Share

Chapter 0003

Author: Author Emmy
last update publish date: 2025-02-26 01:03:59

Janet’s POV

Henry and Paul exchanged glances in bewilderment. They had obviously never seen anything like this before.

I smiled bitterly. It was the first time I’d seen it too. How could anyone cling to another woman's husband like this?

“Uh… You okay, Flora?” Henry asked hesitantly, his voice tentative, like he was walking on thin ice.

Flora blinked, then smiled, but it was the kind of smile you wear when you want people to stop asking questions. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks, Henry.” Her voice was soft, almost fragile.

For a moment, I wondered if she believed her own words. Because clearly, she wasn’t ready to let go of Rowan.

Paul looked more uneasy now, a nervous laugh escaping his lips as he spoke, “I know you and Rowan are close friends, but… maybe you should consider his wife’s presence?”

Flora’s eyes widened slightly, as though she’d just realized the situation wasn’t entirely appropriate.

She looked at me, blinking her big eyes as if apologizing, before reluctantly pulling away from Rowan’s embrace. “I’m so sorry, Janet. I tend to be… clingy sometimes. After my husband passed, I... I can’t help but seek physical comfort from others. It’s just psychological. It’s trauma, you understand, right?”

I took a slow sip from my teacup, letting the silence hang in the air for a few moments before I looked up at her with a calm, collected smile. "Of course, I understand. It's no big deal. Last time, there was a client who... hugged my husband’s thighs and cried while trying to take her clothes off. I remember when security had to carry her out of the cocktail party. Seems she might have the same... condition as you, doesn’t she?”

Amid her frozen smile and the stunned gazes of others, I casually passed the plate of lime salmon to Flora. “I’ve heard Omega-3 helps with emotional stability. Since there’s no medicine, maybe try something edible instead of depending on human comfort toys.”

Flora’s face flushed a mix of red and white, her lower lip trembling as if she were on the verge of tears.

“Excuse me,” Rowan suddenly interjected.

Yeah. I felt my insides tense. Here he was, rushing to her rescue.

But to my surprise, Rowan smiled gently at me, standing up. “Love, could you help me for a moment? I think the pin on my collar fell off.”

I blinked, my heart skipping a beat. Love? He never called me “love” in public.

"...Sure," I murmured, following him, my mind spinning.

Rowan led me a few feet away and the moment we were alone and out of earshot, the atmosphere changed.

The warmth in his smile quickly vanished.

He stepped closer, his breath brushing my cheek, his fingers sliding down the length of my arm before tightly gripping my wrist.

"What are you doing? I thought we were fixing your collar," I whispered in a shaky voice.

"You never play your role, do you?" he murmured into my ear, his voice a low growl. "If you could manage not to embarrass me out there, that would be helpful, for both of us."

I looked up at him, my eyes wide. “I’m sorry—Embarrass you? How about explaining why you haven’t told your friends we’ve been married for three years?”

“And why should I? I’d rather spare them the boring details,” he said, his tone dismissive, almost cruel. “That our marriage was arranged? That you were some doe-eyed girl fresh out of university who caught my grandmother’s eye?”

"How…how can you say that?" I gulped.

He leaned in, his lips almost grazing my ear, his voice barely a whisper but filled with command.

With his body so close to mine, invading my senses, I could barely breathe. "I don’t care how you act in private, but out there, you’ll act according to the script.

No questions, no drama. Understood?"

When we returned to the table, my pulse was still racing. The group looked at us with amused smiles.

“Gone for quite a while, weren’t you, lovely couple?” Paul teased, his eyes flicking between me and Rowan. Rowan merely smiled, offering no explanation.

I forced a tight smile as well, unable to find my voice.

Flora’s voice was saccharine sweet. “Rowan, could you help me cut the steak, please?”

Rowan didn’t hesitate. He reached for her plate, cutting the steak into small pieces before sliding it back to her.

“Thank you,” Flora said, her voice sweet, her eyes cast downward.

I paused, my fork hovering over my plate, before I continued eating. Each bite felt heavy, like swallowing stones.

I kept repeating Rowan’s warning in my mind: I must not embarrass him.

A few moments later, Flora pushed her empty glass toward Rowan. “Please, help me pour some water,” she said, her tone soft, almost pitiful.

Before Rowan could even move, Henry chuckled. “Come on, Flora, don’t stress the big CEO like that. His wife’s here—let him take care of her for once.”

