Ex Wife's Collapse After Divorce novel Chapter 34

Chapter 34

The front door of the Star River Bay villa opened at 7:14 AM.

Aurora was already on her feet.

She’d been sitting on the living room couch since five, legs tucked beneath her, phone in hand, cycling between his voicemail and the tracking app that showed his phone had been off since midnight.

She’d called eleven times. Sent nine messages. Considered calling the police twice and talked herself out of it both times because Ethan Carter was a grown man and she was not his mother.

But when the door swung open and he stepped inside-shirt untucked, collar crooked, hair a disaster, dark circles carved under his eyes – every rational thought evaporated.

She was across the room before she could stop herself.

“Where have you been?”

Her voice came out sharper than intended. She adjusted. Softened. Tried again.

“You didn’t come home last night. Your phone was off. I couldn’t reach you.”

Her eyes swept him head to toe – cataloging, assessing. The wrinkled shirt. The faint redness around his eyes. The way he swayed slightly on his feet. “And why do you look like – what happened to your clothes?”

Ethan blinked at her. Then he let out a tired laugh and raised both hands in surrender.

“A client’s birthday party. The Whitfield account – Sophie Whitfield. She invited a group out for drinks, and I…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I overdid it. Passed out at the venue. Woke up this morning and came straight home.”

Aurora’s eyes narrowed. She searched his face for the lie.

She didn’t find one. Ethan was many things, but he was a terrible liar – his left eyebrow always twitched

when he tried.

No twitch.

Aurora exhaled slowly. The knot in her chest loosened – not all the way, but enough.

“You know, the world out there is full of dangerous women.” Her tone shifted – lighter, almost playful.” They see a man like you – clueless, too polite to say no, probably can’t even tell when someone’s flirting with him – and they pounce.”

She tilted her head. “You’re lucky you have me. I’m the only one who actually has your best interests at heart.”

Ethan stared at her.

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Then he laughed – a real one this time, tired but genuine. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t ‘ma’am’ me. Go shower. You look terrible.”

“Noted.”

He kicked off his shoes, swapped them for house slippers, and headed for the stairs. Aurora watched him go, arms still crossed, expression carefully neutral.

He made it to the third step. That’s when she caught it.

A scent. Faint but unmistakable – clinging to his collar, woven into the fabric of his shirt. Floral. Warm.

Expensive.

An unknown women’s perfume.

If it were just a regular party, the smells would definitely be mixed, and the women’s perfume wouldn’t stand out so much.

Her hands curled into fists at her sides.

Her Young Master lied to her, hiding his and another woman’s whereabouts.

Although she understood the gap between them and never truly harbored any wild hopes of being with Ethan, he was a good man after all, and she did have feelings for him.

Now, watching helplessly as he was intimate with another woman, she felt an instinctive surge of

bitterness.

She closed her eyes and breathed in one more time.

The jasmine. The vanilla. She’d smelled it before. Recently. At a dinner, or a meeting, or –

Aurora’s eyes snapped open.

Her lips parted.

‘No.’

The face materialized in her mind with sickening clarity. A face she’d never once considered a threat.

Of all the women in Crestwood City – it was the one she never saw coming.

Forty minutes later, Ethan came down the stairs – showered, changed, hair still slightly damp. Aurora was already dressed for the office: fitted blazer, white silk blouse, black pencil skirt that stopped just above the knee. Heels sharp enough to qualify as weapons.

She said nothing about the perfume. Her expression was perfectly composed.

They drove to Stellaris separately, as always. Ethan entered the building five minutes after her – the

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usual protocol. No one needed to know the CEO and her newest business associate shared a roof.

By noon, the office was buzzing.

Ethan sat in the company cafeteria with his team from the business department, trays of food spread across the long rectangular table. Ten seats, all occupied.

“Ethan, you absolute dog.” The guy across from him – Travis Holloway – jabbed his chopsticks in Ethan’s direction. “Sophie Whitfield. The Sophie Whitfield. The woman who made three senior account managers cry in a single meeting. And you closed her in one visit?”

“Lucky,” Ethan said, picking at his rice.

“Lucky my ass.” Another colleague leaned in. “Be honest – did you use some kind of seduction technique? Did she take one look at that face and just… sign?”

“Maybe she’s keeping him.” Travis waggled his eyebrows. “Sugar mama situation. Ethan, teach me. I’m begging. I’ll kneel if I have to.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.”

Laughter erupted around the table.

Ethan laughed short, a little strained – and waved them off. “Just got lucky. She was in a good mood. And for the record, I got blackout drunk for that deal. Nearly died.”

“Worth it though,” Travis said. “Commission on that contract alone -”

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