The Billionaire Ex-Wife's Return (Cynthia and Ethan) novel Chapter 138

Chapter 138

Cynthia’s POV

The moment I stepped out of the café, the world felt too loud.

The air hit my face like a slap, and only then did I realize I’d been holding my breath for most of that conversation. I was trembling.

My hands shaking just enough that I had to clench them into fists, my stomach twisting in slow, nauseating spirals, my heartbeat refusing to settle into anything remotely normal.

Matilda’s last words replayed in my head like a curse.

I’m going to tell the world you are a Laurent.

I swallowed hard.

I’d known, deep down, that telling her my identity had been a risk. I’d felt it the moment the words left my mouth — that faint, instinctive tightening in my gut that warned me I’d crossed a line I couldn’t uncross.

But some foolish part of me had still believed in the girl she used to be. The Matilda I knew in college. Sharp, ambitious, yes — but not calculating and cruel.

People change.

Power changes them faster.

I got into the car and drove off. My mind was already racing ahead, playing out worst-case scenarios with terrifying efficiency.

If Matilda exposed my identity now…

If the media connected Cynthia Walker, estranged wife at the center of a corporate scandal, to Cynthia Laurent, heir to one of the most powerful families in the country…

It wouldn’t just be gossip. It would be crazy. I need to do something about Matilda.

What am I supposed to do now?

I’d spent years carefully rebuilding myself—on my own terms. As a chef. As a professor. As a woman who’d stepped out of the shadow of her family name. And now Matilda was threatening to drag all of that into the light like a weapon.

My phone vibrated in my hand.

I flinched.

For a split second, I thought it might be Matilda again. Or worse, could be some news alert already spiraling out of control. My pulse spiked as I looked down at the screen.

Nikolai.

Of course.

The timing felt cruel. Almost ironic.

I considered letting it ring. I was emotionally wrung out, raw in a way I hated being, and the thought of having to manage another man’s emotions right now made my throat tighten.

But ignoring Nikolai had never come naturally to me.

I answered.

“Hello?”

“Cynthia.” His voice came through warm and familiar, completely oblivious to the chaos he was calling into. “Hey… I just wanted to be sure you're settled in and you feel better now.”

I leaned back against the seat, closing my eyes. “Yeah…”

There was a pause. “Are you okay?”

“She asked to meet,” I continued, my voice steadier than I felt. “She warned me to stay away from you. She told me she’d make things difficult. She said she’d work with people that are trying to bring me down”

I swallowed.

“And then she said she’s going to tell the world who I really am.”

Another pause. Longer this time.

“I can’t do this with you,” I said, the words tumbling out now. “She’ll tell everyone I’m a Laurent.”

The background noise on his end shifted, like he’d stood up or moved away from wherever he’d been.

“I’m so sorry,” he said quietly.

That surprised me.

“None of this should be happening to you,” he continued, his voice low, controlled—but underneath it, I heard something dangerous stirring. “You don’t deserve to be dragged into this because of… unresolved situations.”

“Yeah…but please don’t confront her,” I said. “That would only make things worse.”

He didn’t respond immediately.

“Cynthia,” he said finally, “I would never do anything reckless. I’ll talk to you later”

And then, just like that, the line went dead.

He’d hung up.

I stared at my phone, unease curling deeper into my chest.