The Muted Wife’s Return

The rush to the hospital felt like it was dragged on for hours…hours of agonizing pain and panic.Martha had found me collapsed in the hallway, water pooling beneath me, and had immediately called for help. My water had broken when I was trying over and over to call Adrian, all to no avail.I remember the ambulance, the piercing wail of sirens, the fluorescent lights of the emergency room passing overhead like shooting stars.I remember the blood…so much blood.And then there were so many voices…the doctors’ frantic voices filling my senses.I couldn’t hear their exact words over the roaring in my ears, but I saw their faces—the concern, the fear. I felt myself slipping away, darkness creeping in at the edges of my vision.But I fought.God, how I fought.For my baby. For the tiny life that depended on me. For the one person in this world who would finally, truly be mine.When I opened my eyes again hours later, the harsh hospital lights made me squint. My body felt like it had been t

{Ava’s POV}Divorce.The word echoed in my mind like a death knell as I stared down at the papers still sitting on my hospital bed tray three days later. The black ink seemed to blur and sharpen with each passing moment, the legal terminology swimming before my eyes.Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.Irreconcilable differences.Division of assets.I should have expected this. Part of me had even wanted it—dreamed of being free from a marriage built on resentment and lies. But I never imagined it would happen like this. Not hours after I’d nearly died bringing his daughter into the world. Not with him standing there, cold and unmoved, while I held our newborn baby against my chest.Not with another woman waiting just outside the door.The nurses had been kind, tiptoeing around the obvious tension, pretending not to notice that my husband hadn’t returned since that first devastating visit. Three days had passed. Three days of me recovering alone, learning to nurse alone, changing dia

{Adrian’s POV}Why did she agree so easily?The question gnawed at me as I walked away from the library, my footsteps echoing through the empty hallway. I’d expected resistance. Arguments. Tears and pleading. That’s what manipulative women did, wasn’t it? They clung to whatever power they had, used every tool at their disposal to maintain their position.But Ava had just… agreed.No fight. No negotiation. Just those simple hand movements: I agree to the divorce.It didn’t make sense.I loosened my tie, trying to shake off the unsettled feeling in my chest. This was what I wanted. What I’d been working toward for months. The divorce papers had been ready for weeks, just waiting for the right moment. And now that she’d agreed, I should feel relieved. Victorious, even.So why did I feel like something was wrong?The image of her in that library kept replaying in my mind. The way her hands had moved so frantically, so desperately, as she tried to convince me she could support Nova on her o

{Adrian's POV}Why is Alexander here?I kept asking myself that question over and over again as I strode down the hallway, Thomas rushing ahead to lead the way. My grandfather should be resting at the old house, recovering from the illness that had kept him bedridden for months. Ever since my one-night stand with Ava had been exposed, Alexander had been so furious he'd collapsed and hadn't been the same since.Alexander Cole. The founder of Cole Group. The man who'd built an empire from nothing and ruled it with an iron fist for over fifty years. Even now, retired and in failing health, he held absolute power in the Cole family. What Alexander wanted, Alexander got.It was Alexander who'd threatened me with his shares when Ava's pregnancy was discovered. Alexander who'd demanded I marry her and "take responsibility." Alexander who'd made it impossible for me to refuse without losing everything I'd worked for.And now he was here. In my mother's house. On the day I'd finally gotten Ava

{Ava's POV}The coffee shop was quiet, tucked away in a corner of the city where no one from the Cole family would think to look for me. I'd chosen it deliberately—somewhere private, somewhere safe.I arrived early and sat by the window, my hands wrapped around a cup of tea I couldn't bring myself to drink. My stomach was in knots, my mind still reeling from everything that had happened in the past twenty four hours.Adrian's cold dismissal. His threat to take Nova. The divorce that seemed inevitable now, no matter what I did.But I had to try. I had to do something.James was my last hope.I saw him before he saw me—a tall, dignified man in his late fifties with graying hair and kind eyes. James had been my father's best friend since their university days. Together, they'd founded Carter Group from nothing, building it into what it was today. While my father handled the public face of the company, James had always been the steady hand behind the scenes, the veteran member who kept ev