Ex Wife's Collapse After Divorce novel Chapter 47

Chapter 47

The last note of “Cheater, Cheater” faded into the dead air of the karaoke suite.

Nobody clapped.

Ethan set the microphone down on the table. His gaze swept across the room – the frozen faces, the half-raised glasses, the phones that had stopped recording mid-chorus.

Vivian sat in the far corner. Her face was the color of ash.

Good enough.

He checked his phone one more time. Still nothing from Aurora. The unread message sat there like a small, cold stone in his chest. She always replied. Always. Even if it was just a single emoji or a voice note telling him not to stay out too late.

It’s already too late. He needs to get home as soon as possible to check what happened to Aurora. He was worried about some kind of accident happening in Aurora.

Sophie stumbled toward him, both hands reaching for his arm. Her cheeks were flushed deep scarlet, and her eyes had that glassy, unfocused shine of someone who’d crossed the line between tipsy and wrecked about four drinks ago.

“Ethan one more – just one more, I swear

“You can barely stand.”

“I can stand! Watch -” She swayed. Caught herself on the arm of the couch. “Okay. Maybe sitting is

better.”

“I’m heading out.” He peeled her fingers off his sleeve. “Get Ryan to call you a cab. Don’t drive.”

“But I can -”

“Sophie. No.”

She pouted. Then sighed. Then collapsed onto the leather couch and waved him off with a dramatic flick of her wrist. “Fine. Go. Abandon me. See if I care.”

Ethan didn’t look back.

The night air hit him the moment he stepped out of the KTV building. Cool. Sharp. A welcome slap after two hours of recycled air and neon lights.

He took a deep breath. His head cleared.

He raised his hand to flag a cab – and a voice sliced through the quiet behind him.

“Ethan Carter, don’t you dare walk away.”

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Low. Tight. Shaking with barely contained fury.

Damn… Ethan frowned deeply. Why has another problem come up and bothered him again now?

He turned.

Vivian was striding toward him, heels clicking against the pavement like a countdown. Her face was iron – jaw locked, eyes burning, every line of her body coiled with rage.

Behind her, Damian followed. His expression was carefully arranged into something somber and concerned, but his eyes – his eyes were bright with quiet satisfaction, the look of a man who’d been waiting all night for this moment.

Ethan didn’t move. He stood there, hands in his pockets, and watched them approach.

“Something you need?” His voice was flat.

Vivian stopped two paces away. Her teeth were clenched so hard the tendons in her neck stood out.

“We’re still married, Ethan.”

“Not for long.”

“Until I sign those papers, we are husband and wife.” Her voice cracked on the last word. “And you sat in there – in front of everyone I grew up with – and let that woman drape herself all over you. You sang love songs with her. You held her hand. You made me look like a fool.”

“You didn’t need my help for that.”

The words landed like a slap.

Vivian’s nostrils flared. “How dare you

“How dare I what?” Ethan tilted his head. The cold indifference in his eyes shifted. Something darker surfaced – contempt, raw and undisguised. “Do exactly what you’ve been doing for months? You walk into that reunion with your ex-boyfriend on your arm, you sit next to him all night, you let him play the devoted knight – and I’m the one who crossed a line?”

He laughed. Short. Bitter. The kind of laugh that made Vivian flinch.

“The hypocrisy is staggering, Vivian. Even for you.”

“Damian is my friend -”

“Save it.”

The two words shut her down mid-sentence. Ethan’s gaze moved past her to Damian.

Damian had been standing just behind Vivian’s right shoulder, watching the exchange with a carefully calibrated expression of righteous concern. The moment Vivian turned to glance at him, his face shifted seamlessly – brows drawn together, mouth pressed into a worried line, every inch the devoted protector.

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But a second earlier, Ethan had caught it. The smirk. The gleam of triumph in those eyes.

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