The Secret Pregnancy of the Billionaire's Ex-Wife

Chapter 298

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The Secret Pregnancy of the Billionaire's Ex-Wife

Chapter 298: A Goodbye Gift

Christopher POV

The wedding invitation arrived on a Tuesday in January. The heavy cardstock envelope bore the Shaw family crest, because of course it did. Sean Shaw never missed an opportunity for ostentation.

I almost threw it away unopened. Almost. But something made me open it, my hands steady despite the chaos inside me.

Angela Wilson & Sean Shaw request the honor of your presence...

I read the words without really seeing them. The date, the time, the location-all blurred together. What stood out, in elegant script, was a handwritten note along the bottom margin in Angela's familiar handwriting:

I hope you'll be there. It would mean a lot to the children... and to me. - A

I placed the invitation on my desk and walked to the window, staring out at the Mediterranean view without really seeing it. The invitation felt like a death sentence. Final confirmation that those five years had meant nothing-or at least, not enough.

Hours later, still standing at the window, the invitation untouched on

ventured carefully. "Will you be

replied

and quietly left the room. David had been with me long enough to know when

frequently but had barely entered since returning to New York. Dust covered the easel in the corner, the paints had dried in their tubes, but none of that mattered for what I needed to

something I was about to lose forever. On fresh canvas, with new paints ordered and delivered within hours, I recreated the moment that had defined the course

long shadows. A fifteen-year-old girl with amber eyes and fierce determination standing up to bullies, defending

back in a simple ponytail, a blue school sweater, that fire in her eyes that had never dimmed, not even years later. I painted the scene as precisely as memory allowed,

be as it was

the best work I'd ever done. Raw, honest, filled with the emotion of a first meeting that had altered the trajectory of my existence. I carefully wrapped it, packaging it securely, arranging for it to be delivered on the morning of

wedding.

of how we

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David I wouldn't attend the wedding. Told myself

to see her in her wedding

best suit-dark charcoal rather than black, a subtle

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