The Billionaire Ex-Wife's Return (Cynthia and Ethan) novel Chapter 66

Chapter 66

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Cynthia’s POV

Just as I was about to walk through the hospital entrance, I spotted Devian and Bryan, walking out through the automatic doors.

I ducked behind a pillar, pressing myself against the cold concrete, my heart pounding

Why was I hiding? It wasn’t as if I was a criminal. I had every right to be here… Amber was my son.

But I still waited behind the pillar, watching them pass.

“…should’ve seen his face when security showed up,” Devian was saying, laughing. “That pretty boy racer thought he could just waltz in here like he owned the place.”

“Drop it, Devian,” Bryan said, his tone flat.

“I’m just saying…”

Their voices faded as they walked toward the parking lot.

I waited until they were out of sight before I moved. Then I took a steadying breath and walked into the hospital.

The corridors were quiet at this hour, visiting hours were almost over. I followed the signs toward the pediatric ward and closer to whatever awaited me inside that room.

I turned a corner and stopped dead.

Ethan and Anna were standing outside one of the wards.

Hugging.

Anna had her arms wrapped around him, her body pressed close, her hands moving in slow, soothing circles across his back. Her breast, revealing just enough cleavages was pressed against his, her face buried in his neck, and Ethan… Ethan was just standing there, accepting her comfort like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Like they belonged together.

The sight hit me like a knife to the chest.

I ducked into an alcove, pressing my back against the wall, trying to catch my breath. My hands were shaking. My eyes burned with tears I refused to let fall.

This was stupid. I had no right to feel this way. Ethan and I were over… had been over for three years. He could hug whoever he wanted. He could be with whoever he wanted.

But seeing it Anna wrapped around him like she owned him hurt more than I’d expected.

I was about to turn around and leave. To come back another time, when I could face them without falling apart.

Then I heard Grace’s voice from inside the ward.

“Amber’s awake!”

My heart lurched.

Ethan and Anna broke apart and hurried inside, the door swinging shut behind them.

I stood frozen, torn between the desperate need to see my son and the fear of what would happen when I did.

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Curiosity won.

I crept forward, staying close to the wall, and peered through the small window in the door.

The ward was private, a single bed, and there, lying in that bed, was Amber.

My baby.

He looked so small and fragile. He was sitting up slightly, propped against pillows, naked. There were bandages wrapped around his lower abdomen, around his groin area.

Surgery. He’d had surgery.

My heart seized. What had happened? What was wrong with him?

Inside the room, Grace was fussing over Amber’s pillows. Anna had positioned herself next to Ethan again, her hand on his arm in a gesture of possessive comfort. Ethan was leaning forward, saying something to Amber that I couldn’t hear through the glass.

I wanted to go in. Wanted to burst through that door and gather my son in my arms and never let go.

But the way Anna clung to Ethan, the way they looked like a family unit without me made me hesitate.

“Excuse me?”

I spun around. A nurse stood behind me, clipboard in hand, looking at me with polite curiosity.

“Are you family?” she asked.

I forced a smile that felt more like a grimace. “Something like that.”

The nurse nodded, accepting this vague answer. “Are you here to see the boy in room 412?”

“Yes. What… what happened to him? What’s wrong?”

“He just finished a hernia operation,” she said, already moving past me. “Routine procedure, but he’ll need to rest for a few days. You should go in…visiting hours end soon.”

She hurried off down the corridor, leaving me alone with the information.

Hernia operation. That explained the bandages, the location of the surgery.

Relief flooded through me, it wasn’t something worse. It wasn’t self–harm. It wasn’t a suicide attempt.

He was going to be okay.

I turned back to the door and saw Anna through the glass, approaching the door, and panic seized me. I wasn’t ready to handle the confrontation that would inevitably follow.

I turned and walked quickly after the nurse, keeping my head down, my pace brisk but not quite running.

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