Who's Crying Now, Ex-Husband? novel Chapter 275

The man’s burning kiss landed on her pale wrist.

Mila’s hand jerked in shock—anger flaring so hot it reddened the corners of her cat-like eyes. She stomped hard on his foot, and while the pain distracted him, she wrenched herself free and stumbled two paces away, putting a good six feet between them.

“Come any closer and I’ll scream for security!” Her voice was sharp and trembling.

Lysander winced, but a twisted smile still played on his lips. “Relax, darling. All I’m saying is—if you just do as you’re told and come back to be Mrs. Montgomery, I can give you anything you want.”

The implication in his tone was unmistakable.

Mila understood all too well—and it was so absurd she almost laughed. The heat in her chest drained, replaced by a heavy, exhausted numbness.

What am I even doing? she wondered.

Trying to reason with Lysander was pointless. He never listened. He never intended to sign the papers.

Drawing a slow breath, Mila took a step back. She slipped the jade bracelet from her wrist, turning it in her palm for a moment, then asked quietly, “Lysander, when Hugo Sutherland and Charlotte came out of nowhere demanding a million-dollar dowry from me… That was your idea, wasn’t it?”

Lysander’s expression flickered—cold and hard. “I warned you about this.”

So it really was him.

She’d suspected as much, but the confirmation still left her speechless. She stared at him, stunned.

“Lysander, do you even know? That day, I nearly lost my eyesight.”

He met her gaze, his face unreadable. “No, you wouldn’t have. I made sure they paid for it afterwards.”

As if that was the point.

Mila nearly laughed—and this time, she couldn’t hold it back. The brittle sound made Lysander’s brow tighten.

A moment later, her face went cold. Without another word, she raised the bracelet and hurled it to the ground.

The priceless jade shattered with a deafening crack.

Fragments skittered across the marble floor.

Mila looked him in the eye, her voice eerily calm as she enunciated every word:

“Lysander, that bracelet—anything of yours—I don’t want a single thing from you.”

Julian stayed quietly in her embrace, not saying a word—just holding her.

He understood.

Mom seemed so scared, so sad.

—

Downstairs, in the auction house’s marble corridor—

On the staircase leading up to the second floor, Giselle lingered at the landing, watching the chaos below with icy detachment.

She’d followed Lysander out. She’d heard everything.

Now, as she watched the elegant man stoop to pick up each shard of the shattered jade bracelet, she realized she was seeing a side of him she’d never seen before.

The sting in her palm snapped her out of it. She looked down—her fist was clenched tight around a pair of ruby-and-diamond earrings worth millions, the same ones she’d snatched from Mila. She’d gripped them so hard, the posts had broken her skin, streaking the rubies with fresh blood.

She’d won—she had the priceless jewels in her palm. But staring at them now, Giselle realized she felt absolutely no joy at all.