No Second Chances Ex-husband (Lauren and Ethan) novel Chapter 175

ETHAN’S POV

“That has to be some kind of joke,” Sophia said sharply, her voice slicing through the thick tension that hung in the living room like a heavy fog.

I had hoped for just a brief moment of silence—some quiet to gather my thoughts, to strategize, to simply breathe. But the moment she spoke again, that fragile calm I had managed to grasp shattered completely. My head throbbed relentlessly, the chaos of the day pounding inside my skull, and her biting tone only added fuel to the raging storm within me.

“Do you honestly think I’d joke about something this serious?” I snapped back, my voice sharper than I meant it to be. I pressed my fingers against the bridge of my nose, trying to suppress the anger simmering beneath my skin. Everything was spiraling out of control faster than I could manage.

Sophia folded her arms tightly, her eyes narrowing as she fixed me with a steady gaze. “So, what’s the plan now?” she demanded.

I exhaled slowly, the breath shaky and uneven. “I don’t know,” I confessed, pacing restlessly across the room. “Before I came in here, I thought this whole mess was limited to some blogs. Not every investor reads those, right? I already called someone to get the story taken down. But seeing it play out live on national television…” I gestured toward the muted screen, “that’s a whole different beast. There’s no one I can call to make that disappear.”

She stayed silent, her eyes flickering back to the TV as if willing the muted headlines to vanish with a stare.

“So what does that mean?” she finally asked, her voice softer now but still edged with concern.

“It means,” I said through clenched teeth, each word tasting bitter, “that we have to fix this. And fast. We have to hope the big investors don’t start pulling their funds and shares because of this.” My throat tightened painfully as I spoke, as if I were swallowing shards of glass.

Before Sophia could respond, my phone buzzed violently in my pocket, breaking the oppressive silence. The rapid vibration cut through the heavy atmosphere like a knife. I reached for it, expecting it to be my cyber sleuth calling with an update—maybe he’d already managed to scrub the story from most sites. That would be quick, even for him.

But when I glanced at the screen, my heart sank. It wasn’t my sleuth. It was my manager.

I muttered under my breath, “Not now,” unwilling to face any more bad news. Yet something deep inside warned me this call wasn’t going to bring relief. She wouldn’t be ringing at a time like this unless it was serious.

I pressed the phone to my ear. “What is it?” My voice came out rough, edged with impatience.

Her voice trembled on the other end, the kind of quiver that tried—and failed—to sound steady, like someone desperately holding themselves together.

“Sir,” she started, “we have a serious problem. The investors… they’re pulling out.”

My eyebrows shot up in disbelief. I froze mid-step, my body suddenly rigid. “What do you mean they’re pulling out?” I demanded, my voice rising despite my effort to stay calm. My pulse thundered in my ears as I waited anxiously for her reply.

“It started about thirty minutes ago,” she explained quickly. “Right after the market opened, there was a sudden wave of withdrawals from our major backers—primarily the Atlas and Greystone accounts. They’ve liquidated their holdings in Black Corporation. I just got confirmation from Finance…” Her breath hitched. “We’ve lost over two billion dollars in market value in less than an hour.”

Two billion.

For a moment, I thought I must have misheard. My mind went blank. My lips parted slightly, but no sound emerged.

Two billion dollars.

The number echoed relentlessly in my head, like a curse I couldn’t shake. My hands trembled uncontrollably, nearly dropping the phone. The room seemed to spin around me, and all I could hear was the shallow rhythm of my own breathing.

Twelve years. Twelve grueling years of relentless work, of climbing back up after every fall. All of it—gone. Torn apart in a single morning because of one reckless article. Because of one woman who refused to let the past stay buried.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify