Ex Wife's Collapse After Divorce novel Chapter 57

Chapter 57

The glass door of Aurora’s office hadn’t finished swinging shut before Sophie slammed both palms on Aurora’s desk. “What else is there to say?”

The impact rattled a pen holder. One pen rolled off the edge and clattered to the floor. Neither woman

looked at it.

“You happy now?” Sophie’s voice climbed. “You took my man. I’ve loved Ethan since university. Years. And you just-”

She snapped her fingers. “-slide in without a word and take him. You two were flirting just now, and now you want to sit here and ‘discuss our relationship’?” She spat the words like they tasted of poison. “Don’t you feel fake?”

Aurora didn’t rise. Her fingers interlaced on the desk surface. “I didn’t take your man.”

“Oh, please-”

“I sent you that message calling him your brother-in-law,” Aurora cut through, voice steady. “I said sweet things to him. Yes, I have feelings for Ethan. I won’t deny it.”

She held Sophie’s glare. “But that doesn’t mean I can be with him.”

The words landed wrong.

Sophie’s expression froze. Then twisted.

“What did you just say?” She rose halfway out of her chair. “You love him, but you won’t be with him? Is this some kind of game? Another way to mess with me?”

“I’m not-”

“Because that’s always been your move, hasn’t it?” Sophie’s voice climbed. “Ever since we were kids, you’ve taken everything. Dad always took your side. You’re not even-”

She caught herself, then barreled forward. “Your mother was his mistress. I’m the legitimate Whitfield heir. But you always got what I wanted. Always. And now you’re taking Ethan too?!”

The word mistress hit like a slap.

Aurora’s chest tightened. She pushed the hurt down, forced her breathing steady. She absolutely could not afford to get into a fight with Sophie right now.

“Sit down, Sophie. Please. Just let me explain.”

Something in Aurora’s tone cuts through Sophie’s fury. She doesn’t sit. But she stops moving.

Aurora takes a slow breath.

“What I’m about to tell you-I’m not supposed to tell anyone. There are people who’ve explicitly forbidden

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me from disclosing this.” She watches Sophie’s face. “But I’ll tell you anyway. Because you deserve to understand.”

“Ethan’s identity,” Aurora says carefully, “is not what you think it is. Not what either of us thought it was. He doesn’t belong to our world, Sophie. Not Crestwood. Not our circles. Not our idea of what wealthy

looks like.”

She pauses. “He operates at a level that makes our families look like pocket change.”

The office is very quiet.

Sophie doesn’t move.

“That’s why,” Aurora continues, “no matter what I feel, I’ve always known how this ends. One day he leaves. He goes back to where he actually belongs. And anything I build with him-any hope I let myself have-” She exhales. “I’ve kept that line clear. For my own sake.”

She looked at Sophie directly. “But you, Sophie-you’re in deeper than I am. And I’m telling you, as someone who knows more than I can say: don’t do this to yourself.”

Silence.

Aurora waited. Watched Sophie’s face for a crack in the anger, some sign that the message had landed.

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