The Wife He Threw Away のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 231 - チャプター 240

By the time I stepped into Lucian’s room, the evening sunlight was spilling softly through the windows. The room felt different— warmer somehow. Perhaps it was because he was sitting up now. The hospital bed had been raised and the ventilator was gone. Most of the tubes too, had disappeared. But Lucian still looked pale, bruised and far too thin. But at least he was alive. His eyes found mine almost immediately I stepped into the room. And just like that, the weight pressing against my chest seemed to ease. “You made it back.” Lucian said. His voice remained rough and weak, but still unmistakably Lucian. “I had to.” I walked closer. “You would’ve complained if I didn’t.” “I was preparing a speech.” “I don’t doubt that.” I pulled the chair beside his bed closer before sitting. For a few seconds, we simply looked at each other. Neither of us seemed eager to break the silence. Eventually, I smiled. “The preliminary hearing went exactly how you

By the time I arrived at the police station again, I could have walked into its corridors with my eyes closed. The officers at the front desk recognized me immediately. One of them gave me a sympathetic smile. “Morning, Ms. Moreau.” I smiled back, though the smile itself felt more like muscle memory than genuine warmth. “Morning.” “Interview Room Three.” I nodded my thanks and headed toward the elevators. Everything looked and smelled the same. It struck me how much time I’d spent inside this building over the past few weeks. Too much. I’d become familiar with detectives, investigators, evidence technicians, even the woman who worked the reception desk on the second floor. None of us had expected this case to grow into something so enormous. None of us had expected Hart Sullivan to be so stubborn. None of us had expected the shooting. Or Lucian nearly dying. The thought alone made my chest tighten. I instinctively reached for my phone. No relevant new

My alarm rang long before dawn. It didn’t matter, because I was already awake. I lay still for another minute, staring at the ceiling of my apartment while the city outside remained dark. Sleep had barely visited me during the night. Every time I managed to drift off, my mind found its way back to today. Back to the trial. The word alone carried a weight that settled heavily in my chest. For a couple of months, this case had existed in conference rooms, police stations, hospital corridors and endless stacks of legal documents. Today, it would enter a courtroom. Today, twelve strangers would begin deciding whether Eva Sterling would finally be held accountable for everything she had done. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and took a slow breath as I stood. No matter what happened inside that courtroom… I couldn’t afford to lose my composure. Not today. By the time I stepped out of the car nearly two hours later, the courthouse looked more like the sce

I gave Elise a reassuring smile before asking my next question. “Mrs. Sinclair… could you tell the jury a little about your career before everything happened?” She nodded once. “I was an actress. I’d dedicated my whole education to it,” her hands rested calmly in her lap. “Eventually, I started getting roles.” She said, a small smile crossing her lips as she reminisced. “Well, that was after at least forty auditions.” A ripple of soft laughter spread through the courtroom. “My first big break was playing a supporting character in a movie where Eva was the main.” “That was when Eva and I became friends.” She glanced briefly at the jury. “She was four years older than me, and had been in the industry for even many more years.” “Soon I started getting roles where I was the main character, soon after that. I got a contract with the biggest agency in the country. Studios started seeking me out.” “I told my dear friend, Eva, everything of course.” Elise said, shooting a

The courthouse had taken more out of me than I wanted to admit. By the time I stepped through the hospital’s doors, my entire body was aching. My tired feet protested every step in the heels I’d been standing in since dawn. My throat felt raw from hours of opening statements, objections, and answering reporters who seemed determined to wring every possible headline out of the day’s proceedings. I had spent the entire day fighting. Fighting Eva and her attorneys. Fighting for Lucian. Fighting for every victim whose life had been shattered because one woman believed she could destroy people without consequence, to rise to the top. And now… now all I wanted was to see him. It occurred to me somewhere between the elevator and the intensive care wing that I’d stopped thinking of this place as a hospital. Now it was simply where Lucian was. And somehow, that made it feel less sterile. Less frightening too. Almost… like home. The realization caught me off guar