The CEO's Ex-Wife, Now His Boss

e on t

ite. The air in the examination room was sterile and cold, seeping through the thi

ed in a gentle, professional smile. She held a single sheet of pape

rowed to the space between them, to t

able. Claire's eyes flew to the top, to a s

seemed to drop away, but instead of falli

line on the report. "Everything looks perfectly normal for this stage.

ful it brought a prickle of tears to her eyes. A baby. Their baby. She pictured Julian's face, his usually stern expression softening when he

k-and-white image that looked more like a galaxy than a person

slid into the back of the waiting town car, the leather cool against her flushed cheeks

tually. Change of plans. Take me to

p in Chicago was due to land any minute. She wanted to tell him in person, to see his face the mom

gined their life changing, filled with something other than polite di

iver of faces pouring through the sliding glass doors. The crowd was a mix of we

wenty. A small knot formed in her gut. Just a delay,

tes. The kn

er. It rang, each tone stretching into an eternity. She rehears

s carry-on. Maybe he's o

hang up, the ringing stop

ine was not Julian's. It was a woman'

away from her ear, staring at the screen as if it had betrayed her

her ear. "I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong

her end. It was intimate and lazy. "Ju

sual possessiveness in the woman's tone, the line went dead. A d

hat had filled her just an hour ago evaporated, replaced by a hollow, sickenin

limbs heavy and numb. She stumbled backward, bumping into a man pulling a s

ments stiff and robotic. She got back into the car. The driver loo

alright, Mrs

age one word, her

om

ugh the window. Her hand went to her stomach, to the place where a universe of hope