Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 976

Emmy stared at the message for a whole minute, barely blinking.

The noise around her faded, like the world had hit pause.

Dead?

Dean—the man who’d been obsessed to the point of madness, the one who’d locked her away on that island for ten months—

Dean, who used to be so confident, so untouchable—

He was just… gone?

She felt this strange weight in her chest.

It wasn’t grief.

It wasn’t sadness, either.

What she felt was complicated, like letting out a breath she’d been holding forever, mixed with the shock of how unpredictable life could be.

She’d wanted him dead before.

She’d hated him for drugging her, for tormenting her, for lying and manipulating her in every way.

She hated how he’d injected her with chemicals, planted a tracker inside her, how he’d destroyed her life and turned her into a caged bird.

She always thought that if she ever heard news like this, she’d feel nothing but joy.

But now… she didn’t.

All she could think was… after everything he’d done, this was how it ended for him?

“He’s better off dead,” Emmy whispered, almost to herself.

It was the end of his crimes and, finally, her chance to leave the past behind.

No more looking over her shoulder, afraid someone would snatch her back into that nightmare.

No more haunted by those dark, obsessive eyes…

She was really, truly free.

“Ms. Lincoln?”

A voice pulled her back.

She looked up to see Penny standing beside her, holding a schedule. “The networking session’s starting. We should get ready to go in.”

Emmy took a deep breath.

She closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them again, the last traces of her old pain were gone.

“Alright, let’s go.”

She turned off her phone, dropped it in her bag, and followed Penny inside.

…

Isabel frowned. “How can you laugh? Dean completely failed. James found her so easily!”

“Emmy’s sudden comeback is obviously meant to show us something. What are we supposed to do if James brings her back to the country?”

Tyler set his phone down and looked up, his gaze calm and clear.

“Don’t forget, Emmy has lost her memory.”

He gave a small, amused laugh. “She doesn’t remember James. She doesn’t remember anything that happened between us, either.”

“So if she’s coming back now, it’s for her career, not revenge.”

“At least, for now, we’re not her target.”

There was something complicated flickering in Tyler’s eyes as he spoke.

“This past year, my people, Dean’s people, even the mercenaries my uncle and Martha sent after them…”

“There were Southeast Asian drug lords, Middle Eastern assassin rings, even bounty hunters from the dark web.”

“So many groups, all trying to corner him, take him out.”

Tyler shook his head and let out a sigh.

“And James is not just alive—he actually managed to find Emmy, even while she was hidden away from everyone.”

“His abilities… they’re way beyond what you or I ever imagined.”