Dominic hadn’t even bothered to clarify his relationship with Lauren, and now he was already suspecting Aurelia and Grant of something.

His doubts were definitely because Lauren had whispered something in his ear.

How could he even be suspicious? Grant and Aurelia barely interacted.

Lucas didn’t know what else to say to Dominic.

He sighed, “I mean, you’re ruthless and decisive in business. Why are you so easily manipulated when it comes to Aurelia? 4/6

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Do you believe every single thing Lauren tells you?”

When Lauren’s name came up, Lucas‘ tone dripped with disapproval.

He knew Lauren was a woman with zero boundaries.

After Adrian died, she’d clung to Dominic nonstop, demanding his attention 24/7. It was just plain gross.

Dominic’s temper flared at his words. “Are you going to tell her

or not?”

Lucas tried to reason with him, “Hey, just listen to me for a second…”

Dominic cut him off sharply, “Jason found out a German man handled her hospital discharge today. A German man. If Grant didn’t set that up, how the hell would Aurelia know any foreign guy?”

Lucas fell silent.

If Jason had uncovered it, there was no room for doubt- Jason’s loyalty to Dominic was legendary.

Lucas caved, “Fine, fine. I’ll call her and mention it.”

After hanging up, Dominic’s face was terrifyingly dark. 5/6

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A German man, Grant…

If there really was a foreigner in Aurelia’s orbit, there was a ninety percent chance Grant was behind it.

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