My Husband Chose His Ex I Became His Regret novel Chapter 96

11:50 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

Chapter 96

Aidan

By midnight I stop thinking of it as gossip.

By one in the morning I stop thinking of it as a coincidence.

By three I understand I am looking at an attack.

The numbers on the screen keep climbing in jumps.

214,000

389,000

612,000

801,443

VPN 51

65 vouchers

I sit alone in my study watching the numbers rise in time. Manhattan looks cold outside my windows. For the time since Evelyn showed up at my gates I feel something colder than anger.

It’s recognition.

This was prepared.

Not emotionally.

Professionally.

The video package is put together carefully.

A crying Evelyn in soft lighting. Audio clips cut to make it seem like emotional betrayal. Old footage of a gala.Screenshots of overlapping schedules. Anonymous “sources”, chosen timestamps, texts.

The way it comes together is the dangerous part.

People will forgive any accusation if its presented well.

My laptop screen shows faintly on the glass of the study windows. Another notification pops up.

#StormAffair is trending.

I lean back slowly in my chair.

No reaction.

No visible emotion.

1/13

11:50 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

Inside me something methodical wakes up.

This no longer feels personal.

It feels financed.

There’s a knock at the study door. Thomas comes in with his tablet and a fresh espresso.

“You should sleep” he says.

“I’ll add it to my to do list.”

Thomas walks closer. Glances at the screen.

The view count ticks up again.

We don’t speak for a second.

“The emotional response metrics are unusually strong” he says carefully.

I look at him.

Thomas exhales softly. “People believe her.”

I already know that.

Not everyone.

Not all of them.

Enough.

Enough to make this story dangerous.

I rub my jaw.

“Shes had media training.”

Thomas nods once. “I thought the same thing.”

Evelyn doesn’t cry like that normally.

She gets angry. She manipulates. She performs.

The woman in that video knows exactly when to pause. Exactly when to let her voice crack.

It’s not improvised.

It’s calculated.

My gaze goes back to the screen.

2/13

VPN 52

65 vouchers

11:51 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

Lila hasn’t watched it yet.

Least I don’t think she has.

I told Thomas to keep the links from her devices for now.

It’s probably pointless.

She notices everything eventually.

“She didn’t do this alone ” I say quietly.

Thomas looks still.

I turn the laptop toward him.

“Look at how it was uploaded.”

He studies the screen.

There are three mirrored releases.

Two accounts that amplify the story.

One entertainment publication that picks it up within four minutes.

Thomas expression gets tighter.

“That’s coordinated.”

“Yes.”

I open another window.

Financial records.

Corporate registrations.

Shell entities.

I started digging an hour through channels Thomas doesn’t ask questions about.

Not illegal.

Just expensive.

Very discreet.

“Three months ago ” I say, clicking another file open “Evelyn started a media consultancy.”

Thomas leans closer.

3/13

VPN 62

11:51 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

“One client “I continue. “Payments go through three intermediaries.”

His eyes narrow.

“You traced them?”

“Two.”

“And the third?”

That’s the thing thats been sitting heavily at the base of my spine all evening.

I click open the file.

A dead-end structure.

Holding companies. Offshore shielding. Deliberately obscured ownership.

The formatting looks familiar.

Painfully familiar.

I stare at it for another second before speaking.

“I know this structure.”

Thomas looks up sharply.

“How?”

I lean back slowly in the chair.

“Because Victor Harlow uses the structure for his acquisitions.”

Silence.

Heavy.

Thomas processes quickly. I can see the connections forming behind his eyes.

Victor Harlow.

Old money.

Private equity.

Predatory.

A man who treats reputations like market assets.

More importantly,

4/13

VPN 52

55 vouchers

11:51 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

VPN 52

55 vouchers

One of the few people wealthy enough to enjoy destabilizing Storm Industries simply because he can.

Thomas speaks carefully.

“You think Harlow is funding Evelyn.”

“I think Evelyn suddenly has resources she didn’t have before.”

“Why?”

I look toward the windows.

Because this isn’t about heartbreak anymore.

This is strategy.

Strategies require objectives.

“I don’t know yet.”

I do know one thing.

Victor Harlow never spends money without expecting a return.

Which means somewhere inside this mess exists an outcome enough to finance.

My phone vibrates against the desk.

Lila.

A photo appears before the message even loads fully.

A mug of tea.

A blanket.

The corner of one of her books against her knees.

Then beneath it:

Are you coming to bed tonight or are you planning to marry your laptop instead?

Something inside my chest loosens instantly.

God.

Even now.

In the middle of this disaster she still reaches for me like this.

Human first.

5/13

11:51 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

Warm first.

I type back immediately.

A: Tempting offer but the laptop lacks personality.

Three dots appear instantly.

L: It also lacks abs.

Despite myself I laugh quietly.

Thomas raises one eyebrow.

“Everything right?”

“My wife is objectifying me over text.”

“Good for morale.”

I look back at the screen.

Then at the growing view count.

Then back at her message.

Suddenly the split inside me feels unbearable.

Because downstairs is the woman I love curled beneath blankets trying to survive humiliation with dignity.

Up here is war.

I close the laptop slowly.

Thomas notices immediately.

“You’re stopping?”

“For now.”

“Aidan…”

“No.” I stand. “If I stay in this room another hour I’ll start treating this like an acquisition instead of my marriage.”

Thomas studies me for a moment.

Then nods once.

Before he leaves he pauses near the door.

