Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 866

The next day, Dean really did send someone over with money, just like he said he would. Emmy took the kids to the island’s only little shop and finally bought them the new soccer ball they’d been talking about for weeks. The kids clutched the ball, grinning, and begged her to play with them. So she joined them on the beach, running and kicking the ball through the sand. Sunlight, crashing waves, the kids’ laughter… for a split second, it felt like something warm finally reached the empty wasteland inside her.

After that, she spent a bit of time every afternoon playing with the kids. But after the fun faded and everyone went home, Emmy would sit alone on the sand, staring out at the endless blue, and the heavy loneliness would flood back in, drowning her all over again.

A month passed. She started to think, if this was all life had to offer, what was even the point? Dean tried everything to cheer her up. He took her diving, went looking for dolphins, even threw bonfire parties. Nothing worked. She just couldn’t care.

One day, Dean got some urgent message and left in a rush, taking a boat over to the neighboring Crystal Island, the one place he’d never let her visit. Emmy was left by herself. She wandered halfway around her own island and finally ended up on a cliff at the far side. Across the water, Crystal Island sparkled strangely in the sunlight. Emmy’s loneliness and frustration grew wild inside her, making her restless. She just had to know what Dean was doing there.

The urge wouldn’t leave her alone. Suddenly, she stood up, took a breath, and jumped straight into the bright blue water below. The shock of the cold sea woke her up, but it only made her more determined. After the whole lobster-selling incident, Dean had taken all the yacht keys. If she couldn’t take a boat, she’d swim.

She had definitely overestimated herself. The island looked close, but she swam and swam, and it never seemed to get any nearer. The sky started to darken, rain began to fall, and the wind picked up. Waves kept pushing her backward, draining what little energy she had left.

Her arms and legs went weak. She felt herself fading. She wished she hadn’t acted on impulse. All she could do was float on her back, trying to save her strength. When she finally opened her eyes again, all she could see was endless ocean. She didn’t know which way was which. She couldn’t see Crystal Island, or even the island she’d left. Panic clawed at her.

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