My Husband Chose His Ex I Became His Regret novel Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Lila

I didn’t cry until after I saw the door click behind me.

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Once my shoes came off, it was as though someone had pulled out the plug and my legs simply drained away.

I just fell onto the bed in all my clothes.

Face first on to the pillow, Wrapping my arms around the pillow. Breathing erratically.

Three days.

In three days, I lost my marriage, lost my world as I know it and signed my name on a deal with a man who could wipe any company off the face of the earth with a simple signature.

I was having trouble breathing. My mind wouldn’t slow down.

I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling, counting how many breaths I take. One. Two. Three. That didn’t help either.

What am I doing?

This question keeps resounding in my mind, piercing and cruel.

I closed my eyes, and Mark’s voice came uninvited-Don’t forget your place, Lila.

Then Aidan’s, calm and deliberate-Welcome to your rebirth.

A rebirth is supposed to be beautiful.

This feels like falling off a cliff.

I suddenly sit up and reach for my phone, with my fingers shaking. If I’m going to be working with Aidan Storm, If I’m going to be a part of his world and orbit around the power he has-then I need to know exactly who he is.

So, I googled him. Something I should have done since.

Immediately, the screen was full of articles..

Business headlines. Acquisitions. Quiet takeovers described in almost reverent words.

Storm Industries Acquires Fenton Group in Surprise Deal

Aidan Storm-The Man Who Doesn’t Miss

The Empire Built Without an Inheritance.I continued scrolling through social media feeds & online articles. No arrest. No scandal. No photos of him drunk or boozing with friends. Just images of him wearing tailored

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Chapter 10

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suits; odd blurry shots taken by paparazzi of him walking down the street or leaving a restaurant and nothing in the way of interviews. He didn’t give insightful comments in any interviews, either.

Then I noticed one article written about him.

Storm’s climb to the top has been described as surgical in nature. He has been strategic, patient, & has left behind a wake of destruction for those competitors who underestimate him.

As I sat there reading those words; my heart started to hurt.

Another article mentioned his parents. No money; Mom has worked multiple jobs to support him growing up. Dad died when Storm was still a boy.

As I looked at the words on the screen; all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks.

He was not born into power. He has made himself powerful.

Out of nowhere the phone vibrated in my hands.

I jumped.

Dad.

My heart dropped out of my chest.

I waited until the fourth vibrate and answered, “Hello?” My voice sounded weak to me.

“Where in the hell are you?” Dad yelled at me. “Do you have any idea what a humiliating position you have put me in?”

I closed my eyes.

“I have been…” I answered carefully. ” sorting my life out.”

“Sorting what?” he bellowed at me. “Your husband has asked for a divorce. People are already talking. Do you know what this does to our family’s name?”

Our family’s name?

The one thing that had never protected me.

“I didn’t ask for the divorce, Dad,” I said. “Mark is the one who wants the divorce. He is the one who is failing

us.”

“You make me laugh,” my stepmom interjected in such a cold, matter-of-fact manner, it was as if she stabbed me through the heart. “Men don’t leave happy homes, Lila. If Mark is leaving, you must have made a mistake

somewhere.”

I could feel the lump grow in my throat. “He humiliated me, he…”

“Unfair?” she scoffed. “You could not get your husband’s attention, and now almost two years later you have

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no child, no value, nothing.”

“I tried. I did everything.” I said clenching the phone.

“Everything?” Dad interrupted, “Cooking and waiting on him don’t count as reasonable things”

The words hit harder than I expected.

“I supported him. I stood behind him.” I said, shaking, putting the phone down again.

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“And in the end?” Stepmother said. “You were thrown out like trash. It isn’t surprising. I have known you werA. always weak.”

“I am not weak.” I defended.

“Then why couldn’t you survive in your husband’s house?” she pressed. “Why did another woman take your place so easily? I bet you couldn’t even please him in anyway.”

Silence stretched.

They had no idea all I went through, all I had to put up with and anytime I called to explain they always shunned me and told me I was the problem.

“I gave you an opportunity, Lila. Security and status. You wasted it.”

That phrase shattered something in me, made me feel small.

“I did not waste anything. I was treated badly.”

“Not even close. You were useless,” he said.

I ended the call immediately because I couldn’t beat it anymore. My mouth was trembling from wanting to fall apart.

Useless.

It kept ringing in my head until I was crying quietly at first, and then hard. My shoulders trembled and my breathing became erratic as I released decades of hidden shame and humiliation.

Every person I encountered treated me the same.

Mark, my father, my stepmother.

They all acted like I was merely a burden to be endured by each of them.

Like I was something people put up with until something better came along.

At that moment, my mind betrayed me, dragging me back into the past.

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Chapter 10

The kitchen had smelled like rosemary and garlic

I had woken up that day hopeful and toolishly excited.

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Mark’s meeting had been cancelled 1 believed that there was an opportunity for him to have dinner at home with me finally

I prepared his favourite meal. Each dish had been plated beautifully, and I was full of excitement. The expensive china we never used was used to serve, ready for him to arrive.

When he came home, I immediately stood up straight and shared that dinner was ready.

“Dinner’s ready.” I’d said softly.

He glanced at the table, unimpressed. “What’s this?”

“Your favourite,” I’d replied quickly. “I thought-”

He tasted one bite.

Then set the fork down with deliberate precision.

“This is… ordinary,” he said.

My smile faded. “I can remake it-”

He cut me off and stated, “That’s not the point.”

He continued to demean and belittle me by stating, “You know how much this reflects on me?”

“I-I just wanted to-”

“You wanted to what?” His gaze hardened. “Play house?”

Heat crawled up my neck. “I wanted to make you happy.”

He scoffed. “Happiness isn’t built on mediocrity.”

I will never forget how I felt when he made that comment. My heart literally started pounding and my ribs began to grind against one another.

I replied, “I tried my best.”

“That’s the problem,” Mark had said coolly. “Your best isn’t enough.”

Then, the final blow, casual, cruel.

“You’re useless, Lila. Completely useless.”

The memory crushed the air from my lungs.

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Chapter 10

I was gasping for breath and my heart raced and tears fell freely

Totally useless.

What an awful thing, to hear that word again.

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