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Chapter 171
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2025-12-14 11:52:30
Latest chapter
The Ultimatum Wife Chapter 180
Dinner unraveled slowly after that, like a knot loosening one careful tug at a time.Plates were cleared. Dessert came and went. The wine kept flowing, refilled just often enough that Elena felt the warmth settle pleasantly behind her eyes. Not drunk. Not reckless. Just… lighter.And Roman noticed.She leaned into him more openly now, fingers tracing lazy patterns along his sleeve, her voice dipping when she spoke to him as if the rest of the table barely existed.“You know,” she murmured, tilting her head, eyes bright, “you look very smug for a man who canceled a Zurich dinner.”Roman smiled faintly. “Worth it.”She laughed softly, leaning closer. “That wasn’t flirting. Try again.”His hand slid to her knee beneath the table, thumb pressing a quiet promise there. “You’re tipsy.”“And you’re enjoying it,” she countered, eyes dancing.Jace pretended not to see it, blissfully absorbed in his own world, elbow brushing Marcus’s as he talked animatedly about something inconsequential.Marc
The Ultimatum Wife Chapter 179
Elena drifted out of the conversation without meaning to.The table was still there. The voices were still moving around her. Jace laughed at something Marcus said. Roman responded politely to a question about work. Cutlery chimed softly against porcelain.But her mind wasn’t with them anymore.It was somewhere darker. Quieter. Somewhere that smelled like concrete and metal and discipline. Somewhere rules were carved into bone instead of paper.You don’t bleed where children sleep.The phrase looped, unwanted.She stared at the condensation sliding down her glass, grounding herself in something real. Marcus’s voice continued, smooth and easy, as if he hadn’t just brushed against a memory that should’ve stayed buried.She didn’t look at him again.Across the table, Marcus noticed the shift instantly.The way her attention dulled.The way her shoulders went still.The way her eyes focused inward, calculating.He pretended not to.He laughed at Jace’s joke. Asked the server a question. P
The Ultimatum Wife Chapter 178
Marcus’s gaze didn’t leer. Didn’t devour. It studied. Careful. Intimate in a way that felt misplaced for a stranger. Like someone trying to recognize a face from a dream.Elena’s spine straightened almost imperceptibly.That was strange.She’d been stared at her whole life. By enemies. By admirers. By men who wanted to own her and women who wanted to be her. None of it ever touched her like this.This did.Not threatening.Not familiar.Just… unsettling.Roman pulled his chair out beside her and sat, posture tall, presence unmistakable. He didn’t break eye contact with Marcus when he spoke.“Marcus,” he said evenly.Marcus turned to him at last, expression smoothing into polite ease. “Roman. Thank you for coming.”The handshake was brief. Firm. Controlled.A test.Marcus passed it without effort.Jace, meanwhile, was beaming.“Oh my God, I’m so glad this finally happened,” he said, sliding into the seat beside Marcus, close enough that their shoulders brushed. “This is perfect. You al
The Ultimatum Wife Chapter 177
Marcus arrived ten minutes early.He hated waiting on other people’s time, but tonight wasn’t about control. It was about precision.He parked across the street from the restaurant, engine still running, the soft purr of it filling the silence as the city lights reflected off the windshield.The place was exactly what he’d expected Jace to choose. Tasteful. Intimate. Public enough to feel safe. Dim enough to feel personal. A location designed to lower guards.Marcus leaned back in the seat and exhaled slowly.Once.Twice.Not nerves. Never nerves. Focus.Through the glass, he could already see movement inside. Couples leaning toward each other. Soft laughter. A server adjusting a table setting with practiced grace. Everything orderly. Predictable.His phone buzzed.A message from Jace.We’re on our way!!!Marcus’s mouth curved slightly. Not a smile. A calculation settling into place.He shut off the engine and stepped out of the car, jacket settling perfectly on his shoulders.He adju
The Ultimatum Wife Chapter 176
They moved from store to store after that, the mood lightening.Jace picked accessories with theatrical seriousness. Elena humored him, letting him choose earrings, shoes, even a clutch she didn’t need but accepted anyway.Roman paid without comment, watching the way Elena’s posture changed as she tried things on, how she slipped effortlessly back into a version of herself that commanded rooms.By the time they returned to the estate, dusk had settled fully.Upstairs, the getting ready process unfolded like a ritual.Jace claimed one of the guest rooms, music blaring as he tried on shirts, discarded half of them, then tried them on again.Elena retreated to her bedroom, calm and precise, changing with practiced ease. Roman moved in and out quietly, swapping shirts, fixing his hair, checking his watch more than once.When Elena finally stepped out, fully ready, Roman turned at the sound of the door and forgot what time it was supposed to be.The dress, the heels, the way she carried he
The Ultimatum Wife Chapter 175
They were halfway to the foyer when the front doors opened.Roman stepped in like he always did, quiet power, tailored perfection, the air shifting subtly around him as if the house itself recognized its owner had returned.He hadn’t even taken two steps before his eyes found Elena.And stopped.For a beat, he just looked at her.Then he crossed the distance in three long strides, cupped her face without ceremony, and kissed her, slow, unhurried, familiar in a way that made it clear this wasn’t for show. It was instinct. Claim. Home.Jace turned away immediately, grinning like an overexcited third wheel. “I am respectfully pretending I do not exist.”Roman pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against Elena’s. His thumb brushed her cheek.“You look…” he paused, eyes darkening slightly, “…dangerous.”Elena smiled. “Is that a compliment?”“It’s a warning,” he murmured, then kissed her once more, softer this time.Only then did he glance toward Jace. “Hey.”Jace straightened like
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