MR BILLIONAIRE'S REGRET: CHASING HIS IRRESISTIBLE WIFE
Between the devil and the deep blue sea.

(Jared's POV)

My hands trembled as I closed the diary, barely processing the words still echoing in my mind. Just then, I heard footsteps outside the door, snapping me out of my daze.

The door creaked open, and Sofia strode in, her face already set in its usual frown. She stopped when she saw me, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"Sofia," I rasped, my throat tight, "we need to talk."

She paused, eyebrows raised. "What's this about?"

I didn't answer right away. Instead, I held up the diary. "Do you recognize this?"

Her eyes flickered-recognition, maybe fear-but she quickly masked it with indifference. "No. Why would I?"

"I think you do," I said, my voice low but steady. "Look closer."

She hesitated, taking the diary from my hands, her fingers brushing over the worn cover. "It's just a diary, Jared." She pushed it back to me, dismissively. "Where did you replace this?"

I ignored her question. "Did you hide it?"

Her eyes darted, the discomfort obvious now. "Why would I hide something like that? We're divorced, Jared. Why is Arielle's stuff still even here? Haven't you moved on?"

"That's not the answer to my question." My voice hardened, frustration boiling just beneath the surface.

Sofia's lips tightened, and then she sighed dramatically, crossing her arms. "Fine. I was trying to protect you, Jared. I didn't want you to keep dwelling on the past, on her. What's the point? She's gone, you have me now." "Protect me?" I scoffed, unable to believe her audacity. "From what? From remembering how much I screwed up my marriage? From realizing what kind of man I became?"

She blinked, visibly startled by the intensity of my words. "I was just trying to help-"

"You tore out the pages, Sofia," I interrupted, my voice sharper now. "You had the key to this diary. What were on those pages?"

Her expression faltered for a

second, but then her face twisted in

Venet

a way I'd come to expect. Tears welled up in her eyes, glistening under the dim light. "You're yelling at me over a stupid diary? After everything I've been through?!" Her

Voice cracked as she went on.

"You don't even care about me, do you? All you care about is her! Is that why you're doing this? I lost my child, Jared. That should be our baby, and you're yelling at me because of your ex-wife's stupid diary?" The words hit me like a punch to the gut. My throat tightened, and for a moment, I was speechless. I swallowed hard, feeling my heart twist painfully. She knew exactly where to strike, and I had no defense. The memory of Sofia's loss, that small, fragile life slipping away, haunted me too.

"I know you lost the baby," I said quietly, trying to regain control of the conversation, but the weight of it made my voice crack. "But don't twist this. This isn't about you using a child to manipulate me."

"Manipulate you?!" She stepped closer, her face flushed with anger and hurt. "I gave up everything to be with you, Jared! And now you want to guilt-trip me over a diary? Over some old memories? I'm the one who's hurting here, not Arielle! She's gone! I'm the one who lost the baby, who's trying to hold us together!"

I ran my hands over my face, exhausted and torn. "Sofia, this isn't a competition about who's hurting more. You think I don't regret everything that happened? I can't fix the past, but that doesn't mean I'm going to forget it."

"Fix the past?" she repeated, almost laughing through her tears. "You mean your past with her? You've already made it clear you regret everything with me."

"That's not what I said!" I snapped, my patience fraying. "Stop twisting my words."

Sofia sniffed, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "You're so obsessed with that diary, with her, that you can't even see how much~~~ I'm still suffering." She paused, her voice softening into a calculated vulnerability. "I thought you loved me Jared. I thought we were going to build something together, move past everything. But you... you're still stuck in your perfect memory of Arielle."

I stayed silent, unable to argue. Maybe she was right. Maybe I was still clinging to the past, to the life I could've had with Arielle if I hadn't ruined everything.

Sofia shook her head and turned away from me. "Whatever. Keep your damn diary. Dwell on it all you want, but just know... I've given you everything. And if you can't see that, maybe you don't deserve me."

I felt a heavy weight settle in my

chest, the air thick with tension. I

wanted to tell her she was wrong, that she wasn't the only one suffering, but the words wouldn't come Instead, I just watched her O walk away, the sound of her

footsteps echoing in the silence.

As the door clicked shut behind her, I dropped the diary onto the bed, burying my face in my hands. My mind was a whirlwind of regret, anger, and shame. I had no defense against her weapon-the dead child that haunted both of us. But even so, all I could think about was Arielle, and the pain I caused her.

The ghost of her voice echoed in my mind, and it drowned out everything else.