6/13

11:51 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

“She’s handling this better than most people would.”

I look toward the hallway automatically.

“That’s what worries me.”

Because Lila survives by containing.

Contained damage eventually ruptures somewhere.

The study door closes behind Thomas quietly.

I stand alone for another minute staring at the city.

Then I go downstairs to my wife.

The bedroom is dim except for the lamp beside her side of the bed.

Lila is where I pictured her.

VPN 52

55 vouchers

Curled beneath the duvet in one of my sweaters with her glasses low on her nose and a book open in her lap she is obviously not reading.

The second I walk in her eyes lift to mine.

There it is.

That tiny visible relaxation she does whenever she sees me return.

Home.

The realization hits me hard sometimes it almost feels frightening.

“You’re still awake” I say softly.

“You’re observant.”

I smile faintly.

Then I notice the laptop beside her.

Open.

My stomach tightens immediately.

“Lila.”

Too late.

She sees the shift in my face. Closes the laptop slowly.

7/13

May 26

Chapter 96

“I watched it.”

Damn.

I cross the room immediately.

“How much?”

“All of it.”

I sit beside her on the bed.

Carefully.

Like approaching something bruised.

She looks calm.

Again too calm.

“How bad?” she asks quietly.

I study her face.

The instinct to soften reality rises automatically.

I force it down.

“Bad enough that someone financed amplification.”

Her brows knit slightly.

“What does that mean?”

“It means Evelyn had help.”

That gets her attention fully.

She turns toward me properly now.

“From who?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Not entirely true.

But not confirmed enough to hand her Victor Harlow.

She pulls her knees closer beneath the blanket.

“She looked believable.”

8/13

VPN 52

58 vouchers

11:51 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

The words come out soft.

Not defensive.

Not jealous.

Just honest.

I reach for her immediately.

“She was edited to look believable.”

“I know.” Her throat moves slightly. “But Emotionally I’ll believable still counts.”

God.

I touch her face gently.

“You are not losing me to opinion.”

“That’s not what I’m scared of.”

I pause.

“What are you scared of?”

She looks down briefly at the blanket between us.

“That eventually this becomes exhausting for you.”

There it is again.

That fear.

Not abandonment exactly.

Fatigue.

Like love has expiration hidden somewhere, inside difficulty.

I slide closer instantly until my hand settles at the back of her neck.

“Look at me.”

She does.

“You are not a scandal I’m managing.”

Emotion flickers briefly across her face.

“You are my wife. “I say.

9/13

VPN 52

$5 vouchers

11:51 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

The room becomes very quiet.

Then she finally whispers, “I don’t know how to let people hate me without losing myself.”

Oh my God.

I pull her into me before I think much about it.

She comes to me straight away.

No hesitation.

VPN 52

Her forehead presses against my shoulder. My arms wrap tightly around her beneath the blankets.

For a second we just sit there.

I hold her.

I feel her breathing.

I feel how tired she is.

I feel how hard she is trying to stay strong.

“I hate this ” she whispers against my chest.

“I know ” I say.

“I was careful for years ” she says, her voice shaking a bit. “I worked hard not to become the stereotype they’re making me out to be.”

Anger flashes through me again.

Not at her.

At the world.

At how fast people turn on you when you’re with men.

I kiss the top of her head slowly.

“You know what your real mistake was?”

She looks up at me.

“What?” she asks.

“You didn’t realize how scared people get when they can’t figure you out “I say.

She almost laughs.

10/13

11:51 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she asks.

“It needs work. “I say.

“A little.” she says.

I brush my thumb under her eye.

“But it’s true ” I say.

She studies my face quietly for a moment.

Then she says softly “Did you really love me before we admitted it?”

Ah.

There it is.

The thing Evelyn wanted to leave behind.

I could lie.

I’m done protecting people from the truth tonight.

“Yes” I say.

She catches her breath.

“How long?” she asks.

I look at her.

Really look at her.

I decide to be honest.

“The Boston gala was already a problem for me ” I say.

Emotion moves across her face.

“You looked at me like that in public ” she says.

“Yes” I say.

“And you still married me knowing people would eventually notice ” she says.

“Yes” I say.

We sit there in silence.

Then she laughs softly. Presses her forehead back into my shoulder.

11/13

VPN 52

58 vouchers

11:51 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

“What?” I ask.

“You’re crazy” she says.

“Maybe I say.

VPN 52

“No, really” she says, looking up at me with eyes. “You’re telling me you were secretly in love with your employee and thought that would work?”

“I said it was a problem, not a plan ” I say.

That makes her laugh.

Small.

Broken.

Real.

I feel relief flood through me.

Then her face changes.

She looks thoughtful.

Dangerously thoughtful.

“What?” I ask.

She’s quiet for a second.

Then she says, “If someone is funding Evelyn… then this isn’t about humiliation anymore.”

I feel cold.

Because she figured it out.

Faster than I wanted her to.

“No” I say carefully. “It probably isn’t.”

We sit there in silence.

Then she says softly “Aidan.”

“Mm?” I say.

“What if this was never actually, about us?”

The question hangs in the air.

12/13

11:51 Tue, May 26

Chapter 96

Before I can answer, my phone lights up.

Thomas.

Three missed calls.

One message.

I reach for it.

Then I stop breathing.

Because the message is a picture.

A picture of Lila leaving Storm Industries with a timestamp.

Six words.

There’s another leak scheduled for 8AM.

13/13

AD

Comment

Send gift

No Ads