A Divorce He Regrets

Chapter 74:

Alexander was still the arrogant ass I’d always known him to be. He saved my life, sure, and I should probably feel grateful, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Not after everything. Not after the years of betrayal, heartbreak, and silence that had hardened me. So when he stood there, smug and confident as ever, and told me I owed him a date, I nearly laughed in disbelief.

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I turned my gaze toward Dominic, silently pleading for some backup, a lifeline, anything—but to my growing irritation, he was staring off into space, arms crossed as if he didn’t want to get involved.

“Fine,” I said finally, my voice low and begrudging. Each syllable was bitten off, sharp enough to cut. “But we’re not talking about anything from our past. The only topic you’re allowed to bring up is Liam. Nothing else.”

Alexander smirked, his expression smug yet tinged with something softer. He leaned slightly closer, his presence overwhelming, as if he had just won some monumental battle.

“As long as I get to have a meal with you, that’s fine by me,” he said, his tone infuriatingly light.

I wanted to retort, to tell him that his confidence was misplaced, that this wasn’t a victory. But as I met his eyes, something stopped me. They weren’t cold or calculating like I had expected. Instead, there was something there that made me falter—tenderness, guilt, regret.

That look. I hadn’t seen it in years, and it threw me off balance. It softened him in a way that almost made me uncomfortable, as though he was afraid I would shatter and run away again if he pushed too hard.

Good, he was to keep away from me. I thought to myself.

Feeling my control slipping, I averted my eyes, pretending to find something fascinating about the far wall. “I don’t need you picking me up,” I added hastily, my voice firmer now. “Just… let me know the place. I’ll meet you there when I’m ready.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw him nod slowly, his smirk fading into something more genuine. “Whenever you’re ready,” he said, his voice gentler than I expected.

Ready? I doubted I would ever be ready.

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Still, I had to focus on what mattered. I had to get better—not for Alexander, not for me, but for my children. Liam and Ava needed me. They needed me to be strong, to hold everything together even when I felt like I was falling apart.

Two days. That was all I allowed myself to recover and convince the world that I was fine. Two days of forcing myself to push aside the memories of what had happened, to bury the lingering fear and helplessness that clawed at me whenever I closed my eyes.

When the two days were up, I was back at the hospital, sitting by Liam’s side. It felt like the only place I belonged, the only place I could breathe.

But avoiding Alexander was like trying to avoid the inevitable. No matter how hard I tried, he found a way to insert himself back into my life.

And sure enough, just as I was settling into the familiar rhythm of watching Liam sleep, Alexander walked into the room as though he owned it.

I glanced up, and the second our eyes met, that maddening smile of his appeared—the one that always carried an infuriating mix of arrogance and charm. I hated how it affected me.

“It’s good to see you back on your feet,” he said, his voice light but carrying something else—something deeper. “Running away from me again, I see.”

I rolled my eyes so hard it was a wonder they didn’t stay that way permanently. And before I could muster a response, he held out a flower. A single white lily. Huh…

I blinked at it, momentarily stunned. Of all the things he could have done, this was not what I expected. My initial reaction was to refuse it, to snub the gesture outright out of sheer stubbornness. But Alexander, being Alexander, wouldn’t take no for an answer.

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