No Second Chances Ex-husband novel Chapter 43

43 /50

LAUREN'S POV

The moment I saw who was standing in front of me, my entire body went cold. My stomach turned violently, like I’d swallowed acid. A wave of nausea rushed through me, and my skin began to crawl as if it were trying to escape my own bones. My hand twitched uncontrollably by my side, an involuntary reaction from the anger bubbling inside me. I had to clench my fists tightly to stop myself from acting on the violent thought already forming in my head, grabbing the nearest object and smashing it into her face over and over until the rage inside me was gone.

There she stood, Sofia.

Ethan’s mistress.

The woman who had destroyed everything.

I hadn’t seen her since that day at the office, the day I’d come face-to-face with the cold reality of the betrayal that had shattered my world. Back then, it took every ounce of self-control I had to not break down in front of her. And now, she had the audacity to show up here, in front of me, uninvited and unannounced. It was like she wanted to spit in my face one more time.

Her lips curled into a smirk, that same irritating smirk that made my blood boil. She looked me over from head to toe, and the way her eyes lingered on my clothes made me instinctively glance down at myself. The way she was staring at me, like I was some dirty rag she’d picked off the street, made me feel suddenly self-conscious.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, barely able to keep the anger out of my voice.

She let out a small, amused scoff. “Why wouldn’t I be here?” she said casually, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “As you can see, I came to console the love of my life — my darling, soon-to-be husband, Ethan.”

My nails dug into the flesh of my palms as I clenched my fists tighter. She had some nerves. The urge to slap the smugness off her face was almost unbearable. But I held myself back. Just barely.

“You’re not meant to be here,” I said sharply, trying to keep my voice steady. “Leave this place. Now.”

“Now I’m curious,” she replied, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. “Why exactly am I not meant to be here?”

I took a step closer, my voice rising with fury. “Really? You want me to spell it out for you? Fine. First of all, it’s your fault that Ethan and I split up. Everything that happened… the lies, the betrayal, it all started because you couldn’t keep your damn legs closed.”

Her face twitched ever so slightly, but she recovered quickly, that smug expression returning like a shield. “See, that’s where you’ve got it all wrong, princess,” she said, stressing the word princess like it was some kind of insult. “You think I stole him from you. You think I came crawling after your man, begging for him to love me. But let me tell you the truth, because clearly, no one else has. All I did was send him a text. That’s it.”

She leaned in slightly, her voice cold and cutting now. “If Ethan really loved you the way you think he did, then one message from me wouldn’t have meant a thing. He would’ve shut it down, blocked me, and ignored me. But no… he came running. Crawling, even. He begged for my attention. He wanted me. And when I saw that opportunity, I took it.”

I stared at her, my body trembling, not from fear, but from the sheer force of my fury. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to make her disappear.

“So if you really want to be mad,” she continued, her voice now dripping with venom, “don’t direct it at me. Save it for the man you thought would never betray you.”

My heart pounded in my chest, loud and hard, like a warning bell going off inside me. Her words stabbed deeper than I expected. Because as much as I hated her… a part of me knew she was right.