Semua Bab The Wife He Forgot: Ashes to Empire: Bab 11 - Bab 20

POV: JAXON ROMANO (Flashback - Six Years Earlier, Age 28)My father survived the heart attack.Three days in the hospital, two stents, and a lecture from his cardiologist about stress management that Dante Romano completely ignored. By the time he was released, he was already back on his phone, barking orders, running his empire from a hospital bed."This changes nothing," he told me on the day they discharged him. "The business continues. Your business continues. Don't let this scare you into weakness.""You almost died.""But I didn't. And neither will you, if you stay strong. Stay focused. Don't let sentiment cloud your judgment."He meant Isla. He always meant Isla when he talked about sentiment and weakness and distraction."She's working on Apex," I told him. "She's actually brilliant. The code she's writing…""I don't care if she's Einstein. She's still a wife. Still a potential liability. Use her skills if they're valuable, but don't get attached. Don't let her become somethin

POV: ISLA WINTERS ROMANO (Flashback - Six Years Earlier, Age 22)Four Months LaterFour months pregnant, and I still couldn't believe it was real.Every morning, I woke up and touched my small bump, barely visible beneath the oversized shirts and marveled at the life growing inside me. Our baby. Our future. The tiny flutter of movement I'd felt last week had made me cry with joy in the bathroom, hand pressed to my stomach, whispering promises to someone who couldn't hear me yet.I'll love you enough for both of us. I promise.Because Jaxon still hadn't warmed to the idea, not really. He was... present, I supposed. He asked about my doctor's appointments in that clinical way of his, made sure I took my vitamins, had his assistant schedule my check-ups at the best maternal-fetal medicine practice in the city. But he never asked how I felt. Never put his hand on my stomach to feel our baby move. Never smiled when I talked about nursery colors or baby names.Still, I told myself it was p

POV: ISLA (Flash back)Six months after I lost our baby, I finally admitted the truth to myself: my husband hated me.Not the passionate kind of hate that burns hot and fast. The cold kind. The indifferent kind.The kind that looks right through you like you're made of glass, invisible and easily shattered.He'd always been distant, but after the miscarriage, he became a ghost. Present in body but absent in every way that mattered. He slept in his office. Spoke to me only when necessary, in clipped sentences that held no warmth. He came home late, if he came home at all.And I'd become pathetic.I knew it. Damn, I knew it. But I couldn't seem to stop myself from trying.Every evening, I cooked his favorite meals and set them out on the dining table with candles and fresh flowers. I'd wait for hours, the food growing cold, the candles burning down to stubs.Sometimes he'd come home near midnight and reheat the meal in the microwave, eating alone in his office with the door closed. Some

POV: JAXON (Flashback)The charity gala was the kind of event I usually hated.Too many people. Too much small talk. Too many investors and board members wanting a piece of my time, my attention, my success. But Apex Technologies was thriving, thanks to code I hadn't written and appearances mattered. My father had drilled that into me since childhood. Show up. Be seen. Play the game.So I showed up.Alone.I hadn't told Isla about the gala. Why would I? She'd just be uncomfortable, awkward, clinging to my arm like she was drowning. She'd wear something plain and spend the whole night looking at me with those sad, hopeful eyes. Eyes that made me feel trapped and guilty and angry all at once.Better to leave her at home.The ballroom was impressive. Crystal chandeliers. A string quartet playing something classical. Waiters gliding through the crowd with champagne and expensive hors d'oeuvres.I grabbed a drink and prepared for an evening of boring conversation and fake smiles.Then I sa

POV: JAXON (Flashback)Two months with Vivian, and I'd never felt more alive.It was reckless. Dangerous. Wrong on every level. I was cheating on my wife with her sister, sneaking around like a teenager, spending thousands on hotel rooms and gifts and keeping this secret.And I didn't care.For the first time since my father forced me into this marriage, I was doing something I actually wanted. Not because it was smart or strategic or good for business. Because it felt good. Because Vivian made me feel like a man instead of a machine.We met three, sometimes four times a week. Different hotels to avoid suspicion. Her apartment when I could get away for longer. Once, memorably, in my office at Apex after everyone had gone home. That had been Vivian's idea, she got a thrill out of the risk, the possibility of getting caught.I should have felt guilty. Should have thought about Isla at home, waiting for me, trying so hard to be enough.But I didn't think about her at all when I was with