Unmasked My CEO Ex-Husband’s Regret novel Chapter 42

The word "divorce" was the absolute last thing Julian ever expected to hear from Elara's lips.

He froze completely. Before he could even process why she would drop such a bombshell, an inexplicable surge of pure rage ignited in his chest. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Elara almost laughed out loud.

He was the one cheating. He was the one who was secretly planning a life with his mistress. So why was he suddenly throwing a tantrum just because she was the one who dared to bring up the D-word?

"Did I say something wrong?"

Her expression dripped with savage sarcasm. "You haven't been home in nearly two weeks. Your daughter was sick for days. When she kept texting you, telling you how much she missed you, how did you turn her down? How many times did you shatter her heart?"

"When our driver took time off, and I had to rush Melody to the hospital alone... when I texted you begging for help, where were you?"

"When she scraped up her knee right by your office, and we needed a ride to the clinic... when I called you three separate times and you ignored every single ring... what exactly were you doing?"

"The mall is literally one block away from your building. Even if you were so incredibly swamped, you couldn't have spared ten seconds to arrange a driver or order us an Uber?"

Elara had always been brilliantly perceptive and knew exactly where to draw the boundaries. From the very beginning of their relationship, she had never pried into his work or micromanaged his personal time.

When he worked late, she had late-night dinners waiting. When he traveled, she meticulously packed his bags. When he had business dinners, she prepped hangover cures and even drove downtown to pick him up.

She was never the type of woman to suffocate him with endless questions. If he gave her an excuse, she believed him. She supported him unconditionally.

After so many years, Julian had grown far too comfortable never having to explain himself. He had completely forgotten that Elara possessed her own fierce intellect and backbone.

She could effortlessly tell the difference between a legitimate crisis and a flimsy lie. She had simply chosen not to call him out on it.

This was the first time she was dragging him over the coals like this. Every single accusation was recent, fully documented by text logs, and utterly indefensible.

Every syllable she uttered was a lethal strike. Despite the visible torment flickering across Julian's features, Elara swung the emotional blade without a shred of mercy.

"And you destroyed all of that with your own two hands."

Melody had been a profoundly sensitive child from birth. As an infant, she could only express her distress through relentless crying, which had severely alienated her grandparents.

Subjected to adult resentment she couldn't possibly comprehend or process, the innocent toddler could only react with pure instinct. This visceral defensiveness only deepened her elders' disapproval, creating a vicious cycle of hostility that magnified her insecurities.

The devastating result was that while normal children naturally embraced affection or swatted away annoyance, Melody's default reaction to any interaction was pure, panicked bewilderment.

She couldn't grasp why people liked or disliked her, constantly agonizing over what she had done to deserve their judgment.

But society's patience was notoriously thin. By the time she managed to process a social cue, the people around her had already written her off and walked away.