All Chapters of Dear Ex-wife, You're More Than A Substitute: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

202 Chapters

Chapter Twenty One

TESSA’S POV When I heard the front door open, I didn’t even turn around. My hands didn’t stop moving, though. I kept folding clothes neatly, methodically, like staying busy would stop me from crumbling.He was home. And I was halfway through packing my life into a single suitcase. He entered the room in silence. No demand, no anger. Just quiet footsteps that came to a stop behind me. “Tessa,” he said, and just that… My name. I kept folding. “I’m leaving,” I said plainly, my voice steady even though my hands trembled slightly. He stepped closer, slow and deliberate. &l

Chapter Twenty Two

I didn’t realize how fast the walls could close in… until I had no choice but to stay.It started with the silence. Not the peaceful kind… but the heavy kind. The kind that made every sound feel like an intrusion. The ticking clock. The creak of floorboards. Even my own breathing.After Richard took the phone from my hand and made that deal… I stopped being his wife.I became his hostage.It didn’t matter that I walked the halls freely or had a key to every room and just like that, the house that once felt warm, even if complicated, became cold and unfamiliar. The very walls betrayed me.In the days that follow

Chapter Twenty Three

The next morning, the house was quiet.Too quiet.No soft creak of shoes pacing across the floor. No sharp clicks from Stacy’s cane tapping through the hallway. Just the low, rhythmic splash of water coming from the kitchen.I padded down the stairs slowly, my fingertips grazing the rail. My chest was still heavy from yesterday. A part of me wanted to believe things could settle, that silence might mean peace... but it didn’t. Not anymore.I stepped into the kitchen and found Lydia at the sink, humming softly to herself as she washed the dishes.She turned when she heard me. “Morning, Madam.”“Morning,” I replied, voice barely above a whisper.She dried her hands on a towel and added, “Mr. Richard left early. Said he had some errands. And Miss Stacy… she’s out for her hospital check up.”I nodded absently. “Thanks.”But my brain was already far ahead. Stacy was gone... for now. Richard wasn’t here. The air felt lighter, but not in a comforting way... more like the kind of stillness be

Chapter Twenty Four

When I opened my eyes from what felt like a nightmare, everything was dark. Not the peaceful kind of dark you get in your room at night. No. This darkness felt invasive... like it crawled beneath my skin, like it had hands wrapped around my throat. I tried to move. Tried to sit up. That’s when the panic hit me full force... I was tied down. Wrists strapped tightly to the sides of the bed, ankles the same. A tight band coiled around my abdomen, anchoring me. The air was cold, damp. The faint creaking beneath me told me this wasn’t solid ground. It was moving… swaying. Water. I was on a boat. I bit down on a scream. My breathing quickened. My chest rose and fell so fast it burned. What is happening? A small door creaked open. I blinked hard toward the light that spilled in, and that’s when I saw him... the man in scrubs and a surgical mask. His gloved hands held a cl

Chapter Twenty Five

Richard's POV After the meeting with the investors, I slipped my hand into my pocket, planning to check my phone, only to realize it wasn’t there.I froze for a second, patting my suit jacket, then the other pocket. Empty. My brows drew together. I could’ve sworn I’d had it when I left the house. Maybe I was more distracted than I thought this morning. The meeting had gone well, I think... I’d nodded in the right places, answered questions, even shook hands when it ended. But my mind hadn’t really been in that room.It was with her.Tessa.I left the investors’ office with a knot tightening in my chest. I had this nagging feeling that today needed to be the day I made things right. She hadn’t said much to me in days. She hadn’t smiled. And each time I tried to speak, to explain, she shut down. Everytime i approach her… the way she looked at me, the quiet in her eyes... I knew I was losing her, and if I didn’t act now, she’d be gone.I drove back to the house, faster than I should’ve,

Chapter Twenty Six

The hospital lights were too bright. Too sterile. The air reeked of antiseptic and urgency. My shoes echoed down the polished hallway as I moved... no, ran toward the nurse’s station, heart pounding in my chest like a war drum.I’d barely registered the words on the phone: emergency, Miss Stacy, your wife. Just hearing “Tessa” and “hospital” in the same sentence had sent my mind spiraling into a place I wasn’t ready for.“Mr. Anderson?” a nurse... slim, dark-haired, glasses perched low on her nose, looked up. “This way.”I didn’t wait for her to finish. I pushed past the swinging doors and into the private room.And then I froze.There was Stacy.Lying in the hospital bed. Her face pale. Her eyes... covered in thick white bandages.My breath hitched in my throat.“What the hell happened?” I asked, voice sharper than I intended. “Why wasn’t I called before the surgery?”Stacy's nurse stepped forward. Rita. She looked nervous... too nervous.“The procedure has already been completed,”

Chapter Twenty Seven

Tessa’s POV Darkness. That was the first thing I knew. Not the kind that creeps into a room when the lights go out… no, this one was thicker, deeper. It pressed against my skin, settled in my lungs, and wrapped around me like a suffocating shroud. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t move. For a moment, I truly thought I was dead. My lips moved before I knew what I was saying. “Hello?” My voice came out weak, hoarse ...like it hadn’t been used in days. “Please… someone…” Silence. Then my whisper turned into a cry. “Please… help me…

Chapter Twenty Eight

The silence between us stretched, filled with the hum of the low generator and the soft thud of waves hitting the distant harbor walls. I leaned back against the pillows, trying to ground myself in Caleb’s voice, in the softness of the sheets, in the steadiness of his breath... anything but the hollow ache that had carved itself into my chest. But the questions wouldn’t stop spinning in my head. “How… how did you find me?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. He hesitated, then let out a long breath, as if remembering it pained him. “You called me,” he began, “just before it happened. You said Richard told you your father wa

Chapter Twenty Nine

Richard's POVIt’s been two weeks since they found her car.Two long, soul-draining weeks.It was parked so close to the edge of the cliff that the wind could’ve nudged it over. The tires sat half in gravel, half in the empty breath of air that stretched beyond the rocks. The police had taped off the area, their voices calm, clinical, as they spoke about the car like it was a clue. Like it wasn’t the only piece of her I had left.They said someone had seen her...a woman matching her description, walking toward the edge around midnight.Alone.No one saw her leave.No one stopped

Chapter Thirty

Camilla's POVFive Years Later...It had rained earlier that afternoon. I could still smell it... the crisp scent of wet earth and flowers soaked in dew. By the time I got home from the office, the sky had dried, but the clouds clung gently to the horizon like they were in no hurry to leave.I unlocked the door and stepped inside, kicking off my heels the moment I crossed the threshold. Home. Quiet. Warm.Safe.That word still felt foreign sometimes. Even after all these years. But every time I opened that door, every time I heard his tiny feet on the tiles, rushing toward me with arms outstretched, I remembered why I fought so hard to be here.“Camilla?” Christine’s voice floated in from the hallway, gentle and reassuring.I stepped in, letting the door shut behind me. “Hi, Christine. I’m home.”She appeared with a tea towel slung over her shoulder, her warm smile the kind that made you feel safe no matter what kind of day you’d had.“You’re back early today,” she said, walking towar

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