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CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-TWO
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2025-05-12 23:47:44
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TAKE ME BACK EX WIFE CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR
134JOANA'S POV“I don’t know any longer,” admitted my voice, barely audible. “Perhaps I do not wish to know”.“Why?” he stepped closer.“Because if I begin to unravel this, I am not sure if I will be able to stop. I’m already hanging by threads, Clinton”.“Then let go.”“I can’t!” I yelled, finally blatant, looking him in the eye. “I can not jump into something with you again and then risk destroying everything I have built. Caleb—he’s been here. He was my stand-by when you weren’t. He did a clean-up after your absence!”Clinton’s face fell with disgrace, but he did not move.“He’s not a rebound,” I added shakily, too. “He’s real. And he gave me a future.”“Did you say yes?” Clinton asked, voice strained.“I haven’t decided.”“That’s because part of you knows he isn’t the one”.“And perhaps the other part knows you ruined it all!” I snapped. “You left me. You left them. You did have your reasons, yes, but not by trust amount did you confide. You didn’t come back sooner. You leave fir
TAKE ME BACK EX WIFE CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE
133JOANA'S POVThe words struck like a thunderclap.I stared at him. "What?"“I mean it”, he said, and his voice was steady now. "Marry me, Joana. I love you. I cherish those kids like they were my own. And I will defend all of you forever. I can give you the peace that Clinton has never given.”My mouth opened, then closed. I blinked slowly and tried to process."Caleb..."“I am not saying this to pressure you,” he added. “But I want you to know that I mean it. I’m not here simply to get things back together for the time being. Here, let me have a life with you.”I sighed a quivering breath and stroked my hand through my hair. “You have no idea what you’re asking for.”He stepped closer. "I know it’ll be hard. But we’ll face it together.""You think they’ll understand? That the kids will just take it for granted on waking up one day and learning their mom is marrying their uncle?” I scoffed. "They just started settling in. If we do it now, we’ll dig them up all over again.”Caleb lo
TAKE ME BACK EX WIFE CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-TWO
132JOANA'S POVJapheth stood now as well, in that knotting of his brows, which always brought to the front of my mind, Clinton. “Why can’t we stay here?”The question was like a slap to me.I swallowed. “This isn’t how this works. You live with me. I’m your mother.”‘But we have both of you here, ’ Mirabel said in wide, pleading eyes. “Please, Mommy.”I was losing this battle.“Sweetheart…” I cupped her face. “This was never permanent. We had to stay there as some nasty people were trying to injure us. That’s over now. We are going back to a time when things had a certain quality.“But I don’t want things to return,” Jake mumbled.“You’ll have your rooms” – I tried again. ‘We’ll get ice cream tomorrow, and you can have sleepovers.’ Everything will be okay.”Japheth folded his arms. “But, it’s not just about stuff, Mom. ”Caleb finally stepped forward. “Hey,” he said gently. “You’re not leaving your father with your mother. She’s only bringing you home for a while. You’ll still visit
TAKE ME BACK EX WIFE CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-ONE
131JOANA'S POV The words hurt me harder than I thought they would. I turned. “What do you think? Don’t you think that I can boast when people lie?”“I think,” he said carefully, “you choose not to sometimes."My jaw clenched. “Is that what this is? A lecture?”“No,” he said, stepping closer. “It’s me telling you that you are allowed to break. That is, you don’t have to carry everything on your own.”“I’m not broken,” I said.“I didn’t say you were.”I looked at the water again. This time, I had a lower voice. “She attempted to kill my daughter, Caleb. Anita… she almost tried to kidnap Mirabel away from me.“I know”, he said, and his voice hardened. “And she paid for it.”“She did it for Clinton. Because she loved him. Just like Louisa did.” I laughed bitterly. “And somehow I’m always collateral damage”.Silence between Caleb and me grew thick and knowing.“Maybe it’s me,” I whispered. “I guess I am the common denominator in all this. Why do men keep disappointing me, and why do wome
TAKE ME BACK EX WIFE CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY
