All Chapters of DEAR EX-WIFE: IT'S PAYBACK TIME: Chapter 21
- Chapter 30
50 chapters
CHAPTER 21
RYANThe courtroom buzzed with muted tension, the kind that pressed against your chest and made the air heavy.I walked in with my lawyer, each step measured, controlled, as if the room itself would bend to the presence I carried.Rachel, now inside with me, her sharp suit immaculate, her posture perfect—every gesture screaming confidence.Marco lingered behind her, eyes flicking nervously between me and the judge, the weight of debts and reputation pressing down on him.The judge’s gavel slammed once. Silence fell. All eyes turned toward me.“Mr. Ryan Zane,” the judge said, his voice firm but even. “You may present your case.”I straightened, the compiled files of Rachael’s failings resting lightly in my hands. I didn’t hesitate.“Your Honor,” I began, my voice cold, precise, slicing through the murmurs of the room. “Today, I present evidence of my ex-wife’s consistent neglect of our child, Jasmine. Evidence spanning years, not days. Not moments. Years of absences, omissions, and wil
CHAPTER 22
RYAN“This is not opinion, Your Honor. This is an observable consequence. Every lapse in responsibility, every choice to prioritize self over child, is a mark on the record of parenting. I am here to make certain that the record reflects reality, not the carefully constructed narrative of a woman who is neither absent-minded nor unfortunate, but deliberate.”A hush fell. Her lawyer opened his mouth but the judge raised his hand. Silence. My lawyer gave me a subtle nod. I had the floor.“And, Your Honor,” I said, letting my words sink in, “let us not forget those who stood by, witnesses to what the court need not imagine. Those who saw the child in need and the parent in neglect. I will present those witnesses shortly, but I will say this: there is a pattern. There is evidence. And it is undeniable.”Rachel leaned toward her lawyer, whispering, panicked, her eyes darting between me and the judge. I felt a quiet satisfaction. The judge finally nodded toward the clerk.“Mr. Ryan, you m
CHAPTER 23
MARCOSince yesterday I couldn’t sleep. Not after Ryan humiliated us in court.Five million in gambling debts exposed. And now the world, or at least our little circle, knew.I turned over in bed.Rachel wasn’t there. Of course not. She probably sulked somewhere, thinking she was innocent in all this.I hated that she was sulking—but I had other plans.Downstairs, I found her in the kitchen, a bottle of paracetamol in her hands. She looked fragile, scared, pathetic even.“Rachel!” I barked, striding toward her. “What are you doing?”“I… I just need to calm down,” she muttered, voice shaking.“Calm down?” I laughed, bitter. “You think popping pills is going to undo what Ryan did? Undo the embarrassment? No, sweetheart. You need to think. You need to see the opportunity here.”Her eyes widened, and she looked at me. “Marco… I can’t. I can’t face him again.”I grabbed her shoulders, firm, guiding her to sit. “You will. But not for Jasmine. Not for anyone else. For us, You know what we c
CHAPTER 24
RACHEL I staggered to my feet, my neck sore, my breaths sharp and uneven.Tears blurred my vision, but they weren’t for him—they were for the humiliation, the fury boiling inside me.How dare Ryan, that insufferable, self-righteous man, shame me in court? Every word he spat was a dagger, cutting through the carefully constructed image I had spent years building.I pressed my trembling fingers to my neck, the ache a reminder of Marco’s rage, but my anger wasn’t for him either.It was for the disgrace, the public unraveling of everything I thought I controlled.The custody hearing, my so-called arena had become my battlefield of shame. I could still hear the judge’s restrained silence, the gasps from the courtroom, the cold precision in Ryan’s voice.Hate twisted in my chest, a fire I couldn’t extinguish.I wanted revenge, a way to claw back the dignity that had been ripped from me.Every thought, every plan I could muster, centered on one truth: Ryan had humiliated me, and he would
CHAPTER 25
RYANI sat back in the leather seat, the hum of the engine a dull backdrop to the chaos still thrumming in my head.Two days had passed since the court verdict, and yet the images ,Rachel’s smug collapse, Marco’s helpless rage, the weight of their humiliation—refused to leave me.I hadn’t gloated.Not really. I had simply presented facts, laid bare the truth, and watched the walls they’d built crumble.Every misstep, every lie, every selfish act they’d committed against Jasmine had been exposed.And now they were powerless to undo it.I flexed my hands, still feeling the echo of that courtroom intensity. They had underestimated me, dismissed me as just another obstacle.They’d learned otherwise.The car slowed, tires crunching on the driveway gravel.Seraphine’s house appeared, familiar yet distant, a haven I hadn’t expected to return to so soon.I watched Seraphine step out onto the driveway, the late afternoon sun catching the edges of her hair.Stunning, as always. There was a calm
