The Billionaire CEO Betrays his Wife: He wants her back-Chapter 164: What’s taken

It was Saturday morning, the kind that used to mean peace. But peace hadn’t belonged to Ethan for a long time.

The sun filtered lazily through the tall windows of his mansion, casting long shadows over the marble floors. Andrew’s laughter rang out from the hallway, sharp and sweet, like sunlight cutting through mist.

Ethan sat on the edge of the leather couch, coffee cooling in his hand, but his eyes weren’t on the boy—they were on the night before at the Shepherd mansion. The way the firelight flickered in those grand rooms, the quiet moments he stared at Mara, her uncertain smile, the way her fingers had curled around Andrew’s tiny ones the night she’d held him, and her brother’s conversation.

He didn’t know for sure—not yet—but something deep in his gut told him the truth was about to rip open his world.

She’s his mother

He’d gone over the timeline again and again, traced every whisper and gap in memory like a private investigator in his own life. The DNA results were due any day. But Ethan already knew what he’d say when they arrived.

Mara, he’s yours. You’re his mother. We’re... His jaw tensed. Could he even finish that thought?

He was pulled out of it by the sharp buzz of the intercom. Then came pounding on the door. Urgent. Unforgiving.

Ethan frowned, rising to his feet, setting the coffee aside. Andrew peeked out from behind the hallway wall, his stuffed dinosaur clutched to his chest.

"Stay there, buddy," Ethan said gently.

He walked to the door and opened it—and the sight on the other side punched the air from his lungs.

Lucy stood there like a tempest in heels, flanked by two attorneys in tailored suits and two police officers who looked like they meant business. Her face was unreadable—calm, determined, triumphant—but her eyes were cold, like steel dipped in fire.

"What the hell is this?" Ethan asked, already knowing. Lucy raised the document like a weapon. "Court order. Temporary custody was awarded to me. The judge signed it this morning."

Ethan’s jaw clenched. "The hearing isn’t for another week."

"And until then," one of the lawyers said coolly, "the child is to reside with his biological mother. Effective immediately." The words hit harder than any fist could.

Andrew’s little footsteps padded closer, his face curious, confused. "Da-da?" he asked softly.

Lucy’s expression faltered just for a second, just long enough for Ethan to see it. The guilt but she buried it fast, crouching down with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

"Hi baby," she said, voice soft as silk. "Mommy’s here. Come on, sweetheart."

Ethan’s body moved before he could think. "Wait—don’t confuse him. He doesn’t know you. You can’t just rip him away—"

"I’m not ripping anything," Lucy snapped, rising to full height again, her voice harder now. "I’m taking back what you never should’ve kept. The court agrees."

Ethan looked down at Andrew. His lip trembled. That shattered something in Ethan. Right there, right then.

The officer stepped forward, his tone firm but not unkind. "Sir, I suggest you let this happen cleanly. You’ll have your chance to contest custody at the hearing. But for now, she has legal possession."

Andrew was screaming now—tiny fists clenched, cheeks flushed with tears, his cries echoing through the walls of the mansion like the wail of something being torn apart.

Ethan’s heart raced, veins pulsing with rage as he lunged forward, but the officer stepped between them with practiced calm, both arms raised.

"Sir, stand down—"

"Get out of my way!" Ethan roared, eyes wild. "That’s my son!"

Two officers restrained him, gripping his arms, pushing him back with force. Ethan struggled, muscles tensed, his body shaking with fury. He could barely see through the blur of heartbreak and raw, animal desperation. He could still hear Andrew sobbing, calling for him.

Lucy, standing across the room with her lawyers on one side and a duffel bag on the other, tried to keep her composure. Her arms trembled as she picked Andrew up, holding him to her chest.

"Shhh... It’s okay, baby, it’s okay," she whispered, but the boy’s cries only grew louder.

"Do something!" Valerie cried from behind the couch, eyes wide with panic. "You can’t let her take the baby, and the baby’s terrified—somebody do something!"

But there was nothing anyone could do.

The law had spoken.

"Lucy," Ethan seethed, straining against the officers holding him back. "You’ll regret this. You hear me? You will regret this with everything you have."

Lucy turned, with a smile, but said nothing. She knew that with Andrew, with her, Ethan would come back to her.

"You think this is over?" he hissed, his voice low, venomous. "I know that child isn’t yours. I know what you did. You stole Mara’s baby. And I’m going to prove it. In court. In front of the world. And when I do, no power, no judge, no army will stop me from taking him back."

She flinched—just slightly. But she kept walking.

Andrew reached toward Ethan one last time, little fingers stretching out as if his father could still catch him, still pull him back from the unraveling world.

"Da-da!" he screamed. "Da-da!"

The doors slid shut behind them like a tomb. And then there was silence. For one second.

Then Ethan broke. With a howl of agony, he threw his arms out, sweeping everything off the coffee table, glasses, vases, books and shattering them into a chaotic rain of broken glass and ceramic. The sound echoed like thunder, a sharp punctuation to his grief.

Valerie ran to him, voice breaking. "Ethan, stop—please, stop—"

But he dropped to his knees, gasping, one hand clutching his chest like the pain might kill him. Blood dripped from a shallow cut on his forearm where a piece of glass had sliced him, but he didn’t care.

"He’s my son," Ethan choked out. "He’s my son, Val... she took him, she just took him."

Valerie, tears pouring from her own eyes, knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around her brother. He collapsed into her, clutching her like she was the last thing tethering him to the earth.

"I’ll kill her," he whispered, over and over like a vow. "I’ll kill her, I swear to God, I’ll burn the whole world down if I have to."