Henry grabbed the glass and poured the water himself, but the tension at the table was palpable. I glanced at Rowan, then at Flora. She blinked, her lashes fluttering like she was trying to fight back tears.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “It’s just... a habit. Jared always took such good care of me at the table, if he were still around...”

Her words hung in the air, and I could see the tears about to spill from her eyes. Rowan sighed, his lips pressed together in a tight line, and he started to rise, clearly about to pour her some water.

But before he could, I forced a smile and took the kettle from the side table.

“It’s okay, Flora. I understand. Let me help you,” I said, my tone far too calm for the storm brewing inside me.

Her expression faltered for a moment before she spoke, her voice soft and tentative. “I don’t want to bother you…”

I met her eyes, my smile unwavering. “It’s the same whether you bother me or Rowan. After all, he’s my husband.”

Flora’s face drained of color, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “What are you implying, Janet?” Her voice quivered, but she wasn’t finished. “Why do you act like you don’t like me since you came?”

I frowned, what was she talking about?

The table fell silent. Henry and Paul scrambled to recover, one quickly saying, “No, you misunderstood,” while the other awkwardly tried to distract her with a change of topic. “Try this dish, Flora.”

Flora didn’t respond. Instead, she bit her lip, then glanced at Rowan with eyes full of unshed tears. “Rowan, didn’t you always say that your wife was the most considerate? Why does she always mock me in such a sarcastic way? To be honest... people who come uninvited should feel she’s the least welcome.”

My blood boiled at her words.

Was she implying that no one had invited me here?

It was her who had interfered in other people’s lives and barged into private plans!

“Miss Flora…” I sneered, about to cut her down with words, when Rowan suddenly stood and grabbed my hand. His grip was tight, his fingers warm, but the pressure was anything but gentle—it was like a vice.

“Love, you are drunk. Take the key and go back to the hotel.”

Seriously?

Drunk?

I didn’t even take a sip of wine!

“Have some rest,” he continued. “I’ll see you soon.”

I pulled my hand from his grasp, my chest heaving with restrained anger.

“I’ll be expecting,” I said through gritted teeth, enunciating each word carefully as I snatched the keys from his hand.

Behind me, I heard Flora’s soft, pitiful voice. “Oh… I’m sorry. Did I offend her? I didn’t mean to…”

Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App

Latest chapter

  • DIVORCED, BUT SPOILED BY MY FIVE BROTHERS    Chapter 177

    Rowan's Point of ViewThe room was cold.Not the kind of cold that comes from poor heating. The deliberate kind. The kind that is maintained carefully because discomfort is a tool and someone in this building understood how to use it.The light above the metal table was dim and yellow. The kind of light that makes everything look slightly worse than it actually is. The walls were grey. The floor was grey. The table was metal and the chair beneath me was hard in a way that stopped being merely uncomfortable after the first hour and became something closer to punishment.I sat with my arms stretched out in front of me on the table.To my left were the two men who had walked me out of my own building. They had not introduced themselves. They had not needed to. They were the kind of men whose function was self-explanatory. They sat with their hands flat on the table and their eyes forward and their faces arranged into the particular blankness of people who had been told to be present and

  • DIVORCED, BUT SPOILED BY MY FIVE BROTHERS    Chapter 176

    Janet's Point of ViewThe hospital room had its own kind of silence.Not the comfortable kind. Not the kind that rests. The kind that presses. The kind that sits on your chest and reminds you with every passing minute that something important and fragile is happening in this room and there is nothing you can do but wait and watch and stay.I had been waiting and watching and staying for three days.The chair beside Grandma's bed had become the shape of my body. I knew every crack in the ceiling above me. I knew the particular sound the monitor made when it cycled through its readings. I knew the shift change times of every nurse on this floor.I had not slept properly. I had barely eaten. Peter had brought food at some point yesterday and I had picked at it without tasting anything and set it aside.Grandma lay in the bed to my left.She looked smaller than she had ever looked. The woman who filled rooms with her presence, who gripped lapels and swung canes and threatened to disown gr

  • DIVORCED, BUT SPOILED BY MY FIVE BROTHERS    chapter 175

    Edward's Point of ViewThe knock came at exactly the time I had scheduled it.I had learned over the years that punctuality was one of the first things that told you about a person. About how seriously they took what they were doing. About whether they understood that your time had value.Marcus was punctual. He always had been.He came in and closed the door behind him with the quiet efficiency of a man who had learned that certain conversations required that kind of care. He stood across from my desk. Dark suit. Straight back. The face of someone who had spent years doing difficult things and had made peace with all of them."Everything is moving as planned," he said.I looked at him."He should be behind bars within the next few days," Marcus continued. "The agents have what they need. The documentation we arranged has been placed correctly. The inquiry is accelerating."I leaned back in my chair slowly."Good," I said. "I want it fast. No delays. No procedural slowdowns." I held h

