Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 405

Moonlight Bay sat tucked away in the city’s most famous old district.

The houses here were all classic gray-brick courtyards, quiet and dignified, each one bearing witness to generations of the Drennon family’s ups and downs.

Out the car window, crowds drifted through the bustling, vintage-style shopping streets. Many of those storefronts still had the Drennon name hanging above the door.

This neighborhood carried memories for so many people.

Every time Emmy came back, she felt a hollow ache in her chest—everything looked the same, but nothing was like it used to be.

Their car slipped in through a private driveway at the back of the tourist area, circled around a decorative wall, and stopped in the big courtyard parking lot.

Dean’s familiar Maybach was already parked there.

Emmy could pretty much guess why Dean was here, and she knew her mother wasn’t in any real danger.

But still, she worried. Sometimes the things that man said could cut deeper than any knife—she was afraid his words would hurt her mom all over again.

She hurried inside.

Before she even made it to the main hall, she spotted him in the courtyard.

Dean was kneeling on the cobblestone path, his back ramrod straight.

Inside, her mother sat with her head in her hand, rubbing her brow, looking utterly exhausted.

“Madam, Miss Emmy is back!” Marian called out, breaking the heavy silence.

Emmy slipped into the hall from the side corridor.

The second she appeared, Dean’s eyes were glued to her, like he couldn’t tear himself away.

She wore a dark gray cashmere coat over a black turtleneck, her long hair pulled back in a neat twist.

Dean’s heart twisted painfully in his chest.

He suddenly realized he couldn’t remember the last time she’d worn those pretty, bright colors—the playful pink dresses, the sunshine-yellow sweaters.

The girl who used to laugh like a peach blossom, spinning through the halls in her pastel dresses—he’d destroyed her with his own hands.

Now she seemed calm, distant—like a faded watercolor painting.

The regret hit him so hard he could barely breathe.

He wanted to say something, but his throat felt tight and dry. The words just wouldn’t come, so he shut his mouth and kept kneeling in silence.

“Emmy!”

Teresa stood up the moment she saw her daughter and grabbed her hand, holding it tight.

“Dean… he’s told me everything.”

“Then why didn’t you come talk to me face to face?” Teresa demanded, still furious, her voice sharp.

Dean lowered his head even further.

“It was my fault. All of it.”

Teresa started to laugh, but tears streamed down her cheeks. “Your mother and I grew up together. We risked our lives for each other. But you? You’d rather believe a stranger’s lies than stop to think if I could ever do something so horrible to my best friend!”

She pointed at him, every word shaking with pain.

“Dean, you really are your father’s son—cold and heartless, through and through!”

“I regret every day I treated you like my own child.”

Dean dropped his head so low it nearly touched the ground.

The cobblestones dug into his knees, sharp and unforgiving, but even that was nothing compared to the pain inside.

“If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. All of it.”

“Aunt Teresa, please, don’t get upset. Your health matters most.”

Emmy’s gaze was icy and sharp, cutting right through him.

“So who planned the accident?”