Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 242

Tears shimmered in Teresa’s eyes as she nodded and reached up to gently stroke her daughter’s cheek.

“When you choose the right person, Emmy, it’s like you become a flower turning toward the sun. Right now, that’s what you are—a flower blooming in the light.”

Emmy blinked, caught off guard by her mother’s words.

Teresa kept going, her voice soft. “You’ve always taken after me. Once we fall in love, we get lost in it. We give so much that we end up trapped, letting ourselves wither away.”

“If no one gives us what we need, we dry up. We lose everything.”

Her gaze drifted to the darkness outside the window, as if she could see all the mistakes she’d made.

“I married your father and locked myself in. He never gave me anything to grow on, so I lost—completely.”

Teresa turned back, her eyes shining with intensity.

“Emmy, don’t be like me. Promise me.”

“Go after your sun. I’ll always be behind you, holding you up.”

She paused, a gentle smile on her lips.

“But honestly, I think your husband will do the same. I don’t think he’ll ever let you fall.”

Emmy didn’t say anything. She just stood there, thinking.

She remembered those seven years from her last life—her marriage to Dean had been like a flower left in the shadows, slowly dying.

No sunlight. No warmth. Nothing but loss.

If she hadn’t been given a second chance, would she have ended up just like her mom? Realizing too late that she’d chosen wrong, waking up to her own heartbreak halfway through her life? Maybe she would have stayed trapped in that lie, withering away until there was nothing left.

She was lucky, she realized. Life had given her another shot.

Emmy squeezed her mother’s hand, her voice quiet but steady.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll make it work with James.”

“I’ll chase my own sun too.”

Leaving the hospital room, Emmy didn’t go back right away. She leaned against the wall in the hallway, lost in her thoughts.

She stood there for a long time, thinking things over.

She knew herself. She’d always been a hopeless romantic.

Even as a kid, she knew that if she loved someone, she’d give them everything—her whole heart, her whole life.

Just like she’d done with Dean.

But now, with James?

She just couldn’t get that same spark back.

She was too scared, too hurt by what she’d already been through.

No matter how right this whirlwind marriage seemed to everyone else, no matter how reliable James looked, only she knew the truth—she couldn’t open her heart again. Not fully.

She could do the things a wife was supposed to do: share meals, sleep side by side, even meet his needs.

But her heart, battered and scarred, wasn’t something she could give away.

She couldn’t handle another betrayal. The pain would be too much.

Pictures of her degrees from top universities, videos of her winning international competitions—her background looked perfect, like she was some kind of golden girl prodigy.

The stories were all the same.

They talked up her talent, how she couldn’t help being an “illegitimate child,” how she was unfairly dragged down by the Skyline System scandal.

Every word painted her as the perfect victim.

The comments were full of comfort and praise.

“Hugging you, girl. This isn’t your fault.”

“You’re amazing. It’s your dad who doesn’t know how to act like a human being!”

“Instant fan—just followed you! Keep going!”

Emmy let out a low laugh.

Of course Claudia knew how to spin things.

No wonder Evelina turned out so ambitious.

Just then, her phone rang.

Juan’s name flashed on the screen.

Emmy’s lips curled in a hint of a smirk as she picked up.

“Ms. Lincoln,” Juan said, his tone polite and formal, “Skyline System has been taken offline. The Dome has gotten a lot of partnership offers lately. We need you back at headquarters for a meeting to approve them.”