My Husband Chose His Ex I Became His Regret novel Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Aidan

For a second, no one moves. Not me. Not Lila. Even the anchor on TV looks stuck in place.

Everything hangs on that frozen image on the screen: Victor Harlow’s hand on Evelyn’s arm. It’s not affectionate It’s not romantic. He’s controlling her. The footage is short, not even three seconds, but somehow that just makes it worse

Three seconds is all it takes. Three seconds is enough to prove everything.

Lila exhales, this measured, slow breath. “Oh.” Just one word, but it lands heavy. Not surprise. Confirmation

I feel it too. Like the last piece of a puzzle finally snapping into place, not the whole picture yet, but enough to make things, frightening.

My phone lights up like it’s about to explode with notifications. Thomas. Legal. Security. Board members. Media. Three investors. I ignore all of them. I just stare at the TV, every instinct in me screaming the same thing:

This is real now. Not embarrassing. Not just inconvenient or scandalous. Real.

Lila grabs the remote and mutes the TV. The silence that follows feels like a punch. Then she turns to me. She’s pale. “What are you thinking?”

I’m thinking of a lot of things. Not enough that’s helpful. I rake my hand through my hair. “I think Harlow just became impossible to ignore.”

Lila crosses her arms, hugging herself. “Do you think he took her?”

No hesitation. “No.” Honestly, it’s almost automatic. Victor Harlow isn’t stupid enough to physically kidnap a journalist in a place crawling with cameras. He built an empire by being ruthless, not careless.

Lila studies me. “You sound certain.”

“I am.”

“Why?”

I look at the TV again. Harlow’s biggest weapon is always distance. Layers. Credible denial. He breaks lives without laying a finger. Guys like him don’t snatch women in parking garages, they have people for that.”

And God, I hate that I know that.

“Whatever happened to Evelyn started before she disappeared.” I added.

That hangs in the air. Lila is quiet, thinking. “You think she was afraid.”

“Yes.”

It settles between us. Hard. Suddenly, her disappearance makes more sense, the leaks, the note, the way things spiraled. It wasn’t revenge anymore. It was fear.

I walk to the TV. The footage starts again. Victor. Evelyn. Parking garage. Cut.

My jaw clenches. Something doesn’t fit. It isn’t just emotional. Something operational, the timing, the details.

Lila catches my expression. “What?”

10:04 Mon, Jun 1 MM.

Chapter 101

I nod at the screen. “That footage.”

She squints. “What about it?”

I play it again. And again. I freeze it, right before Victor gets to her.

Lila steps closer. “What am I missing?”

I point at Evelyn’s face. “Does she look scared to you?”

Lila stares at the image. Really looks. Then she shakes her head. “No.”

Exactly. No fear. No surprise. Not even tension. She looks like someone meeting someone she expected./

My heart pounds faster. Lila feels it too. “Oh.”

There it is. The gear catching. “She knew he was coming.”

“Yeah.”

The room gets colder. Lila steps up to the screen, thinking hard, and for a second I just watch her. That’s what I love about her. She doesn’t wilt when everything’s burning down. She thinks.

Then, “Aidan,” she says.

I turn.

“She wasn’t running from him.”

Everything stops. She’s right. God, she’s right. I almost laugh, not because it’s funny, but because I missed it, and Lila didn’t.

I play the video once more. Evelyn walks in. Victor appears. She doesn’t back away. Doesn’t freeze. She turns to face him. It looks like a meeting. Not an ambush.

My mind starts racing now. If she met Victor on purpose… then why vanish after? Why the note? Why the leaks?

My phone rings: Thomas. I pick up before it even finishes vibrating. “What?”

“Aidan.” He sounds off. Excited. Thomas never gets excited.

“What happened?”

“We found the rest of the note.”

I shut my eyes for a second. Of course there’s more. Nothing in this mess is ever simple. “What do you mean, the rest?”

“The image was cropped.”

The room tightens around me. Lila looks up.

“What did it actually say?” she asks.

I hear papers shuffling. Then Thomas reads: “You should have chosen better people. If anything happens to me, look at the

accounts, not the headlines.””

I stop breathing. Lila freezes. Not the headlines. The accounts.

My eyes shut, open again, slow. Everything shifts. Not about the affair. Not about the marriage. Not even about Evelyn, honestly. It’s about money.

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Chapter 101

Follow the money. Rule number one.

Lila gets it at the same moment. I see her body straighten. “Oh my God.”

Thomas is still talking. “We’re pulling everything tied to Harlow…”

“No.” I cut him off, fast. Firm.

Thomas hesitates. “What?”

“No broad searches.” I finally start pacing, because I can’t stand still anymore.

“If Evelyn left that message on purpose, she knew everyone would focus on the scandal,” I say.

Lila stays with me. She’s tracking.

“That means the scandal was cover,” I go on.

Thomas goes quiet. Good. He’s finally thinking.

“Forget drama. Just look at cash. Six months back, shells, acquisitions, weird debt, hidden transfers. Find all of it.”

“Aidan…”

“Find everything.” I ordered.

Because now I know why this feels so familiar: not because it’s business warfare, but because it’s misdirection. The best distractions are true, just not the whole truth. And everyone loves a juicy affair. Billionaire. Employee. Ex-girlfriend. Marriage. It’s perfect, addictive. Nobody looked deeper because they didn’t want to.

My heartbeat’s in my throat. Lila isn’t looking at the screen anymore. She’s looking at me. And then she floors me.

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