Dear Ex Wife Please take me back

ALEX

"You look like shit."

Luca leans back in his chair, brown eyes sweeping over me like he's confirming a diagnosis.

"Shit doesn't cover it," lann chimes in, and I throw him a glare that lacks the heat it usually carries.

They're both right.

I do look like hell.

"Should I pour you a drink?" Luca offers, but I shake my head.

"Rayen's birthday party starts in an hour. I'm not showing up stinking of whiskey."

Luca whistles. "Look at you being responsible."

I rub at my temples, head throbbing from more than just the sleepless nights.

"I just... I don't get it."

That makes them both pause. I never start conversations like this. I usually keep things buried, neat, and tucked somewhere no one can find them, but something's been cracking lately.

"Get what?" Luca edges me on.

"Athena." Her name feels like gravel in my throat.

"She's been... amazing with Rayen. Like really good to him. He's already sent menoveldrama

a picture of the gift she just took to him, some Lego game, and he swears it's the best thing he's ever gotten."

I let out a dry laugh.

"I bought him four actual cars. But sure, let's all worship the plastic blocks."

lann raises a brow, clearly confused,

"You're stressed because she's good to your son?"

I lean forward, elbows on my knees.

"Yes. I mean not for that reason, but I've been wrecking my brain trying to figure out why she's so good to Rayen when she-" My voice breaks, "When she got rid of our child."

My jaw clenches so hard at the memory of those goddamn photos, "She didn't want to be a mother. Not a mother of my child anyway."

My voice sounds foreign in my own ears, hoarse and bitter, like something scraped up from the bottom of a bottle I never drank.

"You should see her with Noah or the bastard, Zayan."

I continue, fingers tightening into fists. "She's carefree and laughs at almost everything. I've seen my cousin grow. He couldn't make a dollar from telling a funny joke. So it baffles me what she finds so damn funny!"

And where the hell is Zayan in all of this? Wasn't he the reason? The man she gave up everything for? Why isn't she with him? Why isn't he her husband yet?

The question haunts me.

Is she with him but hiding it?

Was it worth it, giving up our little boy's life for?

And if not, if she's not with him, then what the hell was it all for?

My stomach knots at the thought. Because if she did it for nothing, if she's not with him, if they're not building some kind of perfect life together, then she really did kill our child for nothing.

"I'm losing it," I mutter, raking my fingers through my hair.

lann's quiet for a moment before he says,

"You're not losing it. You're in love with her."

I look up at him like his lost his mind. Which I suspect he has.

"You've lost your brains?."

"You are." Luca supports him, and I let out a cold laugh.

"She killed my kid, you fuckers. Loving her is the last thing I'd do."

"But what if she didn't and was

framed?" Luca leans forward, "I've never told you this but I've never believed Athena is capable of doing such thing. She's feisty with a nasty temper but she is also warm at heart. Maybe you should do an investigation, which of course I can help with."

"Then why was the baby a stillborn? I had the best doctors, Luca. You were there, we did scans every week and I was told he was growing just fine and healthy then suddenly he's born dead? Does that make sense to you?"

"No. It doesn't. Maybe consider the possibilities of foul play and investigate for the sake of your mental peace."

I stop and ponder on Luca's words for a moment. Does she believe the same? Is that why she gave me such a sad look when I told her...

The birthmark.

She must have seen that. At first I also got taken aback when I saw it but I checked the records. Rayen was born abroad one month later.

"Remember that night.." Leah's words echo in my mind.

"Luca, can you check for me the night I got so drunk I messed up the signature and we lost ten million?"

Luca frowns, "You cold bastard. We are having a heart to heart and you're thinking about money?" He turns to lann, "Can you believe this guy?"

"Just fucking do it." I snap.

He rolls his eyes before nodding.

"So-" Before lan can get his full sentence out, my phone vibrates.

I immediately slide right.

"Mum, I'll be....calm down...what? I'll be there!"

I shoot up from the couch so fast it nearly topples, grabbing my keys with shaking

hands.

"What happened?" lann and Luca are already on their feet.

"Rayen," I manage, my breath ragged.

"Something's wrong. He...he's in the hospital."

They don't ask anything else. I don't wait for them either.

I rush to my car with Luca and lann joining me since they were drinking.

My car's tires screech against the pavement as I tear through the city like a madman, running every red light, cursing every second that drags by too slowly.

My pulse is deafening, my thoughts all colliding in my skull like a storm I can't stop.

By the time I reach the hospital, I'm already boiling.

I shove through the front doors, my

eyes scanning wildly until I spot my mother who is sitting in a chair outside the emergency room, her hands are clenched together so tight her knuckles are white.

She stands the second she sees me, tears streaking her face.

"Where is he?" I bark.

Dad steps forward.

"Alex-"

"Where the fuck is my son?!"

I see mum place a soft hand on his arm as she steps into my view.

"They're with him now. He's getting checked, they said he might have hit his head when he fell...he's conscious but he was shaking and cold and-"

I grab the back of my neck, pacing, trying to contain the furious beat of my heart. "What happened?" My voice is low and lethal.