All Chapters of After Betrayal, I Married a Billionaire: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

"What's wrong with me? I clearly don’t love Rex. Why can't I stop thinking about his face and voice?!"Those words slipped out of my mouth and faded into the increasingly suffocating silence of the living room. My feet paced aimlessly across the thick shag carpet. The phone in my right hand was still glowing, displaying an active call screen that had been streaming sound from the other end for ten minutes. A bead of cold sweat began to trickle down the back of my neck, triggered by a sudden wave of panic that had spread, squeezing my chest tightly."Emma, you're still there, right? Please just listen to me first,” Laura said, breaking the silence through the phone’s speaker, which I’d deliberately turned on.I stopped in my tracks, massaging my temples, which had started to throb. I had an overwhelming urge to press the red button and ignore that voice entirely. I just wanted to run away from the reality I’d just learned. But my fingers suddenly went stiff, unable to move, as Laura’s

"The point is, Dee, I don't want to hear any more excuses!"My voice trembled sharply, shattering the silence that had hung over the living room since that afternoon. I quickly turned away and looked out the window, then crossed my arms over my chest. I deliberately pretended to gasp for breath to hide the anxiety slowly gnawing at the corners of my heart. I didn’t want to appear weak in front of the woman who was now watching me intently.Dee, still sitting calmly on the long sofa, looked straight at me. A faint smile one that seemed calm and professional appeared on her lips, irritating me further."Why are you constantly in denial, Emma? You’re actually scared right now, aren’t you?” Dee asked in a soft yet piercing voice.I snorted sharply and took a step back until my heel touched the edge of the rug. "Dee, I know you're a great psychologist. But please, I don’t want to and I’ll never let you draw me into your little tricks! Stop reading my mind as if I were one of your patients!

“Emma, why did you suddenly go so quiet?”Rex’s baritone voice broke the silence in the dimly lit, secluded corner of the restaurant where we were sitting. He looked at me with an incredibly gentle gaze, which was a stark contrast to his stiff black tuxedo. Alex’s documents still lay on the marble table in front of us, as if demanding the attention that had been deliberately diverted. I turned my face toward the glow of the wall lamp, clasping my fingers tightly together on my lap to hide the inner tremors growing stronger."I don't want to open or read any documents tonight, Rex. I’m too tired to think,” I said softly, letting out a long sigh. The weight on my chest was already too heavy to bear.Rex fell silent for a moment. A faint trace of disappointment flashed across his stern face. The next second, however, that expression was replaced by an incredibly gentle gaze the kind that always made me feel completely exposed."All right, if you're set on divorcing me, I won't stand in y

"Emma! Where have you been all night?!" Dee exclaimed, grabbing both of my cold shoulders. She was truly worried about me."I...I just came back from Alex's grave," I replied softly, my pale lips trembling.Dee stared at the dark circles under my eyes in disbelief. "I was so worried because you didn't come back to your room since early this morning. Didn't you sleep at all last night, Emma?"I could only slowly shake my head; my vision suddenly felt blurry and hazy. "Come on, let's get ready right away and meet Rex at the airport. We can’t be late.”But just as I was about to step through the apartment door with my right foot, the entire room suddenly started spinning. A gray haze slowly engulfed my vision, obscuring the quiet hallway of the apartment building. An overwhelming sense of exhaustion mixed with the emotional strain of the night robbed me of all my strength in an instant. My frail body staggered and collapsed onto the cold marble floor.Before total darkness engulfed my co

“Emma, it looks like Rex has really left this city.”Dee’s words drifted softly through the crowded airport lobby. My footsteps froze instantly. A sudden chill crept from the tips of my toes and pierced my chest. Tears streamed down my face, soaking my cheeks, which felt colder and colder."Dee, are you sure? How do you know he’s really gone?" I asked in a trembling voice, clutching Dee’s sleeve tightly. My breath came in rapid gasps as I fought off the tightness in my chest that was suffocating me.Dee didn’t answer right away. She slowly pointed toward the large flight information board in the lobby. There, Rex’s name and main flight number were clearly listed as "ready for takeoff."An overwhelming sense of guilt struck my heart. On the way back to the apartment, I could only sit in gloomy silence. Once inside, I sat down on the sofa, crossed my legs, and clenched my fingers, staring blankly ahead."Dee, I'm terrible, aren't I?" I whispered, not daring to look at her face. "I'm the