The Billionaire Ex-Wife's Return (Cynthia and Ethan) novel Chapter 301

Chapter 301

Ethan's POV

I woke up slowly, consciousness creeping in through layers of exhausted sleep.

My body felt heavy, my muscles aching in that pleasant way that comes from finally getting real rest after days of tension and stress. The bed was softer than the one I'd had at Gavin's farm, the blanket warmer, and for a brief, blissful moment I forgot where I was or how I'd gotten there.

Then I opened my eyes.

And nearly had a heart attack.

Carmen was standing right beside the bed, leaning over me with her face just a few feet from mine, wearing the biggest, most enthusiastic smile I'd ever seen on another human being.

"JESUS!" I yelped, scrambling backward so violently that I actually fell out of the bed, landing on the floor with a painful thud that knocked the wind out of me.

Carmen burst into laughter—full, genuine laughter that made her entire body shake, her hand going to her chest like she couldn't contain her amusement.

"Lo siento, lo siento," she managed between laughs, holding up her hands in mock surrender. "I am sorry, I did not mean to scare you so much."

I pressed my hand against my racing heart, trying to catch my breath, sprawled on the floor in a tangle of blankets.

"You were just... standing there," I said, my voice coming out higher than normal. "Watching me sleep. Like some kind of... I don't even know what."

Carmen's laughter intensified.

"You looked so peaceful," she said, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. "Like a little boy. I was just watching and thinking how young you look when you are not worried."

I pushed myself up to sitting, still trying to get my heart rate back to normal.

"That's... that's really creepy, Carmen," I said, though I couldn't help but feel a small smile tugging at my lips despite the shock. "You can't just hover over sleeping people like that."

"In my house, I can do what I want," Carmen said, grinning unrepentantly. She tilted her head, studying me with those sharp, kind eyes. "Do I look so hideous? So scary? That you jump like you have seen a ghost when you see my face?"

"No," I said quickly, pulling myself back onto the bed. "You just surprised me. I wasn't expecting to wake up to someone staring at me inches from my face."

Carmen settled herself on the edge of the bed without asking permission, the mattress dipping under her weight. Her gaze drifted down to my hands, which were clutching the blanket, and her expression shifted from amused to curious.

She reached out and gently took my left hand, turning it to examine the simple gold band on my ring finger.

"You are married," she said.

I looked down at the ring, that familiar ache settling in my chest.

"Yes," I said quietly.

Carmen's eyes lifted to meet mine, and there was something knowing in them. Something that suggested she saw far more than I was saying.

"Where is your wife?" she asked gently.

The question was simple, but the weight behind it was enormous.

I opened my mouth to give her the same vague answer I'd given yesterday—that I'd lost my way, that I'd be moving on tomorrow—but something in Carmen's expression stopped me.

She was looking at me with the kind of patient understanding that reminded me of how I imagined a mother would look at a son she knew was keeping secrets. Not judgmental. Not demanding. Just... waiting for the truth.

"I told you yesterday," I started carefully. "I lost my way and…"

"No," Carmen interrupted gently but firmly. "Yesterday you told me a story that was not complete. Not the truth. I could see it in your eyes. But yesterday you were cold and wet and tired, and I did not want to push."

She squeezed my hand.

"But now you are in my home," she continued. "Sleeping in my bed. Safe and dry. So now I ask again, and I think you should tell me the real story. Where is your wife? Why are you out in the rain like a lost dog with nowhere to go?"

I stared at her for a long moment, torn between the instinct to protect myself with lies and the desperate need to tell someone the truth.

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