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Chapter Forty Three

Penulis: Tee Growrich
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-07-01 23:53:59

Richard’s POV

I wasn’t sure why I came. Maybe because it was tradition. Maybe because everyone expected me to show up. Or maybe because, even after all these years, I kept hoping that some part of the noise and crowd would drown out the silence I’d carried with me since she left.

The charity auction was being held at one of the city’s more lavish venues, the kind of place where champagne flowed like water and everyone smiled like they had nothing to hide.

I sat alone in the fourth row, my legs crossed, fingertips steepled against my lips. Around me, conversations fluttered... wealthy couples in designer suits and gowns making polite talk. Laughter that didn’t quite reach the eyes. Camera flashes. Flashy jewelry. Intentions that were anything but charitable.

Stacy had come with me tonight, of course. My mother insisted. Appearances, she’d said. "It’s time people start seeing you as a couple again." I didn’t correct her.

Stacy had leaned in just ten minutes ago, brushing invisible
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  • Dear Ex-wife, You're More Than A Substitute   Chapter Sixty

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  • Dear Ex-wife, You're More Than A Substitute   Chapter Fifty Nine

    After dinner at Richard’s house…I drove in silence, letting the city blur around me as if the night could wash away the burning in my throat. The moment I closed the car door behind me outside Richard’s home, I told myself not to fall apart. Not yet. I could still taste the mango juice. That acidic sweetness clung to my tongue like a warning. It scratched down my throat, curled in my chest like smoke. My body didn’t erupt into a full blown allergic reaction, not because it didn’t try but because I’d prepared. I always prepare. Stacy may think she’s smart, but she’s also obvious. From the moment Caleb told me about her visit to my stepmother’s house, I knew she was digging. That wasn’t curiosity, that was war. And tonight? That was her first strike. A glass of mango juice. So elegant. So simple. So quietly vicious. And yet… it didn’t catch me off guard. Not fully. I’d ta

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    Aside the location Richard sent, the driveway curved just like I remembered it. The tall pines swayed gently in the breeze, casting shadows across the manicured lawn as I pulled up to the front of the house I used to call home. But I wasn’t here to walk down memory lane, I was here to remind myself why I left it behind. The lights inside glowed like a beacon of the life I once imagined. The life I was robbed of. As I stepped out of the car, my heels tapped against the familiar stone pavement. I inhaled sharply, forcing down the lump rising in my throat. “Get a grip, Camilla,” I muttered under my breath. “This isn’t your home anymore. This is just another battlefield.” Before I could reach the door, it opened... almost like it had been watching, waiting. “Good evening, ma’am,” said the housekeeper. Lydia. The moment our eyes met, her face paled. Her lips trembled. She knew. The sa

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  • Dear Ex-wife, You're More Than A Substitute   Chapter Fifty Six

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