The CEO's Regret: His Lost Wife's Secret Twins novel Chapter 163

Chapter 163

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I stared at my phone, scrolling through old photos of Aria. Something inside me tightened every time I saw her smile. Three years of guilt

and regret eating away at me. Then two days ago, the impossible happened-I recognized her. She was alive. She had returned, but she

wasn’t the same. Neither was I.

The afternoon sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office, but I barely noticed it. The shock of seeing her again still

hadn’t worn off.

“Mr. Morgan?” Jack’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. I quickly locked my phone screen.

“What is it?”

“Sir, Nouvelle Retail Group has returned all the stage equipment and sent back our work crew.” Jack stood awkwardly, clutching his tablet.

“Ms. Taylor left specific instructions that they’d handle everything themselves.”

I gripped the edge of my desk. “All of it?”

“Yes, sir. Everything.”

Jack shifted his weight, waiting for an explosion that didn’t come. I waved him away, turning to face the Manhattan skyline. The rejection stung more than it should have. For three years, I’d mourned Aria, tortured myself with what-ifs, only to discover she had built a new life without me. Now that I’d found her again, she was doing everything possible to keep me at a distance.

Many nights I’d lain in the bed where she once slept, aching for her so badly my chest hurt, haunted by the fact I never told her how much I truly loved her until it was too late. But I couldn’t tell anyone that. Not even Jack, who’d seen me through the worst of it.

“Anything else you need, sir?” Jack asked from the doorway.

‘No. That’s all.”

I pulled up Nouvelle’s website on my computer. Aria’s company was growing impressively under her leadership. Pride mixed with frustration as I studied the statistics. She didn’t need my help anymore. Maybe she never did.

The intercom buzzed, interrupting my thoughts.

“Mr. Morgan!” The receptionist’s voice sounded panicked. ‘Emergency downstairs! Ms. Grant’s been attacked by a fan!”

I stood up so fast my chair rolled back and hit the wall. “What happened?”

“She came to see you but got cold feet about coming upstairs. She was waiting at the entrance when some guy attacked her. Her back’s

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Chapter 163

injured and she can’t move. Ambulance should be here in five minutes.”

I’m coming down now.”

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I grabbed my jacket and rushed to the elevator, ignoring the stares from my employees. Emma injured in my building. This day was

getting worse by the minute.

The scene at the entrance was chaotic. Security guards had formed a perimeter around Emma, who lay on the ground with blood soaking

through her blouse. Her face was pale, tears streaming down her cheeks as she trembled.

“Emma.” I crouched beside her, careful not to touch her. “What happened?”

Her eyes found mine, hand shakily reaching out. “Blake, you finally came…”

“Ambulance will be here any minute,” I said, my voice tight. “Security’s got the guy who did this.”

“Please let him go, Emma whispered. “This is the punishment I promised to take. Whatever awful attack comes my way, I deserve it. I

chose this path.

I frowned, remembering our conversation after the dance competition controversy. “Taking responsibility doesn’t mean getting stabbed,

Emma.”

“The mental torture these past few days has been worse than any knife,” she said, her voice breaking. “I’ve been living in hell, Blake.”

“What are you talking about?”

Emma’s breathing grew labored. “First the internet accused me of pulling strings to win unfair judgments. Then someone dug up videos of

my dance instructor trashing me. They’re calling me fake, saying I made up my whole image. Even my fans have turned on me.”

She gripped my hand tighter. “I didn’t tell you because I thought you’d just say I was playing the victim.”

Blood continued to seep through her clothing. I should have called for more help, but she kept talking, her words tumbling out

desperately.

“When that psycho stabbed me in the back, the pain shooting through my body… Blake, I suddenly thought about our thirteen years

together.”

Her eyes clouded with memory. “Remember the Manhattan fire? How we had each other’s backs? We used to tell each other everything,

and now we don’t trust each other at all. I really don’t want us to keep going like this. We shouldn’t be this way-

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