  • DIVORCED, BUT SPOILED BY MY FIVE BROTHERS    chapter 174

    Janet's Point of ViewGrandma's hands were shaking.Not violently. Just that small, barely visible tremor that appears when someone is trying very hard to hold themselves together and the effort is showing at the edges.She was sitting in her chair. The one she always sat in. The one with the worn armrests that she had refused to replace for years because her husband had bought it. She was sitting in it now with her hands folded in her lap and her eyes very bright and her face doing the difficult work of staying composed."It's allegations, Grandma," I said. I sat close to her. Close enough that my knee was almost touching hers. "Nothing has been proven. Nothing. These things happen with companies of that size. People make accusations. Investigations happen. It does not mean guilt."Grandma looked at me."You really believe that?" she said. Her voice was thinner than usual."I do," I said. And I meant it. Whatever Rowan was, he was not a man who cut corners with money. "I believe in h

  • DIVORCED, BUT SPOILED BY MY FIVE BROTHERS    chapter 173

    Janet's Point of ViewI read the article three times.The first time my eyes moved too fast. Skipping over words. Catching only the large ones. Rowan. Tax. Government. Inquiry.The second time I slowed down and made myself read every sentence properly. Government agents from the tax revenue service had been seen at Rowan's company building that afternoon. Multiple sources had confirmed their presence. The situation was described as still unfolding. But an insider had spoken to the paper and said that Rowan had been unable to satisfactorily answer the questions put to him by the agents.The third time I read it I was looking for something specific. Something that would tell me this was exaggerated. That the paper had stretched a routine visit into a headline because routine visits don't sell papers.I didn't find it.I set the newspaper down on the cushion beside me.Was Rowan in trouble? Real trouble? The kind that didn't resolve itself quietly and move on? The kind that left marks?I

  • DIVORCED, BUT SPOILED BY MY FIVE BROTHERS    chapter 172

    Janet's Point of ViewPeter was still holding the papers.I walked into the room fully and closed the door behind me. My legs felt strange. Like the floor had shifted slightly beneath them and hadn't fully settled back."Peter," I said again."Don't," he said.Not loud. Not sharp. Just firm. The single word of a person who has decided they are done being managed.I sat down on the chair across from him. My bag was still in my hand. I set it down slowly on the floor."Let me explain," I said."Were you still sleeping with him?" Peter asked. He looked at me directly. No warmth in the look. No anger either. Just the flat, clear eyes of someone who needed the truth and was going to wait for it however long that took. "After the divorce. Were you and Rowan still—""No," I said immediately. "No. Never. I would never." I pressed my hands together in my lap. "I found out after. The divorce was already done. Everything was already signed and finished and I found out after all of it."Peter loo

  • DIVORCED, BUT SPOILED BY MY FIVE BROTHERS    Chapter 0019

    Janet's Point of View "Take care, sis," Peter said, leaning across the car seat as I stepped out. My youngest brother's smile was warm, his eyes crinkling at the corners just like mine do. I waved as he drove away, then turned to face the building. Westside Clinic , My new workplace now. I still

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-19
  • DIVORCED, BUT SPOILED BY MY FIVE BROTHERS    chapter 0015

    Janet's Point of ViewTracy's question hit me hard. I froze for a second, not because I didn’t want to answer, but because I didn’t know where to start. My past wasn't something I was proud of, and I never wanted to bring any of it into this fresh beginning with my new family—especially not anythin

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-18
  • DIVORCED, BUT SPOILED BY MY FIVE BROTHERS    Chapter 77

    Janet’s Point of ViewThe pain in my heart was so overwhelming that I didn’t even realize we had arrived at the hospital. The car had stopped, and Rowan was already getting out. I followed him mechanically, my body moving without my mind’s permission.I couldn’t wait to leave this place. Couldn’t w

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-29
  • DIVORCED, BUT SPOILED BY MY FIVE BROTHERS    Chapter 71

    Kyle’s Point of ViewThe look on Flora’s face when I asked the question told me everything.She was surprised—no, stunned.Good. She needed to be.She needed to understand I wasn’t playing anymore.I only wanted to protect her. To stop history from repeating itself.Because I’d seen what Rowan Thay

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-28
More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status