The Billion-Dollar Divorce (Ian and Chloe) novel Chapter 245

Chapter 245

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Chloe watched as Mitchell and the bodyguards hurried over the sand toward her. Her eyes were rimmed with red, but she walked on, determined and steady, never once looking back.

She’d been through so many ups and downs, and in the end, it seemed like the outcome didn’t do justice to all she’d endured. The whole thing left a slightly bitter taste, a gentle ache in her heart.

Mitchell pulled lan out of the water, and lan was in seriously rough shape–he looked like he could collapse

any second.

Spotting Chloe on the beach, thin and stumbling with every step, lan grit his teeth through the pain and shoved aside the people near him to get closer.

Just as Chloe started to faint from low blood sugar, lan dashed over, slid to his knees, and caught her in his arms just in time.

Mitchell quickly grabbed a spare glucose packet and helped Chloe drink it down.

Ian stayed on his knees in the sand, holding Chloe as if he’d never let her go.

Ian kissed Chloe’s forehead again and again, voice choked with pain. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he kept saying. unable to control himself.

Mitchell tried to reason with lan. “Mr. Hamilton, even if you don’t care about yourself, you should really think about Mrs. Hamilton. Her blood sugar’s dangerously low, and she keeps refusing to eat. If you two keep pushing like this, she’s going to collapse.”

But when Mitchell saw Ian’s arms trembling as he clung to Chloe, he realized just how shaken lan was, and decided it was best to stay quiet.

When Chloe woke up again, it was already dark outside.

She stepped out of the bedroom and onto the oceanfront terrace, standing shoulder to shoulder with lan at the railing, gazing out at the deep, shadowy sea.

Ian was a little slow to react, looking dazed and distant.

When he realized Chloe was beside him, he quickly stubbed out his cigarette and hurried to take off his jacket, wrapping it carefully around her shoulders.

Chloe looked up at lan.

Their eyes met.

A shadow passed through Ian’s eyes.

His eyes were tinged with red, and his voice was rough with exhaustion. ‘I’ll go get you something clean to keep you warm,” he murmured.

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Chapter 245

Chloe reached out and stopped him, hugging his jacket tightly around herself.

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Jan caught her gesture, and instead of happiness, a rush of confusion and anxiety flashed in his eyes.

Chloe stood by the railing in her pajamas, lair’s black suit jacket draped over her shoulders, staring quietly at the dark horizon.

lan, dressed in black slacks and a white shirt, just watched Chloe’s side profile, lost in a daze and unable to look away.

Neither of them spoke for a long while.

Finally, Chloe broke the silence.

She glanced sideways at lan and asked, “Do you remember when we came here for our honeymoon–what I made you do out here on this balcony?”

lan tried to force a smile, but couldn’t get any words out.

Chloe spoke for him. “I made you promise you’d always treat me as your one and only. You said I was being childish… I remember, I even threw a little tantrum about it back then.”

Her self–deprecating smile was like a knife to Jan’s eyes, burning straight into him.

lan’s eyes were bloodshot with agony. He just stared at Chloe, his body slumped against the railing, barely holding himself up.

Chloe reminisced, “I remember when I was a kid, I used to spend all my time at your place. Mia was always so full of energy, and we were absolutely joined at the hip. Your mom was gentle and gorgeous, and she treated me incredibly well, like I was part of the family. Your grandpa and dad might have seemed intimidating, but they were always pretty good to me. Those moments really meant a lot to me.”

Chloe shot Ian another look, her voice soft and wistful. “I remember that one time after school when Mia and I snuck out to play, and it suddenly started pouring. You and Patrick came looking for us, and we all squeezed under the tiniest little shelter, splitting a small bag of cookies between the four of us.”

“Life was so good back then, Chloe thought to herself.

Jan’s voice was rough as he sobbed, hanging his head like a kid who knew he’d messed up. Softly, he called out “Chloe” again and again, each word tangled with apologies. “I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry,” he choked out on repeat.

But Chloe just shook her head at lan, unable to accept his tears or his repeated apologies.

She

id, “If I hadn’t had that crazy idea of marrying you–if I hadn’t been so hung up on you, chasing after a love that was never really there, always wishing someday you’d actually fall for me–we probably would’ve stayed happy, wouldn’t we?”

“Chloe!” Ian cut her off, his voice raw and desperate, as he reached out to stop her from saying more.

He was unraveling, completely losing control–he just couldn’t let her keep going

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Chapter 245

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His eyes were red and so utterly broken as he stared at Chloe. When he tried to speak, his voice caught in his throat–loarse and raw, each word sounding painfully rough.

Chloe reached up and gently wiped away lan’s tears. “I’ll admit it, I’m kind of a drama queen sometimes, always giving you trouble. Even if you never really loved me, you still spoiled me, bought me whatever 1 wanted, and whenever I threw a fit or pushed your buttons, you just took it all in stride.”

She met lan’s gaze. “When my family was at rock bottom, you married me even though you had your own reasons and your own agenda. No matter what you had planned, you genuinely helped us out of a tight spot.”

Chloe murmured, “lan, thanks for everything you did–putting family when we needed it.”

is sobs only grew worse, and he slowly crouched down, collapsing into a helpless, childlike wail.

Chloe looked at him, her face icy and unreadable. “If cutting you off for good means giving up everything else, then so be it.

Ian’s grip on Chloe’s shoulders was shaking so badly he couldn’t hide it, no matter how hard he tried.

His voice was raw and broken, and tears kept streaming down his freezing cheeks, each one scorching a path

He completely broke down, grabbing Chloe and clinging to her like she was the only thing keeping him afloat. All the self–control he’d struggled to maintain over the past few days collapsed in an instant.

He was barely holding his panic at bay. His voice, raw and wrecked from crying, trembled so badly it almost gave out altogether.

Again and again, lan called Chloe’s name, begging her in a shaky whisper, “Please, Chloec… don’t leave me!”

They’d been childhood sweethearts for over twenty years.

She was his wife, his Mrs. Hamilton.

He just couldn’t accept that it was all over.

Chloe just let lan hold her, standing there without trying to break away.

She stayed eerily calm, looking lan right in the eye as she said, “lan, if you still care about whatever’s left between me and the Hamiltons–if you ever really felt anything for me, even for a second–if you mean it when you say you regret what happened, then let me go. Give me my freedom.”

Feeling lan’s arms begin to slacken, Chloe gently extricated herself, softly pushing him away.

Ian’s face was ghostly pale, streaked with tears.

His eyes were unfocused, so red it looked like they might bleed–scary, almost inhuman.

Bent at the waist, he looked like he might collapse from the agony at any moment.

Chloe took off Ian’s jacket and gently draped it over his shoulders, then turned away and quietly retreated. back to her room

Ian stood there in a trance, tears slipping silently from eyes that had gone hollow and gray.

For a long while, he stayed rooted to the spot, utterly lost and directionless.

“She doesn’t love me anymore, lan realized, and it felt like his heart had just been torn in two.

‘She doesn’t want me either, he admitted to himself, the hurt digging deeper than he’d ever imagined.

The woman he’d promised to walk through life hand in hand with–that promise was gone now, lost forever with no way to get her back.

Suddenly, Ian doubled over, a harsh sound escaping his lips as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

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Chapter 245

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The next instant, a splash of bright crimson stained the sand–so startling it seemed to color the night itself.