Game Over No Second Chances novel Chapter 18

Chapter 18

ETHAN’S POV

I stood there at the top of the stairs, my hand gripping the smooth wooden railing so tightly my knuckles turned white. I watched Rosa step back into the house, no longer carrying any luggage. She didn’t dare look at me directly, only offered a quick respectful bow before hurrying back to the kitchen, leaving the hallway painfully quiet.

I kept my eyes fixed on the front door, waiting… half-expecting to see it swing open again. Maybe she’d change her mind. Maybe she’d remember who she was, where she belonged, and come running back in – face flushed with regret, eyes soft and pleading, the way she used to look at me when she felt she’d crossed a line.

Minutes passed. The door stayed shut. Nothing but the faint ticking of the clock on the living room wall.

A disappointed sigh escaped me before I could stop it. “So she actually went through with it,” I muttered under my breath.

For a moment, it felt absurd. Lauren. Leaving me. Actually walking out of my house with our daughter, like she could really survive without what I’ve built. It almost made me laugh.

It seemed the slap I landed on her really did affect her thinking more than I’d thought. What kind of woman throws away the life she had here? Does she even understand what she’s doing? The sheer stupidity of it all was staggering.

Shaking my head, I turned away and walked back toward our – no, my room. Each heavy step echoed against the polished marble floor, and the air felt strangely colder than usual.

Does she even realize the reality waiting for her out there? The bills, the rent, the uncertainty? She was never built for that. Sure, she worked before, but that was different. Back then, she had me. Back then, her paychecks were nothing more than extra coins tossed into a fountain I was still building. Now? Now she was on her own. And in the real world, no one gives a damn about her loyalty or how she “supported” her husband.

Does she know how many women would kill – actually kill – to be in her shoes? To live under this roof, to have a husband like me, to have servants at their beck and call, and a black card in their purse? And today, she just threw it all away. Over what? Because she found out about Sofia?

So what? I’m a man. Men do these things. Every man in my position does. She should know that.

I pushed open the bedroom door and stepped inside. The room felt different now – emptier somehow, though nothing had really changed yet. Her perfume still lingered in the air, soft and sweet. The sight of the half-open wardrobe, the space she left behind, made something in my chest tighten uncomfortably. I forced it down.

She actually had the nerve to look me in the eye and say she was leaving with Elena. Like she could just walk out of here and start over.

Where would she even go? Lauren doesn’t keep many friends by choice, really, always saying most people were too shallow or fake.

And even if she somehow finds a place, then what? Her college degree is practically worthless now. She never kept up with it, never used it after marriage. No company is going to look at her resume and see value, especially after nearly a decade of being a housewife. What’s she going to do? Apply to be someone’s assistant? Work retail? Wait tables again like she used to?

She’ll go out there thinking she can handle it, thinking she can shield Elena from the hard parts. But life has a way of tearing down those fantasies quickly. When the bills pile up, when Elena starts asking why they can’t afford the things they used to, when the cheap apartment she finds starts to feel like a prison–that’s when she’ll realize. That’s when she’ll see just how much she really needed me.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips.

Yes, let’s see how long her pride keeps her warm at night.

She forgets it was I who built Black Corporations. I who took it from nothing to one of the biggest names in the industry. When everyone else doubted, I kept going. When we couldn’t afford decent meals, I stayed up until dawn crafting proposals and deals, pounding the pavement for investors. She doesn’t know what it’s like to carry the weight of a company, the weight of hundreds of employees and their families depending on your success.

She might have helped in the background-working those jobs, paying bills, keeping the house – but she was never at the table where real power sat,

1/2

Chapter 18

That was always me.

And now she thinks she can walk away, take Elena, and do what exactly? Become a self-made woman overnight? It’s laughable. The real world doesn’t care about sad stories or betrayal. It chews people up and spits them out. And Lauren… she’s too soft. Too naïve. Too emotional.

She doesn’t have what it takes.

My chest tightened again, and for a brief moment, an image flashed across my mind: Lauren standing on some crowded street, clutching Elena’s hand, both of them looking tired, worn out, lost. The thought twisted something deep inside me

No, I had told her she was not going to come back here if she went out that door and I intended to keep my word

When she had access to all the luxury here – every comfort, every protection, every single thing she or Elena could ever need — all under this roof

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify