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CHAPTER 12

Penulis: AMEDRIANNE STORIES
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-09-18 18:22:51

The silence in my apartment was no longer empty. It was filled with the scent of wet clay, a raw, earthy smell that felt more real than the expensive perfumes that had haunted my old life. My hands, caked and dry, were finally still. The urn sat before me, imperfect, lopsided, and utterly mine. A testament to love, not loss.

The high of confronting Doña Caridad had faded, leaving a grim satisfaction. I had the cufflink. I had the recording. I had won. But the victory tasted like dust.

My burner phone buzzed, vibrating against the clay-speckled table. Dr. Sapiera.

“Gwen? I just heard from the hospital board. All inquiries about me have been dropped. Lanc’s lawyer called. They’re… they’re prepared to be ‘accommodating’ with the divorce. What did you do?”

“I showed her the ghost,” I said, my voice flat. “It was uglier than she remembered.”

“My God. Are you alright?”

“I will be.” For the first time, I almost believed it.

We hung up. The silence returned, but it was different. It was waiti
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  • FORSAKEN WIFE, NOW A BILLIONAIRE'S GREATEST REGRET   CHAPTER 25

    The drive back from the clinic was a blur of grey sky and grim silence. Arthur’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Lanc’s final, whispered warning echoed in the car’s tense atmosphere, a venomous seed taking root. “She will come for you.”“He’s just trying to scare you, Gwen. He’s lashing out,” Arthur said, but his voice lacked its usual conviction.“No,” I replied, my own voice hollow as I stared out the window. “This isn’t a threat. It’s a prediction. He knows his mother better than anyone. He’s handing me over to her.”Back in the city, the foundation’s bright, noisy normalcy felt like a fragile diorama. I moved through the motions—guiding small hands with clay, approving supply orders—but my mind was in that sterile room, watching Lanc’s soul collapse and hearing his final, chilling prophecy.For three days, nothing happened. The silence was its own kind of torture. I jumped at every knock, flinched at every ring of my phone. The briefcase was now hidden in a safety depos

  • FORSAKEN WIFE, NOW A BILLIONAIRE'S GREATEST REGRET   CHAPTER 24

    The silence after Lanc’s threat was more deafening than his rage. The briefcase on the floor seemed to pulse with a malevolent energy. He was alive. The finality I’d felt, the peace I’d clutched so tightly, was a lie. The war wasn't over; it had just entered a new, more treacherous phase.Arthur found me there, shivering on the sofa in the pre-dawn gloom. I didn’t have to tell him. He took one look at my face, at the phone in my lap, and his own fell.“He’s alive,” I whispered.Arthur sank down beside me, pulling me into his arms. “How?”“A test. From Caridad. To see who would react.” I told him about the call, about Lanc’s demand for the “sentimental trash,” his venomous description of his father’s “bastards,” and finally, his cold, clear threat.“He’ll destroy the foundation, Arthur. He has nothing left to lose. He’ll tie us up in courts for years, drag our name through the mud… he’ll make sure no parent ever trusts us again.”Arthur’s jaw was set. “Then we go public first. We take

  • FORSAKEN WIFE, NOW A BILLIONAIRE'S GREATEST REGRET   CHAPTER 23

    The world snapped back into focus with the sound of the foundation’s front door closing behind Mr. Albright. The brittle will and the faded photograph lay on my desk, not as relics, but as live grenades.Arthur’s face was pale. “Gwen, we need to call a lawyer. Right now. This… this changes everything.”“It changes nothing,” I said, my voice surprisingly steady, though my hands trembled. I carefully placed the documents back into the velvet-lined briefcase and clicked the locks shut. The sound was final. “This isn’t our war. This is for Elara.”“But you’re the one holding it! Do you have any idea what the Arcony lawyers—what’s left of them—will do if they find out this exists? What Caridad will do? She’s not just going to fade away if she learns billions she considered hers are going to a woman Lanc was obsessed with!”“Then they can’t find out.” I stood, clutching the briefcase. It felt heavier than Angela’s urn. “I have to find Elara. I have to warn her. I have to give her this… this

  • FORSAKEN WIFE, NOW A BILLIONAIRE'S GREATEST REGRET   CHAPTER 22

    The crisp autumn air held the promise of winter, and with it, a sense of profound, hard-won closure. The foundation was a symphony of joyful noise, a living thing that had grown far beyond the sum of its painful parts. The past was a fading photograph.Which is why the phone call from Dr. Schmidt in Switzerland felt like a dispatch from another lifetime."Ms. Gonzalez," her calm, professional voice echoed down the line. "I am calling to inform you that Lanc Arcony passed away peacefully in his sleep last night."The words landed not with a crash, but with a soft, final thud. There was no shock, only a deep, resonant sadness. The ghost was gone. Truly gone."Thank you for telling me, Doctor.""There's one more thing," she continued. "In his personal effects, we found a letter. Addressed to you. He wrote it some months ago, during a period of relative lucidity. He was very insistent that you receive it."A letter. My hands felt cold. "Please dispose of it.""Ms. Gonzalez," Dr. Schmidt s

  • FORSAKEN WIFE, NOW A BILLIONAIRE'S GREATEST REGRET   CHAPTER 21

    The ghost of Lanc in the grocery store aisle should have been the final period. But the past, I was learning, was a book with pages that could still rustle in an unexpected wind.The foundation’s new building was a symphony of light and noise. In the pottery studio, a dozen small hands were slapping and coiling clay. In the next room, a fledgling choir was murdering—with joyous enthusiasm—a Beatles song. I was in my small office, a converted storage closet I loved for its view of the bustling main hall, when my assistant, a bright young woman named Chloe, buzzed me.“Gwen? There’s a woman here to see you. A Ms. Huzon. She says it’s personal.”The name was a punch to a long-numbed part of my soul. Huzon. Stella.My first instinct was to have Chloe send her away. But curiosity, that treacherous cat, got the better of me. “Send her in.”Stella looked… ordinary. The sharp, polished edges were gone. She wore a simple, inexpensive coat, and her face was free of the heavy makeup she’d once u

  • FORSAKEN WIFE, NOW A BILLIONAIRE'S GREATEST REGRET   CHAPTER 20

    The crisp Swiss air felt like a baptism. As the clinic doors hissed shut behind me, the last spectral thread tying me to Lanc Arcony snapped. There was no fanfare, no final, dramatic goodbye. Just a quiet, profound severance. The ghost was laid to rest. I was free.The return to the city was a return to color and sound after the sterile silence of the clinic. Arthur met me at the airport, his embrace a warm, solid anchor in the bustling terminal. He didn't ask for details, he just held me, his silence saying everything I needed to hear: You are home. You are safe.The foundation, once wobbling from Caleb Thorne's exposé, began to find its footing again. The scandal had receded, and in its wake came a different kind of attention. Not the sensationalist kind, but a quieter, more respectful curiosity. People had seen the ugliness and were now drawn to the beauty we were building in spite of it. Donations, while not the flood from before, became a steady, reliable stream.One afternoon, I

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