Ex Wife's Collapse After Divorce novel Chapter 88

Chapter 88

Ethan looked up from his glass. His expression didn’t change.

“I am,” he said. “Something I can help you with?”

Rocco’s lips curled into a sneer. He cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders.

“Yeah, actually.” His voice carried across the silent bar. “I’m here on Marcus Donovan’s orders. And

Marcus wants me to beat the living hell out of you.”

The bar went dead quiet.

Someone at the far end whispered: “Marcus Donovan?”

“The Marcus Donovan? The one who runs the development zone?”

“That guy is finished.”

Chloe stood frozen two steps from Ethan’s table, the bottle clutched against her chest. Her eyes were

wide-but not with fear.

“How dare you!” The words left her mouth before she could stop them, sharp and ringing. “How dare you

threaten him!”

Every pair of eyes shifted to her.

Ethan’s jaw tightened.

“Chloe.” His voice cut through the air like a blade. “Walk away. Now.”

She turned to him, lips parting in protest. “But-”

“This has nothing to do with you.” He didn’t look at her. His eyes were locked on Rocco. “Go behind the counter. Stay there. Don’t come out.”

Something in his voice-the absolute, unyielding certainty of it-made her breath catch. She looked at him, then at Rocco, then back at him.

She set the bottle down on his table. Quietly. Carefully.

Then she walked to the counter and slipped behind it, her hands gripping the edge of the wood.

Rocco watched her go with a crooked grin. “Huh. Didn’t think you had it in you.” He looked back at Ethan.” At least you’ve got enough balls to keep a girl out of it.”

Ethan’s eyes were still flat. Still cold.

“That’s more than I can say for you,” he said. “A real man doesn’t round up a pack and sneak up on someone in the dark. A real man doesn’t take orders from some whispering snake to ambush a target

who never wronged him.”

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His voice was quiet, almost conversational. “I don’t know how you got the nerve to drag Marcus Donovan’s name into this. But since you did-”

He set his glass down.

“-you’re going to pay for it. Right now.”

The silence held for one long, suspended heartbeat.

Then Rocco laughed.

It started low, a rumble in his chest, and then his men picked it up-one by one, like a chain reaction. The biggest of the four slapped his thigh. Another shook his head, grinning, as if he’d just heard the funniest thing in his life.

“You hear this guy?” one of them said. “He’s gonna make us pay?”

“Buddy,” another one called out, “you sure you didn’t have too much to drink?”

Rocco wiped the corner of his eye, still chuckling. He stepped closer, looming over Ethan’s seat.

“I don’t know where you get the confidence.” He jabbed a finger toward his own chest. “Ten consecutive wins in The Pit. The underground ring. You know what that means? It means I’ve put men twice your size on the floor and kept them there. I’ve handled gang wars for Marcus-real ones, with knives and pipes

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