130JOANA'S POVLouisa laughed.A little too loudly. “Don’t flatter yourself, Joana. You’re not that interesting. But I’ll admit—it’s satisfying. Seeing you, look, and burn when you have played the cloth so well.I raised a brow. “Victim?”“You always wore that role like a crown, ” she said, venom now dripping from every word. “The wretched wife betrayed by the man she loved, ripped apart by the wicked mistress. Please. You weren’t a victim. You were just boring. Predictable. Clinton matured beyond you, and you hated this. So you painted me as the villain because it was a lot easier than confronting the truth.”I stared at her. And I let the silence make her uncomfortable, stretching long enough to do so.Then I leaned in slightly. “You’re right.”She blinked. “What?”“You’re right,” I repeated. “I was predictable. I was loyal, trusting. I believed in forever. And when you slithered in and burned everything down, I allowed myself to feel that it was my fault for not being… enough”.Lo
TAKE ME BACK EX WIFE CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE
129JOANA'S POVMy heart clenched.But I couldn't allow it. I wouldn't.“Undo it?” I laughed faintly. “Do you believe that apologies and wishful thinking will erase the nights I have not slept?”“How can they heal the fear that I see in Mirabel’s eyes whenever a stranger gets close? And wonder which of your admirers will try to finish what Anita did?”As he opened his mouth, nothing came out.I shook my head. “It was long that I shut myself up. Through and through, I did not want to hurt my kids, and so I allowed it deep inside. But this isn’t love, Clinton. It’s survival. And I can’t do both.”His eyes searched mine. “I never stopped loving you.”I let the silence hang. I wish it would dig into my skin, like nails. Because I loved him too. But that was the most dangerous truth of them all.“You think love is enough?” I whispered. “It wasn’t love that saved us from saying goodbye to Louisa. It’s not armour, Clinton. It’s a wound we can’t stop reopening in the name of making this work.
TAKE ME BACK EX WIFE CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT
128 JOANA'S POV Who was staring didn’t matter, I didn’t care. It didn’t matter that the reporters were outside waiting to catch a moment when I broke. I was done pretending. I was done with wearing the calm mask I had held all the way through the court hearing. Clinton’s fingers were still lightly looped around my wrist when I pulled myself away from him, too heavy for my chest to handle. I walked out of the court, ignoring the slamming of the heavy doors behind me. I needed air. It wasn’t that sort of justice circulating through the grand, cold courthouses; no. I needed air that wasn’t tense, wasn’t full of betrayal, and that didn’t smell like the perfume of a woman I once wore and was going to burn, a woman whose shoes I once stood in and would like nothing more than to steal revenge. “Joana!” I heard him before I did, picking up the sound of his footsteps as he jogged after me. "Jo, will you just stop and talk to me!" The nickname twisted my stomach. Not because
TAKE ME BACK EX WIFE CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN
127 JOANA'S POV Standing there before the jury, a pen in my hand that wasn’t just a pen, but a voice recorder hidden up my sleeve, the courtroom buzzed in tense silence. The weight of the moment felt heavy on my shoulders, but I didn’t flinch. As the storm brewed in me, I said, “I have one more piece of evidence.” Mr. Hartley, the opposing lawyer, immediately half rose to his feet, his tone sharp and accusing. "Your Honour, this was not submitted before trial." It should be inadmissible!” Eleanor, always calm but stern, raised a brow at him. “Mr. Hartley, sit down. So let’s hear what Ms. Joana Henshaw has to say.” The judge’s gavel gently hit the wood. No further sounds were heard in the courtroom. Stepping forward, I handed the pen to the bailiff, who brought it to the judge. “This is a voice recording device,” I said. It contains a conversation between me and the defendant, Anita Delgado, when I went to the hospital. The woman admitted she faked her mental healt
TAKE ME BACK EX WIFE CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX
126JOANA'S POVThe day of the court trial had finally come. My heart was quick like a racehorse as I stood before the grand courthouse. All that preparation, and still my chest swirled anxiously with nothing to stop it. As people filtered in and found their spots, the crowd began to gather, the cold morning breeze whisping my hair against my face.I saw the grand oak doors, and the pressure in my chest doubled. Silence was their reassuring presence, but still, Caleb and Clinton flanked my sides.We were led by the court officers into the courtroom, and the air grew suffocatingly tense. My eyes roamed the room, taking in the jury, the reporters; scribbling, the murmuring spectators.And then I saw her.Anita.Her body slumped lifelessly in her chair as if she were just a ghost of herself. Pale. Motionless. Her eyes were glassy, and her head leaned weakly to the side. She looked like someone who was about to shrivel up and die to a stranger. But I knew better. That manipulative woman h
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