No Second Chances Ex-husband (Lauren and Ethan) novel Chapter 153

MAN’S POV

I pinched the bridge of my nose, a small sigh escaping me. Talk about bad timing. Of all the moments for Tessa and Aria to return home, it had to be this one. The air was already heavy with anger and tension, and now it had turned into something else – shock.

Ethan turned his face toward Lauren, disbelief still etched across his expression. His lips parted slightly, as though his mind couldn’t fully wrap around what he had just witnessed. “She’s your daughter?” he asked, voice trembling with confusion and something deeper hurt, perhaps. Then, after a beat, his tone hardened. “Our daughter?”

Lauren didn’t flinch. Her hand came down gently to rest on Aria’s small shoulder. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said flatly, her voice controlled but cold. “She’s not your daughter.”

Ethan’s brows furrowed sharply. He took a step closer, eyes darting between Lauren and Aria as though trying to find traces of himself in the little girl’s face. “So who’s the father then?” His voice carried bitterness, sharp and cutting. “Is this another one of your lies, Lauren?”

Lauren’s gaze flicked toward me. For a moment, the room felt suspended in silence. I could read the hesitation in her eyes, the weight of her next words pressing on her chest. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to end the guessing, to make him swallow the truth whole but Aria was still here, wide–eyed, standing between us. I caught her gaze and gave her a small nod. It was a silent understanding.

“Come on, Aria,” Tessa said softly, breaking the thick silence as she approached. “Let’s go to your room,

sweetheart.”

Aria looked up at Lauren, then nodded, allowing Tessa to take her hand. I watched as they disappeared down the hallway, the sound of their footsteps fading until the house was quiet again.

Lauren straightened her shoulders once the child was gone. “I don’t owe you any explanation, Ethan,” she said, her tone firm, steady. “Please leave my house. I’m warning you for the last time.”

Ethan’s jaw tightened. “You want me to leave?” he asked, his voice rising an octave. “You want me to just walk out when you’ve been keeping the fact that you have a daughter from me for all these years?” He let out a disbelieving laugh that held no humor. “After everything, after knowing how broken I was when Elena died?”

That name. The moment he said it, something shifted in the room. A chill swept through the air. Before I could react, Lauren’s hand shot up and landed across his cheek again but with a sharper crack. The sound echoed, slicing through the tense air like a whip.

Ethan’s head turned from the impact, his hand instinctively rising to his cheek. The red mark bloomed instantly, vivid against his skin.

“Don’t you dare mention her name again,” Lauren seethed, her voice trembling with rage. I had never seen her like this before. Her eyes, normally calm and composed now burned with a fire I didn’t know she had. Ethan had struck a nerve, one too deep to ignore.

“She was my daughter too,” Ethan growled, still clutching his cheek. “So I have every right to say her name.”

CHAPTER 0153

+25 BONUS

Lauren’s expression hardened further, her voice now carrying venom. “She was your daughter, yes,” she spat. But you couldn’t even pay for her burial! She was your daughter, and you left her alone to meet your mistress while she–while she died!” Her voice cracked, the pain she had buried for years bleeding through her fury.” She was your daughter, Ethan, and yet she was the last thing on your list of priorities. No…you might have been her father biologically, but you were never her father in spirit. So don’t you dare call her name again.”

Her words struck him like blows, each one landing heavier than the last. Ethan’s face stiffened, but instead of remorse, defiance flickered there. “So what?” he said finally, his tone dripping with resentment. “Because of that, you think you can keep me away from my newly discovered daughter? That’s not going to happen, Lauren.”

“She’s not your daughter,” Lauren repeated, her voice lower now but filled with finality.

Ethan’s lips curled into a bitter smirk. “Then show me proof,” he challenged. “Show me who the father is, because I don’t see a ring on your finger.” He turned his gaze to me then, his eyes narrowing as his words sharpened like knives. “And there’s no way you’d allow him to be the father of your child.”

I stayed silent, my expression unreadable, though a part of me wanted nothing more than to shut him up. The audacity in his tone, the sheer disrespect, it was suffocating.

“I don’t need to show you anything,” Lauren said, her patience thinning fast. “Get out!”

Her voice rose, trembling between anger and heartbreak. The echo of it lingered in the living room walls.

But Ethan wasn’t done. His jaw clenched, and I saw something dangerous flicker in his eyes, a mix of frustration and desperation. “You think you can just dismiss me?” he said, taking a step closer. His tone grew darker, edged with something almost unhinged. “You think you can run away from me now that I need you? You’re dreaming, Lauren. You belong to me, always have, always will. And I’m going to take my daughter and you back with me.”

Lauren tried to pull back, but before she could, Ethan’s hand shot forward. He grabbed her wrist, yanking her

toward him.

It all happened in a flash, her sharp gasp, the fear flickering in her eyes, the way she struggled against his grip. That sight snapped something inside me. A cold, controlled anger flooded through my chest.

I stepped forward instantly, closing the space between us. My hand shot out and clamped around the wrist he was using to hold her. The strength that surged through me was instinctive, primal. I squeezed hard.

Ethan’s eyes widened in surprise, the muscles in his arm tightening as he tried to resist. But I didn’t budge. My grip tightened until I saw the tendons in his hand strain, until the tension in his face shifted from arrogance to discomfort,

Lauren pulled free from his hold the second he loosened, stumbling back a step, clutching her wrist protectively.

“You heard her clearly,” I said, my tone calm, deliberate. “Get out.”

Ethan’s gaze darted down to where my hand still gripped his arm. The calmness in my voice only made his fury worse. He twisted suddenly, his other hand moving fast. Before I could react, he grabbed my arm and twisted it sharply into a hold.

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