The Billionaire Ex-Wife's Return (Cynthia and Ethan) novel Chapter 218

Chapter 218

Ethan's POV

I sat in the car outside the Walker mansion, my hands gripping the steering wheel, my mind at war with itself.

Grace was awake.

Finally awake.

After days of lying unconscious in that hospital bed, after the DNA test that had shattered everything I thought I knew about my life, she was finally conscious and able to answer the questions that had been burning holes in my chest.

Who is my real mother?

Why did you lie to me my entire life?

What the hell is going on?

I needed those answers.

Needed them with a desperation that felt almost physical. The kind that hollowed you out from the inside and left nothing but urgency in its place.

But it was midnight.

And Amber was asleep in the backseat, exhausted from the night's chaos, his small body curled up against the window, his breathing slow and steady.

He needed rest.

He needed stability.

He needed his father to stop dragging him through one crisis after another.

I glanced at him in the rearview mirror, my chest tightening painfully. He looked so small. So peaceful. Completely unaware of how fractured everything around him had become.

I didn't want to leave him again.

Not after what had just happened.

Not after watching him run to me at the Laurent mansion gates, relief flooding his face, his small arms wrapping around my neck like I was the only safe thing left in his world.

But I also couldn't not go to the hospital.

I couldn't let this opportunity slip away.

Grace might be awake now, but who knew how long that would last? What if she fell back unconscious? What if her condition worsened? What if she refused to talk tomorrow?

I needed to see her now.

Mrs. Daniels.

The thought hit me suddenly.

Mrs. Daniels was at the mansion. She'd be able to watch Amber while I went to the hospital. It wouldn't take long — an hour, maybe two at most. Just long enough to get some answers. Just long enough to finally breathe again.

I exhaled slowly, making my decision.

"Alright," I muttered to myself, putting the car back in gear. "Mrs. Daniels it is."

…

I pulled into the driveway and parked, then carefully unbuckled Amber from the backseat. He stirred slightly but didn't wake, his head lolling against my shoulder as I lifted him into my arms.

He was getting heavier.

Growing up too fast.

I carried him toward the front entrance, my chest tight with the strange mixture of love and guilt that seemed to define my relationship with fatherhood lately. I kept telling myself I'd do better. Be more present. Stop letting the chaos of my life bleed into his. But somehow, the promises never quite caught up with reality.

He wriggled in my arms, and I set him down automatically, still too shocked to process what I was seeing.

The moment Amber's feet hit the ground, he ran toward Hayden, and the two of them collided in a tight hug, both of them laughing, both of them talking over each other in that rapid-fire way children did when they were excited. Their joy was so pure, so completely oblivious to the storm gathering around them.

I stood there, rooted to the spot, my mind struggling to catch up.

Then I saw her.

Anna.

She stepped out from behind the corner of the living room, moving slowly, deliberately, like she had all the time in the world. Like she hadn't just upended every life she'd ever touched.

And she was smiling.

That smile.

The one that didn't reach her eyes.

The one that made my skin crawl.

She looked… composed. Calm. Collected.

Like she hadn't been arrested. Like she hadn't been sitting in a jail cell awaiting prosecution. Like she hadn't just had her entire world burned down around her.

She looked like she belonged here.

My blood ran cold.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded, my voice low and dangerous.

Anna's smile widened slightly. She tilted her head, just a fraction, in that infuriating way she always had when she thought she held the upper hand.

"Hello, Ethan," she said smoothly. "It's good to see you too."