The Ex-Wife's Billion Dollar Comeback - Chapter 45: Chapter 45

~ Jacob ~
“Is something wrong with Miss Azar, sir? She barely touched her food,” the maid asked while clearing the dining table.
Soraya had excused herself earlier, saying she wanted to read Angela a bedtime story. But Jacob knew better. She simply wasn’t in the mood.
She had stared at her plate for far too long, and every swallow looked like she was forcing it down.
“She’s—” He wavered, then said, “Not feeling well.”
Jacob was responding to his assistant while at the dining table, so he was the last to finish his meal. He was about to get up when his phone buzzed again.
He thought it was his assistant, but no. It was the chat group between his circle of friends.
Claire: [Jacob, why did you berate Calum and Rose? Since when are you on Soraya’s side?]
Claire: [I just spoke to Rose on the phone, and she was crying about the incident with Sage.]
Jacob’s expression darkened. His fingers paused before he replied: [I wasn’t on Soraya’s side. I was on Sage’s.]
Claire: [But you never cared about that before!]
A low hiss escaped Jacob’s lips. He had believed Soraya was the problem for years, but things weren’t that simple anymore.
Jacob: [Because back then, I didn’t see the full picture. Now I do. Soraya isn’t fighting the divorce. She’s cooperating. And whatever anyone says, she is Sage’s biological mother—the one who gave birth to her.]
Claire: [You don’t know Soraya like I do, Jacob. She’s using Sage. She’s manipulating Aunt Amanda and Uncle Cedric to stay in Calum’s life. She drugged Calum! She orchestrated a plot to force them into marriage!]
Claire: [She’s cunning! She needs to completely stay away from Calum and Sage!]
Claire’s brother, Roger, began typing. Then, the reply.
Roger: [Trust us, Jacob. We were there when Soraya tried to seduce Calum seven years ago.]
Jacob was about to reply, but something felt off about Roger’s message. He frowned, leaned back, and narrowed his eyes.
Before Jacob could respond, Roger suddenly deleted his message.
Why?
But it was too late. Jacob had already seen it. Suspicion began to form in his head. He called Dante again and gave instructions, “About looking into what happened between Soraya and Calum, check if Roger Rowan had anything to do with it.”
He paused and added, “Also, look into Claire. You might as well check the entire Rowan family while you’re at it.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll let you know when we have something,” Dante said before ending the call.
Jacob groaned. He crossed his arms against his chest and thought deeply. “Strange.”
Now that he thought about it, it had always been Claire and Roger who said the most humiliating things about Soraya. Whether it was mocking her background, questioning her motives, or blaming her for every tension in Calum’s life, they never missed a chance to tear her down, especially when she wasn’t there to defend herself.
He wasn’t sure if it came from bitterness or something else. All he knew was, they hated her. And for a long time, he had let their hatred shape what he believed.
Ironically, they were always the loudest in praising Calum and Rose together.
“Wait,” Jacob’s brows met. “How did Calum and Rose meet again?”
He dug through his brain and remembered. “Right. Claire introduced Rose to Calum.”
“What a coincidence,” Jacob mumbled.
The thing about Roger and Claire was that Calum trusted them completely. They were family—his cousins. Their mother was Cedric Montclair’s older sister, woven into the very core of the Montclair legacy. And yet, Jacob couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that something beneath the surface was quietly, dangerously wrong.
Because Roger’s reply had already sparked his interest, Jacob swore he wouldn’t let it go.
He got up, and just as he did, another message came through.
What surprised him most was the sender—Melvin Carter. He had written: [I don’t know… I don’t think I ever really got the chance to know Soraya.]
Claire: [What? Melvin? Not you too!]
“Hmmm.” A faint grin tugged at Jacob’s lips. It seemed he wasn’t the only one starting to see things differently.
~ Soraya ~
The next day, Jacob had left early for a business trip. The family driver took Soraya to work. The same had shared that Jacob would be gone for three days. While in the car, she received several text messages, many of which came from the Montclairs.
Amanda: [Soraya, darling. We visited Sage last night. She was crying. She wants to see you. Please check on her. No matter what happens, she is still your daughter.]
Calum: [Come see Sage in the morning. If you come in the afternoon, Rose and I will be there.]
There were also voice messages from Cedric, but the request was the same.
Soraya thought about it, but she also had a lot of work to do. First things first, she and Silas had a brief meeting with the lawyers about the land purchase. The contracts were done, and the LLC was going to be filed that day. They named it Azora Real Estate LLC.
Next, she worked on NeuroSentinel 2.0. She figured she would go to the hospital in the afternoon, regardless of whether Rose and Calum would be there. She wasn’t about to inconvenience herself just to avoid them.
At two in the afternoon, she updated Dante on where she was headed. Surprisingly, he was already in Cedar Heights waiting for her.
Dante drove her to the hospital, and just as Calum had said, he and Rose were there. However, Soraya ignored them.
Belinda was also there, and upon seeing Soraya, her eyes lit up. “Mrs. Montclair! You’re here!”
Soraya saw Rose’s eyes narrowing into slits. Belinda immediately took back her words. “I’m sorry. Miss Azar.”
“Mommy!” Sage called. She smiled, almost teary-eyed, as she stretched her arms toward Soraya.
Soraya didn’t know how to react. Honestly, she was scared of making that connection again, then getting hurt. She was holding the pack of oatmeal cookies she bought along the way. She forced a smile and said, “I brought some cookies.”
“Oh, Sage, don’t eat those anymore,” Rose cut in, smiling brightly before turning to Sage. “Right, sweetie?”
Sage gulped. She looked hesitant but turned to Soraya, saying, “I still like them, Mommy.”
“Good, because oatmeal cookies from Butter & Crumb are a healthy snack, especially now that you have asthma. They’re egg-free and gluten-free.” Soraya’s eyes landed on the snacks on Sage’s overbed table, and she remarked, “Unlike fried and frosted donuts.”
Soraya pushed the overbed table away, and it gave way for Sage to embrace her. She hugged back, reluctantly. However, what Soraya did not expect was for her daughter… to cry.
“Mommy, I’m sorry.”