Ex Wife's Collapse After Divorce novel Chapter 48

Chapter 48

“You really are something else, Damian.” Ethan shook his head, still smiling, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You want to steal my wife. Fine. I can respect ambition, even the grubby kind. But this?”

He gestured at Damian, a dismissive wave.

“This fake nice-guy routine. The concerned whispers. The ‘if she were mine’ speeches.” Ethan’s smile vanished. “It’s pathetic. And it’s beneath even you.”

Damian’s face flushed. “I don’t know what you’re implying -”

“You want to talk about who’s been there for her?” Ethan cut him off, voice sharpening. “You keep saying you care about Vivian. You keep telling her how much better you’d treat her. So let me ask you something simple.”

He took a step closer to Damian.

“What’s her favorite food?”

Damian opened his mouth. Nothing came out.

“What’s she allergic to?”

Silence.

“When her stomach acts up – and it does, chronically, because she skips meals and drinks coffee like water – what medication does she need?”

Damian’s throat bobbed. A sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead. “I that’s not -”

“That’s what I thought.” Ethan’s lip curled. “You don’t know a single thing about her actual life. All you know how to do is whisper poison in her ear and play the devoted hero when there’s an audience.”

Ethan stepped back. Smiled again. “But you know what’s even more interesting?”

“Your consulting role at Lockwood – that wasn’t charity, was it? Your uncle Vincent Hale didn’t send you back to reconnect with an old flame out of the goodness of his heart.”

Damian went rigid. In an instant, his heart pounded wildly.

This was his deepest secret. How did Ethan find out? Did Sophie investigate him? No… wait. Ethan was probably just bluffing him.

“I have evidence, Damian.” Ethan reached for his jacket pocket. “Screenshots. Transaction records. Enough to show exactly what Hale Realty has been doing behind Lockwood’s back.”

The color drained from Damian’s face. His composure cracked – eyes widening, a bead of sweat sliding down his temple.

“You’re you’re lying-”

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“Am I?” Ethan’s hand closed around his phone. “Shall I show her?”

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At that moment, Ethan was ready to reveal Damian’s true colors to Vivian. He didn’t really want to help Vivi get rid of her troubles, but now that they’d reached this point, he’d treat this exposure as his parting gift to Vivian.

He wanted her to see what kind of person her beloved ex really was, and how blind she was.

“ENOUGH!”

Vivian’s scream split the air between them.

Vivian was shaking. Her eyes blazed – not at Damian. At him.

Ethan stopped. His hand stilled on the phone.

“I’ve had it with you, Ethan! You have no job, no ambition, no future- and now you’re standing here trying to frame the one person who’s actually been helping me?” Her voice broke on a jagged edge. “You’re pathetic. This this disgusting manipulation – it makes me sick.”

The words hung in the air.

Ethan looked at her. Really looked at her. But in Vivian’s eyes, he found not a flicker of trust, nor even any

warmth. There was nothing but loathing.

Behind Vivian, Damian’s shoulders sagged with relief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave Ethan a provocative smile.

Something in Ethan’s chest went cold. He let his hand fall from his pocket. Tucked the phone away.

“So that’s your answer.” His voice was flat. “You’d rather believe him than me.”

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