No Second Chances Ex-husband (Lauren and Ethan) novel Chapter 174

CHAPTER 0174

ETHAN’S PERSPECTIVE

“Sophia, Lauren’s behind all this?” Her voice shattered the quiet room, disbelief etched deeply across her face. Her eyebrows knitted together tightly, and I caught the familiar spark of dawning realization—the kind that always seemed to push her to the edge.

“Yes,” I replied, my tone tense as I ran my only good hand through my hair, trying to steady myself. “She’s probably trying to get revenge for what we did to her back then. Plus, she definitely doesn’t want me bringing our daughter back here.”

The moment I uttered the word “daughter,” a cold wave crashed through me, freezing me in place. It felt like icy water had been poured straight into my veins, tightening my chest painfully.

Damn it.

That word wasn’t meant to slip out—not now, and certainly not to her.

Sophia’s eyes instantly widened, confusion morphing quickly into anger. “Daughter? What do you mean ‘our daughter’?” Her voice rose sharply, slicing through my already frayed nerves.

I exhaled slowly, struggling to suppress the irritation bubbling beneath the surface. How was I supposed to explain this now? My mind was a chaotic mess, tangled between the breaking news and my own careless mistake.

“Calm down, okay?” I urged, trying to keep my voice steady despite the turmoil inside. “Let me explain everything.”

“You better,” she snapped, folding her arms tightly across her chest, a clear challenge in her stance. “Because last I checked, you didn’t have a daughter, Ethan.”

I swallowed hard and sank down onto the couch, feeling the weight of the day settling heavily on my shoulders. “I’ve been trying to reach Lauren for a while now,” I began cautiously. “Since that ceremony. That’s also why I let Cassandra start working with us.”

Sophia’s reaction was immediate and fierce.

“You’ve been what?” Her voice echoed sharply through the room, bouncing off the walls. She stepped closer, the sharp click of her heels punctuating her disbelief. “You’ve been what, Ethan?”

I closed my eyes briefly, biting back my frustration. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you,” I admitted, my patience thinning. “Because you’re going to overreact.”

“Overreact?” she repeated, her laugh bitter and void of humor. “I just heard you say you have a daughter with Lauren, and that you’ve been trying to see her for some time. And you expect me to just applaud that? Maybe throw you a party?”

I rubbed my temple, trying to ease the pounding headache forming. “I think I have a daughter,” I said carefully. “You didn’t let me finish.”

“Then finish,” she snapped, venom dripping from her words.

“When Cassandra gave me Lauren’s address, I went to her place,” I confessed, each word heavy like a burden I wished I could put down. “I wanted to convince her to come work for my company. We needed her.”

Sophia rolled her eyes with such exaggerated disdain that it made my teeth clench.

“When I arrived,” I continued, ignoring her expression, “there was a child there—around three to five years old. She called Lauren ‘mum.’” My voice softened involuntarily as the memory of that little girl flashed vividly in my mind. “That’s when it hit me—Lauren might have been pregnant before I left.”

“So, she has a daughter for you,” Sophia said flatly, crossing her arms even tighter.

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