No Second Chances Ex-husband (Lauren and Ethan) novel Chapter 84

LAUREN’S POV

Standing there, my eyes filled with shock as I read through the email over and over again. The words blurred and sharpened, yet no matter how many times I read them, the message didn’t change. I scrolled up, scrolled down, even refreshed the screen like somehow the internet might have glitched and would replace those lines with something else, something better. But no, it remained the same.

They can’t do this to me.

No, this has to be a mistake.

I read it a sixth time, then a seventh. My chest felt tight, my heart hammering so loudly I thought Aria would hear it from across the dining table. I clenched the phone so hard my knuckles whitened.

I needed to call the manager immediately. I didn’t care if this was past his closing hours, I didn’t care if I was interrupting his night. This was too big to just wait until tomorrow.

“Is everything okay, Mummy?”

Her small voice pulled me back. I turned and saw her spoon half–raised, noodles dangling in the air. Her wide brown eyes searched my face, confusion written all over them.

I forced a smile, though it felt heavy and strained. “Everything is fine, sweetheart. I just need to take care of some work stuff. Just continue eating your food, okay?” I said softly, brushing my hand over her hair as I walked

past.

She nodded, though she still looked unconvinced. Guilt stabbed at me. I hated lying to her, even in small ways, but I couldn’t let her carry my burdens. She was just a child.

I stepped into the living room and immediately dialed the manager’s number. My thumb tapped against the phone impatiently as the rings dragged on. Finally, after the third ring, he picked up.

“Ms. Darrow,” his voice came through, calm but firm. I could hear faint voices in the background – children crying, a television on low volume. It hit me then that he was at home, probably trying to manage dinner or bedtime routines with his kids. Yet his tone didn’t waver. “I believe you’ve read the mail I sent a few minutes ago.”

“Yes, I have,” I snapped, pacing the length of the living room, one hand pressed against my forehead. The walls felt like they were closing in on me. “This has to be a mistake. Tell me this is some kind of mix–up.”

“If it was a mistake, it wouldn’t have been sent to your email,” he said, his voice level, almost too calm. “And even if I had sent it by mistake, I’d be apologizing by now and rescinding it. But there’s no mistake here. What I sent is exactly what I intended to tell you before the company CEO called me.”

His words made my stomach twist. I stopped pacing, standing in the middle of the room, stunned.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head as if that would undo everything. My throat tightened, and my voice rose sharply. “No, you people can’t do this to me again. Who came up with this decision?”

For a moment, the only sounds were the distant noise of his children on the other end. Then his sigh crackled

CHAPTER 084

+25 BONUS

softly through the phone.

“Look, I understand you’re angry about this,” he said carefully. “In fact, I expected it. That’s why I told you earlier today that you weren’t going to like what I had to say. No one would like to hear this kind of news. But the fact remains it’s necessary. And it didn’t come from me.”

I gripped the phone tighter. “Then from who?” I demanded, my tone sharp, frustration bubbling out of me.

“It was headquarters,” he said finally. His voice carried no hesitation, no wiggle room for argument. “This decision came directly from them.”

The words hit me like a slap. Headquarters. That meant it wasn’t just some middleman pulling strings. This was bigger than him, bigger than this branch. This was coming from the very top.

And that made it a thousand times worse.

“Why? Why would they do this? Why would they want me to relocate back to America and continue working at headquarters?” The words came out sharp, almost trembling with the weight of my disbelief. My heart pounded in my chest as I paced across the living room, my free hand pressing against my temple.

On the other end of the line, the manager’s voice stayed steady, though I could hear the faint sigh he tried to hide. “I don’t know, Lauren. I’m just following orders from the lead manager at headquarters. But if I were to guess, I’d say it’s because they’ve noticed the results of your work here. They’ve seen how you’ve boosted this branch over the past years, and now they want that same fire back in America.”

Hearing that only fueled the anger already bubbling inside me. My fist clenched tight at my side, nails digging into my palm. My whole body shook with frustration.

“So what?” I snapped. “Do they expect me to just abandon everything I’ve built in this country? Do they think I’ll just pack up my life, my daughter’s life, and move back like it’s nothing?”

There was a long pause before he answered, as if he was choosing his words carefully. Then his voice came through, calm yet firm. “Don’t you love your job, Lauren? Don’t you love the pay you receive? You know as well as I do that you’re the only staff in this entire company who earns on your level. Sometimes, even I find myself jealous of it.”

His words cut, but they weren’t lies. I was the highest–paid staff member, and I’d earned every cent of it. The hours, the sacrifices, the battles I’d fought in those boardrooms – it wasn’t charity, it was blood and sweat turned into figures on a paycheck.

“A lot of people have asked if you’re getting special treatment,” he continued, his tone softening slightly. “Even though I hated to admit it, I always silenced them. I told them the truth: that you worked harder than anyone else, that you deserved what you had. And it’s because of that, Lauren, that I’m sure you’ll accept this. Even though it’s difficult, even though it feels unfair, you love this work too much to walk away.”

His words rang in my ears, but they didn’t calm me. They felt like chains, like a reminder that no matter how far I had run, no matter how much I’d tried to carve a new life here, someone always had the power to drag me back.

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