Chapter 26 A Wife Who Breaks
The weight pressing down on her only got heavier.
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Alan had been stewing in everything he overheard outside the door–things that dragged up a past he thought he’d buried seven years ago. It filled his chest with anger, resentment… and something darker he didn’t want to name. Something dangerously close to fear.
“You’re my wife, Claudia. You chose this. You chose the Moore family.”
His hand locked around her wrist, the pressure on her ribs growing until she could barely breathe. Her vision spun as the oxygen fled her lungs. She gasped, her voice sharp and hoarse with fury.
“Your wife? I’m not your damn wife anymore! Get off me!”
Before she could finish, his mouth crashed onto hers.
Warmth. Blood. The iron tang of it spread across her tongue, burning and humiliating.
Her lithe frame was forced down into the plush couch, the shimmering purple gown fanned out around her like a broken bloom. Slender arms pinned, her wrists were locked beneath long, pale fingers–fingers she used to admire. Fingers now turned into chains.
The black–suited man leaned over her, face shadowed, lips stained red. His kiss was as brutal as his silence.
When it finally broke, Claudia turned her face away, panting, her chest rising in furious waves. Her eyes were red with rage as she glared at him.
“Alan!”
He looked completely unfazed. Wiping the blood from his lower lip, he gave a crooked smirk. “Still got some fight in you.”
“Get off me.”
Her voice was raw, each word laced with hatred.
She tried to shove him away again, but her arm was still pinned. Her body trembled–not from fear, but from exhaustion and anger.
When she realized she couldn’t move him, Claudia stopped struggling. She closed her eyes.
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Chapter 26 A Wife Who Breaks
“Let me go, Alan. I’m tired. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
He laughed. Soft, mocking.
Alan leaned down until she could feel his breath against her ear.
“Who are you planning to ‘do this‘ with, then?” he murmured. “If not me?”
She opened her eyes, full of contempt.
“Are
you
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serious? You think this is about love? About you? You’re not even mad that I want out. You’re just mad that you lost control of something you thought you owned. That’s what this is really about.”
Claudia had known Alan for years. Long before they ever married. Seven years of marriage had taught her everything about him.
And this? This wasn’t love. It wasn’t even hate. It was obsession. Pride. Ego. Nothing more.
“You’ve never loved me,” she said, her voice a quiet blade. “You didn’t want a wife. You wanted a possession. Something convenient. Something to control.”
He said nothing.
“You don’t get to keep me like that,” she added. “Not anymore.”
Alan’s expression darkened.
He stood, then yanked her up roughly and pulled her against him.
“I’m the one who decides when it ends,” he said, his voice low and venomous. “You don’t get to walk away. You don’t get to quit. You started this. I’ll finish it.”
So this was what she’d been to him.
A game. A prize.
A wife who could break but never leave.
Claudia gave a slow, bitter smile.
“Fine. Then tell me. What’s it going to take? What do I have to give you to earn my freedom?”
“Freedom?” Alan sneered. “What’s the rush? So you can go crawling back to your long–lost lover? Is that what this is?”
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Chapter 26 A Wife Who Breaks
Smack!
The sound echoed through the lounge.
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Alan’s head snapped sideways as her palm connected with his cheek. When he turned back, a red mark was blooming across his skin–and his eyes were glowing with something between madness and disbelief.
“You disgust me,” Claudia said coldly. “Don’t project your filth onto me.”
For a long moment, he didn’t move.
Then he raised his hand and ran it slowly through his hair, lip curling as he laughed–soft and dangerous.
“I disgust you?” he repeated.
“You want the truth?” he asked, voice suddenly cold. “There’s nothing going on between me and Summer. We’re just childhood friends. I look out for her, that’s all. Stop making something out of nothing.”
Claudia just looked at him.
Childhood friends.
Right. Friends who had dinner together nearly every night. Friends who called each other late at night to talk about sleepwear. Friends who dragged their shared child along to humiliate the woman he supposedly married.
Friends who conveniently replaced his wife at the company he’d blocked her from joining for seven straight years.
Sure. Childhood friends.
She didn’t even bother replying. There was nothing left to say.
Suddenly, a knock came at the door.
Urgent. Delicate. Familiar.
“Alan?” came a soft voice. “Are you in there? I’m coming in.”
Summer.
Of course.
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Chapter 26 A Wife Who Breaks
Claudia turned her head slowly to face Alan. Her lips curled into a cruel smile.
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“Well,” she said, “think it over. Once you sign those divorce papers, your soulmate can finally get her rightful title.”
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