Winning Back His Ex's Wife's Broken Heart by Hayley

Chapter 91

Sarah's pov.

The air in the car was thick as Richard drove us toward the meeting spot. I sat there, fiddling with the cuff of my sleeve, trying to keep my breathing steady, trying to look like I wasn't on the edge of running. I glanced at Richard, his jaw tight, his hands gripping the steering wheel a little too hard.

He caught my gaze and softened, giving me a slight smile that was supposed to be comforting.

But there was nothing comforting about this. Not when we were about to walk into a room with James and a few of his "network contacts."

Just saying the word made my stomach twist. And James... Well, trusting him felt like trying to trust a snake. You just couldn't be sure he wouldn't bite.

"So, are you ready?" Richard asked, his voice low and calm. Too calm. He knew this was a big risk-maybe even our biggest so far.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I replied, trying to sound steady. But my mind was spinning. I knew we had no choice but to work with James.

He had the connections, the leverage, and-if he actually followed through-the key to finally getting out of this mess.

But I also knew we were playing a dangerous game, and one wrong move would send everything spiraling.

I forced myself to breathe, in and out, in and out. For Richard's sake, I tried to look calm, or at least not terrified. He needed to think I was handling this, that I was strong, and capable. We'd been through so much, come so far. If he saw any crack in my armor, it might just break him too.

So I straightened up, met his eyes, and gave him what I hoped looked like a reassuring smile.

"Let's get this over with," I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper.

When we arrived, James was already waiting inside, lounging on a worn-out leather couch like he hadn't a single care in the world.

Seeing him there, smirking, made my skin crawl.

said, glancing between Richard and me. "Was

to hold his gaze, to keep my face blank. No way was I going

replied, my voice colder than I felt.

I'm

quick look at Richard. "You two look tense. But I get it. This isn't exactly

happen, or are we just wasting our time?" James shrugged, still wearing that lazy smirk. "It depends," he said slowly, like

kind of secrets they kept. And yet here we were, hoping

fighting the urge to snap at him. "We don't have time for games,

I thought he might push back, and make things harder just to watch

all business now. "Fine. Follow me. I've set up a little meet-and-greet. Just... don't do anything

quick look. This was it-the moment we'd been dreading

took was just digging

behind James, I found myself

and focused, his eyes narrowed slightly as he

the way he carried it in his shoulders, in the tight

knew that. And yet, a part of me couldn't shake the feeling that there was still more

was just paranoia, the stress of everything piling up, but... I couldn't help wondering. There were

there were times when I wondered if he'd

us, giving us a smug

not let him see how much he was getting under my skin. "Let's

sat at a table, their eyes sharp and assessing as they took

it all, who'd

the men. "These are the people

nodded in greeting, but their expressions were blank,

with a scar down his cheek, spoke first. "So, you're the ones James keeps talking about." His voice was low, gravelly, the kind of voice that