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SEVENTY FOUR

Author: Gentle Roses
last update Last Updated: 2025-08-25 23:40:32

Delilah’s POV

Two bodyguards stood a few feet away from her, scanning the room with military focus.

My chest ached. This wasn’t childhood. This wasn’t what she deserved—living her life in corners, flanked by men with guns.

I wanted to walk over, scoop her up, and apologize for everything. For Calix, for Silas, for myself. But the photographer clapped her hands.

“Smile, darling!”

So I did. I smiled for the cameras, my lips stretched so wide my cheeks hurt, my hands steady on a dish of risotto I plated for the shot. I tilted my head, let the lights catch me just right, and laughed when they told me to.

I pushed the thoughts down, deep into a corner of my mind. I pretended that everything was normal, that my life wasn't being threatened.

Hours later, when the crew finally packed up, I collapsed in one of the chairs in the restaurant’s dining area, tugging at the pins in my hair until they clattered on the table. My body felt like I had been run over by a dozen tractors.

That was when Ro
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  • Divorced My Husband And Found Love   SEVENTY EIGHT

    Third person povThe news came late in the afternoon, while Calix was still in the office.He had been bent over a spread of quarterly reports when his phone buzzed with the secure line—one only his head of security ever used. The moment he saw the name flash, his heartbeat raced.“Talk,” he answered sharply.On the other end, Mateo’s voice was low but it carried the kind of weight Calix had come to dread.“We picked up movement. Sightings from separate sources matching Silas’s description. The latest confirmed ping was from a burner phone downtown an hour ago. Silas is in the city.”Calix leaned back in his chair, tension knotting the muscles in his shoulders. “Where?”“Near the docks earlier this week. Today in Midtown. He’s not being subtle anymore.”The silence stretched. Calix forced himself to breathe evenly. He had always known Silas would resurface, it was only a matter of when. But hearing it confirmed, hearing the one person who wanted him dead was roaming the same streets a

  • Divorced My Husband And Found Love   SEVENTY SEVEN

    Delilah’s POVThe next morning, the house was a beehive of controlled panic. I woke up to a frantic knocking on my door.“Delilah! Delilah, are you awake?” Calix’s voice, loud and filled with alarm, jolted me upright.I hurried to the door. Calix stood there, his eyes wide with terror. A security guard stood behind him, his usual rigid expression replaced by a look of dread.“Did Naomi spend the night here with you?” Calix asked, his voice trembling, “She’s not in her room.”For a second, my brain didn’t comprehend his words. “What do you mean, not in her room?”“Naomi’s gone,” Calix choked out, his voice barely a whisper. “She’s gone, Delilah. The guards… they found her window open. She must have climbed out.”My blood ran cold. The sleepover. She had done it. She had defied him. And now…“Call Chloe’s mom!” I snapped, my mind racing. “Did anyone check the security footage? Where was the nearest guard stationed?”“Silas! It has to be Silas! He knew she wanted to go out. He’s been wat

  • Divorced My Husband And Found Love   SEVENTY SIX

    Delilah's povThe tension in the house was beginning to suffocate us all, I could tell. The house wasn’t filled with our usual comfortable silence but rather an eerie stillness. Weeks had bled into each other, each one a replica of the last, marked by the constant presence of the guards, the hourly perimeter checks and locked gates. Our home had become a fortress, and we, its unwilling occupants, were growing restless within its walls.I sat at the kitchen island, idly stirring a cup of herbal tea, the warmth doing little to calm the nerves that had settled deep in my bones. Calix was on the phone in his office. Maybe another call with the security detail, another layer of protection being planned. Naomi was supposed to be doing her homework, but I knew the tension was becoming unbearable when she stood up and stormed her father’s office.I could hear Naomi’s voice rising but I couldn’t make out her words. Suddenly, a frustrated groan echoed through the quiet house. “This is ridiculou

  • Divorced My Husband And Found Love   SEVENTY FIVE

    Delilah's pov“Delilah, I think you need a day out.” Naomi said, blurting it out at breakfast like she had been planning it all night.I blinked at her, toast halfway to my mouth. “A what?”“A day out, Lila. You need it.”“I don’t know, Naomi,” I said, my voice heavy with exhaustion. “I’m a little tired.”“No,” she insisted, her voice firm just like her father’s. “You’re not tired. You’re sad. You’re scared. And you need to feel alive again. You need to live. You know what?” She asked, clapping her hands together. “We’re going on a baby sister bonding day.”I raised my brows in question. “Baby sister bonding day?”Naomi rolled her eyes, which at fifteen was practically her second language. “Baby. Sister. Bonding day. You, me and my growing baby sister, shopping. Tiny clothes. Onesies. Socks so small they don’t even fit our hands. We’re going to the mall. We’re going to buy a million little pink things. We’re going to get ice cream. We’re going to laugh. We’re going to be normal. At le

  • Divorced My Husband And Found Love   SEVENTY FOUR

    Delilah’s POV Two bodyguards stood a few feet away from her, scanning the room with military focus.My chest ached. This wasn’t childhood. This wasn’t what she deserved—living her life in corners, flanked by men with guns.I wanted to walk over, scoop her up, and apologize for everything. For Calix, for Silas, for myself. But the photographer clapped her hands.“Smile, darling!”So I did. I smiled for the cameras, my lips stretched so wide my cheeks hurt, my hands steady on a dish of risotto I plated for the shot. I tilted my head, let the lights catch me just right, and laughed when they told me to.I pushed the thoughts down, deep into a corner of my mind. I pretended that everything was normal, that my life wasn't being threatened.Hours later, when the crew finally packed up, I collapsed in one of the chairs in the restaurant’s dining area, tugging at the pins in my hair until they clattered on the table. My body felt like I had been run over by a dozen tractors.That was when Ro

  • Divorced My Husband And Found Love   SEVENTY THREE

    Delilah's povCalix walked into the bedroom the next morning. “Delilah, there’s a package for you.”I was standing in the closet in a pile of fabrics, silk, satin, polyester, cotton, crepe and lots more. I was supposed to be getting dressed for a magazine photoshoot at the restaurant but I couldn’t decide on what to wear. I was feeling a mix of nerves and pride.“Just leave it on the bed, Calix,” I muttered.He didn’t answer.I walked out of the closet, holding a pale blue two-piece outfit against my body. Calix was standing in the middle of the room, holding a package. The package was small and wrapped in plain brown paper with a string tied around it in clumsy knots. The kind of thing you’d expect to find on your doorstep if a neighbor dropped off leftover cake.His face was taut and his eyes were fixed on the box.“What is it?” I asked, feeling a quiver of alarm run through me.He didn’t answer. He just held the box, his hands trembling slightly. My stomach, already a tight knot of

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