Mom, Don't Cry! Here comes a new Daddy! novel Chapter 49

<Chapter 36-1

Chapter 36-1

(Sabrina’s POV)

• 25 Ponte

My hands shake as I push open the bathroom door, unable to contain my excitement any longer.

“Sophia!” I practically shout into the phone. “I got it! I got the job!”

“Oh my God, Sabrina! Finally! I was starting to worry with the upcoming court date and all!” Her

voice cracks with emotion. “Of course, I never doubted you. I just…”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry for trying to arrange everything for you.”

“No, I’m sorry. You were just trying to help, but I overreacted.” I duck into a stall, needing privacy for this moment. Tears blur my vision as the reality sinks in.

I have a job now.

A real job. Real money. Proof that I can stand on my own.

I can now make up with Soph with confidence.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “For not giving up on me even when I was being impossible.”

“You weren’t impossible. You were hurt. There’s a difference.”

I’m about to respond when the bathroom door swings open. Two women enter, their voices carrying clearly in the tiled space.

“-can’t believe he’s back early,” one woman says. “I thought he’d be gone all week.”

“Ethan Hale doesn’t take vacations. He takes brief absences and makes everyone else’s life hell when he returns.” The second woman sighs. “Did you see the sss he sent this morning? Fifteen revisions on the quarterly report. Fifteen.”

I freeze, phone still pressed to my ear.

Ethan Hale.

Why does that name sound familiar?

“That’s why Hale Global is number one,” the first woman says. “The man practices capitalism to the extreme. No mercy, no excuses, just results.”

“I swear he doesn’t sleep. And he expects everyone else to operate on the same schedule. My assistant quit last week because of the hours.”

ם

WED

G

|||

Chapter 36-1

“Sabrina?” Sophia’s voice sounds distant now. “You still there?”

The women continue their conversation by the sinks.

“I don’t know how you’ve lasted eight years as his assistant. I’d have quit after eight days.”/

+25 Points

“The pay is too good to quit. Besides, someone has to keep Hale Global running while he’s obsessing over every detail. No wonder we’re number one in the country-the man practices capitalism to the extreme.”

“Still, demanding doesn’t even begin to describe him. Did you hear he made the design team redo an entire campaign because one shade of blue was ‘two percent off”?”

Their laughter echoes off the walls.

“That’s Ethan for you. Brilliant, but impossible.”

The door swings shut behind them, leaving me alone with the sound of running water and my racing thoughts.

Ethan Hale.

Hale Global.

“Sabrina? Hello?” Sophia’s voice pulls me back. “What’s going on? You went quiet.”

“I’m fine,” I say automatically, my mind still spinning. “I just-I need to call you back.”

“Wait, what’s wrong-”

I hang up before she can finish.

My reflection stares back at me from the mirror above the sink. Same tired eyes. Same wrinkled blazer. But everything feels different now, tilted sideways.

Ethan Hale.

I pull out my phone, fingers shaking as I open the browser. The search results load slowly, each second stretching into eternity.

ETHAN HALE – CEO, HALE GLOBAL

The first image makes my heart stop.

It’s him.

Jason.

His face stares back at me from the screen, but the caption reads: Ethan Jason Hale, youngest

213

| G

|||

O

Chapter 36-1

CEO to reach Fortune 500 status. Net worth estimated at $2.3 billion.

My vision swims.

Billion. With a B.

The man who carried my suitcase. Who danced with me. Who kissed me like I was the only

woman in the world…

He is Ethan Hale. The Ethan Hale, billionaire tycoon of the year.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify