The Ex-Wife’s Billion Dollar Comeback Novel

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Chapter 197: Soraya Had Moved On

~ Rose ~

‘What did he say? What did Calum call Soraya? His wife?’ Rose’

s whole body trembled when she overheard her husband

question Jacob for getting involved with Soraya.

The problem was that he still addressed Soraya as his wife!

So, where did that leave her?

When Jacob motioned to Rose, reminding Calum who his

wife actually was, it hurt all the more.

The only thing she saw in Calum's eyes was complete denial.

After Jacob warned Calum, her husband took deep breaths.

He ran his fingers through his hair and ordered her, “Rose, we

are leaving!”

“| highly suggest you stay, so we can talk it out,” Jacob said. “

Go back to the hotel and cool off if needed. Neither of my men

will take you back to the airport until you're ready to talk.”

“What is it that you want, Jacob? My blessing?” Calum barked.

“| don’t need your fucking blessing, but I'd rather we have a

peaceful understanding of what happened. Soraya and | fell in

love. We love each other. So, what makes it wrong?” Jacob

shot back. “Didn't you claim you had fallen for Rose, and that

was why you were willing to divorce Soraya?”

“You took my wife and you took my company, and you expect

me to just be okay with it?” Calum pointed at Jacob.

“Did | take anything by force?” Jacob asked, frowning. “Think

about what you're saying right now, Calum.”

But Calum looked like he was still fuming. He turned to Rose

again and called, “Let's go, Rose! Let's go to the hotel!”

----

Then Calum glanced at Melvin. “Are you coming, Melvin? Luke?”

Rose turned to Luke and Melvin, but they remained rooted in

place.

“Im staying, Calum. | think it's great that Soraya is with Jacob,”

Melvin said.

Luke made a face and touched his stomach. "I'm hungry,

Calum."

And so, Calum walked away, with Rose chasing after him. He

walked very fast—too fast. As they made their way to Nexa

Hotel, Calum found a young tree and thrust his fist against it.

“Argh! Aghhh!” he screamed, punching again and again

before finally resuming his walk to the hotel.

Rose felt so small.

She cried as she watched her husband react that way.

Clearly, Calum was deeply affected.

But Calum wasn't the only one hating the discovery. Inside,

Rose was also seething with jealousy.

All this time, she thought Soraya was still hung up on Calum.

She had imagined flaunting her new status as Mrs. Montclair,

only to find out that Soraya had upgraded.

Soraya was now Mrs. Steel!

And Jacob wasn't just any man! He was now the richest man

in the state and probably better!

‘How did Soraya manage to pull that off?’ Rose screamed in

her head. ‘When did it even begin?’

Before she could start digging through the past, Rose and

Calum arrived at Nexa Hotel. When they checked in, they were

supposed to have the same room since they were a married

couple. However, Calum told the front desk, “We'll have

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separate rooms, please. Just assign her the one next to mine.”

Rose: "...”

When they got up to their rooms, Calum hastily moved her

luggage. After that, he said to her, “I need some time alone.

You can order room service for yourself. I'm not in the mood

to eat.”

Once Rose was inside her room, the loneliness and Calum’s

abandonment hit her. Tears rolled down her face, and she

began to scream.

“Abhhh!”

“Abhhh!”

But she couldn't scream like a madwoman in an upscale hotel,

so she let the rest of her cries echo in her head.

‘Ahhh! Fuck you, bitch! How dare you, Soraya?!’

‘How dare you seduce Jacob?’

‘What makes you better than me?!’

‘You are just someone Calum easily discarded!"

She was even more furious at how, Soraya’s being married to

Jacob had impacted Calum. It was as if Calum had just

realized he didn't like the idea of anyone being married to

Soraya.

“Why?” she broke down in tears, squatting on the carpeted

floor. “Why does Soraya get everything better?”

“Why couldn't she just stay the nobody everyone used to

know?”

Rose remembered Angela, and how it all began with her. She

thought back to the time when she and Calum discovered Ara.

It was during the business gala, right when Jacob received a

phone call from Angela.

----

“So, Soraya got lucky because Angela responds to her,” Rose

gritted her teeth, thinking. “I can do that too. I’m good with

kids!”

Then, at the mention of kids, Rose remembered that Soraya

was pregnant with twins. Yet again, envy clawed its way up

her throat. Here she was, trying hard to get pregnant and to

sustain it, but failing due to problems with her ovaries.

“How did Soraya easily get pregnant, and why was she

blessed with twins? She couldn't be that lucky! She just can't!”

she cried harder.

Rose just couldn't accept it. She never realized that life had its

own way of keeping score. What she called ‘Soraya’'s luck’

was really life's quiet justice. The wheels of fate had a way of

favoring sacrifice, talent, kindness, and strength of character,

while punishing those who built their happiness on the pain of

others.

some

~ Calum ~

Meanwhile, in the other room, Calum had repeatedly punched

the leather seat next to his bed. Blood from his knuckles,

bruised from hitting the tree earlier, had stained the sofa.

Afterward, he sat down on the floor, taking it all in.

What made him so mad? It wasn’t because Soraya had moved

‘on. No, it was the fact that, over the past few weeks, he had

once again considered getting back with Soraya.

Rose's pregnancy had held him back. He felt guilty for Rose

and their unborn child, but after she miscarried again, he felt

sorry for his wife, even after she had lost billions of dollars.

Because in truth, Rose had tried. She had tried her best to be

better for Sage and to connect with his parents.

----

But now, after learning that Soraya was Ara all along,

everything fell apart. The chance of reuniting his family—with

Sage—would never happen.

He thought of his daughter, and regret consumed him. He

muttered as a tear rolled down his cheek, “I'm sorry, Sage. I'm

sorry.”

Maybe this was his punishment: to live knowing that what he

once took for granted could never be pieced together again.

Soraya had moved on.