The Billionaire Ex-Wife's Return (Cynthia and Ethan) novel Chapter 169

Chapter 169

Cynthia’s POV

The car smelled faintly like Ethan.

Leather. His cologne. Something warm and familiar that tightened my chest the moment I opened the door.

I reached into the console and found my phone immediately, right where I’d left it. The screen lit up in my hand, dozens of messages waiting to be acknowledged, but I didn’t have the strength to look at them yet. I just needed to breathe. To exist outside the hospital walls for a moment.

I stepped back and closed the car door…

And nearly screamed.

“Jesus, Bryan!” I gasped, clutching my chest as I stared at him. “What are you doing here?”

He stood right in front of me, close enough that I hadn’t noticed him until the door shut. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his sweater, posture relaxed but eyes sharp, attentive. Watching me.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said quickly. “I just… wanted to check on you. Make sure you were okay.”

I frowned slightly. “You followed me?”

“I followed the situation,” he corrected gently. “You left suddenly. I figured you might need a minute.”

I exhaled, rubbing my forehead. Exhaustion pressed down on me from every direction—physical, emotional, mental. “I’m fine, Bryan. Just tired.”

He studied my face like he didn’t entirely believe me. Then, without another word, he reached into the pocket of his sweater and pulled out a small nylon bag.

“I brought you something,” he said.

I blinked. “What is that?”

“Sushi,” he replied.

My stomach betrayed me by tightening painfully at the sight of it.

“You didn’t eat yesterday,” Bryan continued. “Not after you donated blood.” He hesitated. “I figured you might be hungry.”

I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was until that moment.

My throat tightened from a very human, very physical need. My body had been running on adrenaline and fear for far too long.

“Thank you,” I said softly.

He handed it to me carefully, like he was afraid I might disappear if he moved too fast.

I leaned against the car, opened the pack, and took a small bite. The taste grounded me instantly.

Bryan didn’t say anything. He just watched me.

Not in a way that made me uncomfortable. Not predatory. Just… attentive. Like he was memorizing the moment.

“This is really good,” I murmured after another bite.

“I’m glad,” he said.

There was a brief silence, thick but not awkward. The kind that hummed with things unsaid.

Then I spoke, because if I didn’t, the weight of it would crush me.

“Thank you,” I said again, this time more deliberately.

“For the sushi?”

“For… more than that.”

He tilted his head slightly, waiting.

“For keeping my little secret,” I continued. “From Ethan.”

His eyes flickered.

For a second, I thought I’d misheard him. Thought exhaustion had finally caught up to me and scrambled my senses.

But he didn’t look like a man who had misspoken.

He looked… resolved.

“I know the timing is terrible,” he said quickly, before I could speak. “And I know you’re overwhelmed. And I know your world is upside down right now. I’m not asking for anything. I’m not asking you to choose.”

My pulse roared in my ears.

“I just needed you to know,” he continued. “Because pretending I don’t feel this… pretending I haven’t for a while now… felt dishonest.”

I stared at him, my mind scrambling to catch up with my heart.

Love?

Bryan?

I opened my mouth, trying to find words that made sense, that didn’t shatter something fragile in the air.

But before I could say anything…

“Was wondering why taking a phone was taking forever.”

Ethan’s voice cut through the moment like a blade.

I turned sharply.

He was standing a few feet away, eyes flicking from Bryan to the sushi in my hands, to my face. His expression was unreadable, but the tension was unmistakable.

The air between the three of us shifted.

And just like that, everything became complicated again.