Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE WIFE HE BETRAYED, THE WOMAN HE FEARS: Kabanata 191 - Kabanata 200

Last Card to PlayThe cell smelled of rust, sweat, and old water.I had never noticed how loud silence could be until they locked me inside it.Every few seconds, some distant metal gate slammed shut. Footsteps echoed down the corridor. Men shouted from other cells. Someone laughed like a madman somewhere far down the block. Another cursed until his voice went hoarse.Animals!They had thrown me in with animals. I stood at the bars gripping the cold steel so hard my knuckles whitened. My jaw ached from clenching it through the night.I had not slept for even a minute. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw it again.The conference hall, the screens, my face on camera, and my own voice offering Hayes money.The gasps!Sofia standing there with that smug, victorious expression while police officers closed in around me, then the handcuffs.My chest tightened so violently I had to force air into my lungs.No!This was temporary, a mistake. Men like me did not stay in prison. Men like me used

Sofia’s POVThe courtroom was already in flames before Santoro even spoke.When he stepped through the side doors under police escort, every head turned so sharply it felt like the room itself had shifted. Reporters surged from their benches. Camera shutters exploded in frantic bursts. Whispers rose like smoke from every corner.Some people recognized him immediately, some needed a second, but once the realization spread, it moved like lightning.Santoro.My ex-husband. The disgraced golden heir who vanished after Lucia discarded him. The man many believed had fled the country, overdosed somewhere, or simply disappeared into the gutter where gossip said he belonged.Instead, he was here. Alive, thin, rough around the edges, but standing.He wore a clean suit that did not quite hide how hard the last months had been. His cheeks were hollow. His eyes carried shadows I had never seen when he was rich and adored, but there was something else in them now.Humility.He crossed the courtroo

Sofia’s POVThe gunshot split the courtroom apart. For one suspended second, I saw nothing but white light and motion. Then something hot splashed across my face and chest.Gasps erupted around me, followed by screams so loud they seemed to shake the walls. I staggered backward, my hands flying to my body.Blood!There was blood all over me. It stained my blouse, splashed on my neck, and soaked my hands. My breath vanished, and my heart slammed against my ribs so hard I thought it would break through.I had been shot!That was the only thought my mind could form. I looked down wildly, expecting pain, expecting torn flesh, expecting my legs to collapse beneath me.But there was nothing, no burning wound, agony, or weakness, only shock.The courtroom had descended into madness. Reporters were diving behind benches, officers shouted commands over one another.Chairs were overturned, and people crawled across the floor trying to get away from the center aisle.“Sofia!” Matteo’s voice tor

Lucia’s POVThe rain had stopped hours ago, but the cold had not. It clung to the dumping site like something alive, settling into every heap of trash, every broken appliance, every puddle of black water. Rotting fruit mixed with diesel fumes and damp earth. Flies drifted over torn bags of waste, and somewhere nearby a dog barked over scraps with another animal hidden in the dark.I sat on an overturned plastic crate and wrapped my arms around my knees. My body trembled so badly that my teeth clicked together each time the wind changed direction.My dress was destroyed. The red silk that had once turned heads and silenced rooms was now ripped along one side, stained with mud, courtroom dust, and the filth of the ground where I had fallen while running. The hem was torn. One shoulder strap hung loose. My hair, which had taken hours to perfect that morning, clung in wet knots around my face, and my makeup had become streaks beneath swollen eyes.My phone glowed weakly in my hand. Six

Matteo’s POVThe morning after sentencing felt different.For the first time in months, I woke without urgency clawing at my chest. There were no emergency calls waiting, no legal disasters unfolding before sunrise, no fresh betrayal to contain. The city had finally exhaled, and with it, so had I.But peace did not mean I had nothing to do.In truth, I had never been more nervous in my life.I stood in front of the mirror in my dressing room adjusting the cuffs of a charcoal suit I had changed twice already. I had gone through three shirts before deciding on white. I had considered a tie, removed it, then put it back on again. By the time I finished, my valet had wisely disappeared so he would not have to witness a grown man lose composure over a woman.I looked at my reflection and almost laughed.I had negotiated multimillion-dollar acquisitions, faced armed men, dismantled corporate enemies, and walked into rooms full of people who wanted me ruined. None of that had made my hand