Twice His Wife
img img Twice His Wife img Chapter 3 THE WIFE WHO WAS NOT BURIED.
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Chapter 7 THE LOCKED DRAWER. img
Chapter 8 NOT ALL TRUTHS STAY BURIED. img
Chapter 9 SOUTHBRIDGE. img
Chapter 10 WHAT THE SILENCE DIDN'T SAY. img
Chapter 11 THE GAME BENEATH THE VOWS. img
Chapter 12 THE CUT THAT DIS NOT BLEED. img
Chapter 13 A NAME NO ONE SPOKE. img
Chapter 14 TERMS OF RESURRECTION. img
Chapter 15 THE QUIET BEFORE THE COLLAPSE. img
Chapter 16 THE WOMAN WITH THE BRIEF CASE img
Chapter 17 PAPER CUTS AND WOUNDS. img
Chapter 18 EVERYTHING LEFT UNSAID. img
Chapter 19 BLOOD DOES NOT LIE. img
Chapter 20 COST OF KNOWING. img
Chapter 21 THE LINE BETWEEN BLOOD AND WAR. img
Chapter 22 SOME FIRES DO NOT DIE. img
Chapter 23 WHERE THE SHADOWS BLEED. img
Chapter 24 RACING THE PULSE. img
Chapter 25 THE ECHO OF LIES. img
Chapter 26 THE TRAP WITHIN THE TRAP. img
Chapter 27 DEAD WEIGHT. img
Chapter 28 THE WOMAN IN THE SHADOW. img
Chapter 29 WHEN THE SILENCE BREAKS. img
Chapter 30 THE LINE THEY CROSSED. img
Chapter 31 THE EDGE OF THE MAP. img
Chapter 32 NO TURNING BACK. img
Chapter 33 THE ARCHITECT. img
Chapter 34 ALL BETS ARE OFF. img
Chapter 35 NO WAY OUT. img
Chapter 36 THE BREAKING img
Chapter 37 ASHES AND REVELATIONS. img
Chapter 38 THE BREAK. img
Chapter 39 FIRE FROM THE WRECKAGE. img
Chapter 40 LINE OF FIRE. img
Chapter 41 WHAT YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO KNOW. img
Chapter 42 DAY ZERO . img
Chapter 43 THE GHOST AT THE GATE. img
Chapter 44 WHAT LIVES IN THE DARK. img
Chapter 45 THE BREAK THAT MATTERS. img
Chapter 46 LOCKED IN. img
Chapter 47 THE NAME IT SPOKE. img
Chapter 48 COLLATERAL ROYALTIES. img
Chapter 49 THE VOICE THAT WAS NOT HERS. img
Chapter 50 WHAT IS LEFT STANDING img
Chapter 51 THE SMOKE BETWEEN THEM. img
Chapter 52 THE PLACE WHERE IT ALL BEGAN. img
Chapter 53 WHEN THE DUST REDUSED TO SETTLE. img
Chapter 54 THE SILENCE THAT SCREAMED. img
Chapter 55 THE LINE BETWEEN US. img
Chapter 56 WHAT CAN NOT BE UNDONE. img
Chapter 57 THE THINGS WE DO NOT SAY. img
Chapter 58 A TWICE CRACKS IN SILENCE. img
Chapter 59 THE CRACKS IN SILENCE. img
Chapter 60 THE SILENCE BEFORE THE STORM. img
Chapter 61 NO GOING BACK. img
Chapter 62 WHERE THE SHADOWS SETTLE. img
Chapter 63 WHEN THE SILENCE BREAKS. img
Chapter 64 THE EDGE OF LOYALTY. img
Chapter 65 BENEATH THE SKIN. img
Chapter 66 THE ONE THING HE NEVER EXPECTED. img
Chapter 67 WHAT THEY DO NOT SAY ALOUD. img
Chapter 68 THE UNREADABLE. img
Chapter 69 UNEXPECTED TURN. img
Chapter 70 THE ROOM WHERE EVERYTHING CHANGED. img
Chapter 71 THE CONSEQUENCES WE CARRIED. img
Chapter 72 THE WEIGHT OF KNOWING. img
Chapter 73 WHAT WE DO NOT SAY OUT LOUD. img
Chapter 74 THE LINE WE CROSS. img
Chapter 75 TELLING THE STORY FIRST. img
Chapter 76 AND IF THE WORLD BURNS. img
Chapter 77 THE LINE HAS ALREADY BEEN CROSSED. img
Chapter 78 MEET ME IN THE FIRE. img
Chapter 79 THE ONE WHO NEVER LEAVES QUIETLY. img
Chapter 80 YOU WANTED FIRE. img
Chapter 81 THE ART OF SILENCE. img
Chapter 82 THERE WAS A FIRE ONCE. img
Chapter 83 THE HOUR AFTER THE FIRE. img
Chapter 84 THE KIND OF SILENCE THAT BURNS. img
Chapter 85 THE WEIGHT OF WHAT YOU KNOW. img
Chapter 86 SOMEONE YOU LOVE WILL BLEED. img
Chapter 87 A BLADE BETWEEN THE RIBS. img
Chapter 88 THEY THINK I'M THE MONSTER; MAYBE I AM. img
Chapter 89 THE LINE SHE WOULDN'T CROSS. img
Chapter 90 NO ONE LEAVES CLEAN. img
Chapter 91 WHATEVER YOU TOOK;THEY WANT IT BACK, img
Chapter 92 THE BREAKING POINT. img
Chapter 93 WE ARE PAST THE POINT OF MERCY. img
Chapter 94 THE COST OF KNOWING. img
Chapter 95 THE WEIGHT OF TRUTH. img
Chapter 96 THE EDGE OF EVERYTHING. img
Chapter 97 WE BLEED, THEN WE RUN. img
Chapter 98 WE BURN WHAT WE CAN NOT BURY. img
Chapter 99 IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST. img
Chapter 100 LET THE WORLD WATCH. img
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Chapter 3 THE WIFE WHO WAS NOT BURIED.

