Ex Wife's Collapse After Divorce novel Chapter 40

Chapter 40

The boss lady arrived with the first round of skewers and set the case of beer on the ground beside the table. Sophie popped two bottles open with a practiced flick of the opener, pushed one toward Ethan.

He didn’t touch it.

“Seven days, Ethan. Under the same roof.” Sophie raised her bottle but didn’t drink. “Same bedroom, too. Every night.”

Ethan’s voice came out flat. Controlled. The way a man sounds when he’s holding something back with

both hands.

“How do you know all this?”

“Because I have proof.”

Sophie’s fingers danced across her phone screen. A soft chime from Ethan’s pocket.

He pulled out his phone.

One photo.

A man’s hand and a woman’s hand, fingers intertwined. Intimate. Unmistakable.

His gaze went straight to the woman’s ring finger.

The diamond ring.

Custom-designed. One of a kind. He’d spent three months working with the jeweler, obsessing over every facet, every angle, every millimeter of the setting. There was no duplicate anywhere on earth.

That was Vivian’s hand.

“Convinced?” Sophie swirled her beer, watching him over the rim.

Ethan set the phone face-down on the table.

“Vivian and I are done.” His voice was steady. Too steady. “Her business is no longer my concern.”

He picked up the beer, poured a glass, and drained it in one long pull.

The alcohol burned down his throat. He poured another.

Sophie watched him with something that might have been pity – or might have been satisfaction.

“I’m not telling you this to stir up trouble.” She took a sip, set her glass down, then refilled it immediately.” I’m telling you because you deserved to know. You loved her. You gave her everything. And she treated you like a fool.”

Ethan said nothing.

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“But here’s the part that’s really going to hurt.” Sophie’s voice dropped. “That photo I just sent you? I didn’t hack her phone. I didn’t hire a private investigator.” She leaned forward. “I saved it from her Moments feed.”

Ethan’s eyes flickered.

“She posted it, Ethan. On social media. For everyone to see.”

His hand stopped mid-pour.

“Everyone except you.” Sophie’s lips curled into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “You were the only person she blocked. The only one. Do you understand what that means?”

The beer bottle hovered over his glass, amber liquid trembling at the lip.

“Every friend. Every colleague. Every casual acquaintance on her contact list – they all saw it. They all knew.” Sophie’s voice was quiet now, almost gentle, which made it worse. “Scroll up through her feed. It goes back three years. Every post, every photo, every little breadcrumb of her double life – it’s all there. Visible to everyone.”

She paused.

“Her father even liked some of them. Left comments.”

The bottle came down. Hard. Beer sloshed over the rim of the glass and pooled on the cheap plastic

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