No Second Chances Ex-husband (Lauren and Ethan) novel Chapter 195

I froze, my back hitting the kitchen counter as I took a small step backward. My gaze fell on the stick she was holding, it’s wooden edge glistening faintly under the weak light that seeped through the cracked kitchen window. I could see it clearly now …. the stick was smeared with dark, half–dried blood. My stomach turned. That wasn’t paint. That was real. Maybe from one of the officers who had stormed in moments ago?

My eyes drifted back up to her face, and for a moment, I wished I hadn’t looked. Sophia’s expression was a picture of pure hatred, her lips pulled tight, her pupils small and sharp like a predator’s. The venom in her stare made the room feel smaller, suffocating. There was no doubt she wasn’t here to congratulate me for finding her or to talk things out. She was here for something else, something darker.

“You,” she said, her voice cutting through the silence like a knife. Her grip on the stick tightened, her knuckles whitening.

“This is your fault,” she hissed, taking one slow, deliberate step forward. “You did all of this. It’s always been your fault since day one.”

I swallowed hard, my pulse racing in my ears. I wanted to speak, to calm her somehow, but my voice trembled when it finally came out. “Listen, you’re a mother too, Sophia. You know how this feels. So how could you stand back and watch Ethan kidnap my child?” My voice cracked slightly. “How would you feel if you were in my shoes?”

I took another step back, trying to keep my tone even, to appeal to whatever was left of her humanity. The problem was, I wasn’t sure she had any left.

In truth, I was at a terrible disadvantage. She had a weapon, something blunt and deadly and I had nothing but my hands and fear. I’d never really been in a fight before, not a real one. The most physical thing I’d ever done was push a door shut against the wind. My heart thudded painfully against my ribs as I tried to think. How was I going to get out of this alive?

Sophia’s lips curved into something that almost resembled a smile, but it wasn’t one born of amusement. It was bitterness and madness combined. “That’s because,” she began, her tone chillingly calm, “I was the one who suggested your little daughter get kidnapped.”

The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I froze where I stood.

“She was supposed to be dead yesterday,” she continued, tilting her head slightly, her tone too casual. “But no. Ethan just had to fuck the whole plan up. Just like he always does.”

“What… just like he always does?” I said as my mind tried to register and understand that last part

Her grin widened, as though my disbelief fed her. “Oh yes, Lauren. You heard me right. From the very first moment I saw you started dating Ethan after I dumped him back in college, I knew I didn’t like you. Something about you just made me sick.” Her voice dripped with resentment. “And then years later, when I got pregnant for him and you found out, you had to make me look like the bad one. You painted yourself as the innocent victim. That was when my hatred for you began.”

I could barely hear anything beyond the pounding of my heartbeat. My throat felt tight.

“I wanted you gone from Ethan’s life for good,” Sophia continued, her voice almost trembling now not with fear, but with emotion she’d clearly bottled for years. “And I realized the only thing that still tied the two of you together was your precious little girl, Elena.”

“That’s when I came up with a brilliant plan,” she said with a twisted smile. “I sent someone to Ethan’s house to take care of

her to make it look like an accident.”

The world fell away. My body went cold, my heart slowing to a dull, heavy beat.

“What?” I whispered. “What did you just say?”

Sophia’s smile deepened, her eyes lighting up with the sick satisfaction of someone revealing a long–guarded secret. “You

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heard me,” she said with a short laugh. “You think all of that was just some tragic coincidence? You really are as naïve as I thought.”

I shook my head furiously. “No… no, you’re lying to me.”

She laughed again, louder this time. “Lying? You fool. You think it was random that on the very same day Ethan was supposed to be taking care of Elena, I called him to the hospital? I made sure he left that house so my man could go in and finish the job. It was all part of my plan. Every bit of it.”

My knees went weak. I stumbled back, reaching for the shelf beside me, gripping it hard to steady myself. My other hand pressed against my chest, trying to keep my heart from tearing apart.

She killed Elena.

The thought repeated over and over in my head like a nightmare I couldn’t wake from.

Just because she wanted me gone from Ethan’s life… she killed my daughter?

It felt like the air was being sucked out of the room. The pain hit me all at once, a wave of darkness and disbelief that almost sent me collapsing to the floor. I couldn’t breathe properly. The edges of my vision blurred. I was reliving it all over again, the night i lost Elena, the hollow emptiness that followed, the countless nights I cried myself to sleep wondering why it had happened.

Now I know why.

It wasn’t fate. It wasn’t chance. It was her.

I looked at Sophia, but I didn’t really see her anymore. My mind was a blur of pain and fury. For a moment, I didn’t care if she killed me right there. Maybe it would be easier that way. Maybe I could finally see my baby again.

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