CHAPTER 26
RACHELI sat at the corner table, my hand trembling as I reached for the headache pills.My eye throbbed, swollen from his fist, and every breath reminded me of the blows I’d tried to ignore.Two weeks had passed since the custody hearing.The small TV above the counter hummed in the background—until I heard one word that stopped me cold.JasmineThey showed the story of the woman who had been absent, neglecting her own child while others suffered.Tears welled up uncontrollably. My hand shook, and I muttered to no one in particular, “How… how could I let this happen?”A voice nearby broke through my panic. “Ma… are you okay?”I screamed, startling the person, and my glasses fell onto the floor.My face burned, and I scrambled to put them back on, whispering, “I’m fine… I’m fine,” even as the tears streaked my cheeks.I ran out, my shoes clacking against the pavement.Regret was a weight pressing on my chest. I cursed myself. Staying with Marco—what had I been thinking? I never reali
CHAPTER 27
RACHELI was asleep when I felt a weight pressing down on me. My eyes snapped open.It was Marco.His face… it wasn’t the same. The neat hair, the sharp suits—they were gone.His eyes burned with something unrecognizable, wild. His clothes hung wrong, and there was a madness in his movements.“Marco… what—” I started, voice trembling.“No talking,” he growled. He lunged at me, grabbing my wrist.“Let me go!” I screamed, struggling against him.He shoved me down onto the bed. “Sign it!” he shouted, waving a paper in front of me. “Everything you have left! Your money, your accounts, everything!”“I won’t! You’re insane!” I shouted back.His jaw tightened. “Insane? I’ve lost everything because of you! Because of us! Sign it!”I twisted, trying to break free. “I won’t! I’m done with you!”His hand flew to a belt hanging on the chair. “Then maybe this will remind you who’s in charge!”The sharp sting cut across my shoulder. I cried out, trying to shield myself. My hands shook as I dodged a
CHAPTER 28
RYANI sat with my lawyer, the chair cold under me, the room humming with whispers and camera clicks.Across the aisle Rachel sat beside her lawyer—not glamorized, not polished—just a black dress, oversized sunglasses, and bandages across her cheek and neck.Marco’s seat beside her was empty.Of course he’s not here, I thought. The man who claimed to love her can’t even show up for her downfall.She turned her face slightly.Our eyes locked—just a few seconds, long enough to feel the weight of every fight, every lie, every ruin between us.Then she looked away sharply, her glasses flashing under the courtroom lights.Her lawyer leaned in, whispering. She didn’t respond.The room swelled with reporters. Camera shutters. Pens ready. The tension felt like a drawn bowstring.This is it, I told myself. Her finish line. My last strike.We waited an hour. The clock ticked with agonizing calm. Rachel trembled once, hands folding over each other.I didn’t feel pity—only the steady certainty th
CHAPTER 29
RYANThe city blurred past the car window as Mark drove, the hum of the engine filling the silence.I leaned back, letting my hands rest loosely in my lap, the weight of the last week finally settling.For the first time in months, maybe years, I felt it—freedom.The fight with Rachel and Marco was over. The court had spoken. Jasmine’s custody was mine. No more manipulation, no more betrayal.I closed my eyes briefly, tasting the quiet triumph.Now, finally, I could focus solely on her. My daughter, pale and fragile, but fighting.My heart twisted at the memory of her tiny hands grasping for life, but that pain was tempered by a simmering determination. I would do right by her. No shortcuts, no compromises.I’d listened to Seraphine’s warning, and had absorbed her advice about letting bitterness consume me.I would not become like them. I wouldn’t let vengeance define me anymore.A smile tugged at the corner of my lips.I hadn’t realized how much I had craved this moment, the chance to
CHAPTER 30
RYANI settled onto the stool in my new Nexus lab, the one Cassian Medical carved out just for me.The machines around me hummed—sleek, advanced, far more powerful than anything I used to work with.I set down the tray of samples and powered up the analyzer.“Look at this,” I murmured to myself, running a hand along the side of the equipment. “New, clean… and ten times stronger than what I had before.”I loaded the compound I had been refining all week.The machine pulled it in with a soft click. Lights blinked. Data streamed across the holo-screen.“I made the right choice partnering with them,” I said quietly. “Julian was right. This place… its build by a strong government.”The analyzer beeped.The first stage was done.I transferred the result into a cellular test chamber and watched the simulated tissue react.The compound spread, broke down the targeted infection, then stabilized the surrounding cells.I exhaled, leaning closer. “Good. That’s good… that means it’s holding.”I tw