Anais didn't sleep. The box lay open on the floor like a wound she couldn't close. The report was still in her lap. Her fingers clutched the edge like if she let go, the truth would vanish. She had been pregnant. She had lost it. She had never known. And somehow, he had. Cassian Vale-her legally bound stranger of a husband-had known something she didn't even know about herself. And he said nothing. Not when she left. Not now. Not ever. She wanted to tear the paper in half. Burn it. Deny it. But it was real. Cold. Clinical. There were no footprints on a sonogram. No heartbeat to remember.

Just a printed line on cheap hospital paper filed beneath letters she'd never meant to leave behind. She sat there on the carpet until the room blurred and the morning light pressed its fingers through the blinds. And still, she didn't cry. By the time Cassian returned, Anais was standing in the kitchen. She didn't say good morning. He didn't ask why she hadn't slept. They moved around each other like they always had;two ghosts haunting the same high-rise. But this time, she broke first. "Why didn't you tell me?" He didn't look up from his coffee. "About what?" "You know what." A beat passed. His fingers stilled on the mug. "You wouldn't have stayed." Her heart cracked. Not because he was wrong, but because he wasn't. "You thought hiding it was better?" "I thought protecting you was better." Anais laughed-a hollow, stunned sound. "From what? From knowing I lost something I didn't even have a chance to love?" Cassian finally looked at her. And for the first time since she returned, there was something in his eyes. Not anger. Not control. Just... tiredness. "You didn't lose it," he said quietly. "It wasn't your fault. You were under stress. You were scared. You were-" "Alone," she cut in. His jaw clenched. "Exactly," she said. "I was alone. In your house. In your life. In our marriage. And when I left, you didn't come after me. You let me go." "No," Cassian said, his voice low. "I let you think you were gone." She stared at him. "What do you mean?" He set the mug down slowly. Walked toward her. Close enough to steal her breath without touching her. "I've known where you were every day for the past three years." Her chest tightened. "That's not love," she whispered. "It wasn't meant to be," he said. "It was meant to be safe." Anais shook her head. "No. It was meant to keep me in orbit." "And here you are," he said calmly. As if her pain was a map. And he had drawn the route from the start. Later that day, the doorbell rang. She didn't expect visitors. She rarely expected anything anymore. Cassian was out again. A meeting. Or maybe another game she wasn't allowed to see yet. She opened the door and froze. Standing there was Irene. But not the version Anais remembered. This Irene wore anger like perfume. Elegant, sharp, and impossible to ignore. "We need to talk," Irene said. Anais stepped aside. Barely. They sat in the sunroom, an untouched space where nothing ever bloomed. Irene crossed her legs and folded her arms. "Why did you really come back?" Anais blinked. "You think I had a choice?" "No," Irene said. "But you still didn't have to come here. You could've asked for a lawyer. A mediator. You could've vanished again. So why show up at the dragon's door and ask to be eaten?" Anais exhaled, slow and deliberate. "Because I owed him. Because I was scared. Because..." She hesitated. Irene's gaze didn't blink. "Because of the child?" Anais's stomach dropped. "You knew?" "I knew the minute he started canceling meetings to sit in an empty room." Anais closed her eyes. "I wasn't hiding it," Irene said more gently now. "I just... I didn't know if you could take knowing it." "I couldn't." Anais looked away. "But now I have to." Irene leaned forward. "Then hear this too: not everyone in Cassian's world wants you back. There are people-on the board, in the family-who think your return threatens the succession plan. And they will do anything to make sure you don't outlast your contract." Anais felt the ground shift under her. "What are you saying?" "I'm saying you're not just Cassian's wife anymore. You're a liability. And you need to decide, Anais-are you going to survive this marriage... or just stay married?" That night, Anais stared at herself in the mirror. Not the girl who'd signed a contract at twenty-four. Not the woman who fled at twenty-seven. Someone new. Someone who had to fight. Because if what Irene said was true... this wasn't just about fulfilling a contract anymore. It was about outwitting a room full of people who saw her as weak. And proving that the wife they thought they buried- Was back. And watching.

            
            

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