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Home / Romance / The Wife He Forgot: Ashes to Empire / Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

All Chapters of The Wife He Forgot: Ashes to Empire: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

177 Chapters

Vivian's Secret

POV: JAXONI went home in a daze.My mind couldn't stop spinning. Couldn't process everything that happened with Isla.I had children. Twins.I'd missed everything. And I had no one to blame but myself.The penthouse was dark when I walked in.It was 11 PM. Ashley should have been asleep hours ago.But I could hear crying. High-pitched. Scared.I followed the sound to the living room.Ashley was on the couch, sobbing. Maria, the nanny, was trying to comfort her.And Vivian was sprawled in a chair, drunk. A bottle of vodka on the table beside her. Half-empty."What's going on?" I demanded.Maria looked relieved to see me. "Mr. Romano. Mrs. Romano has been drinking all evening. She and Ashley had an argument and…""It wasn't an argument!" Vivian slurred. "I just told her the truth!""What truth?" I asked, my voice dangerous."That her father doesn't love her. That nobody loves her. That she's a mistake."I saw red."Maria, take Ashley to her room. Now.""Yes, sir." Maria scooped up the

DNA Results

POV: JAXONThe DNA results came back in forty-eight hours.Fastest turnaround money could buy.I sat in my office, staring at the envelope. My lawyer, sat across from me."Do you want me to open it?" he asked."No. I'll do it."I already knew what it would say. Had known since the moment Derek walked through my door.But I needed to see it. Needed the proof.I opened the envelope.Read the results.Probability of Paternity: 0%Ashley was not my daughter.Derek was her biological father.I set the paper down on my desk."I'm sorry, Mr. Romano,""Don't be. I'm not."And I meant it. I felt nothing looking at those results. No grief. No loss. Just... confirmation."Mrs. Romano is demanding a settlement," he continued. "She's threatening to go to the press if you don't…""Let her go to the press. I don't care. Give her nothing. The prenup is clear, in the event of infidelity, she gets nothing. She lied about paternity, trapped me into marriage. That's fraud. She gets nothing.""She could f

The Press

POV: ISLAThe scandal broke on Tuesday morning.I was in my office when my phone started buzzing. Notifications. Dozens of them. Then hundreds.News alerts. Text messages. Emails.All about Jaxon.I opened the first headline.Billionaire Jaxon Romano Betrayed by Wife; Daughter Not HisMy breath caught.I clicked the article. Read it quickly.DNA test confirmed Ashley wasn't Jaxon's daughter. Derek Hayes was the biological father. Vivian had lied about paternity for three years. Jaxon was filing for divorce. Vivian was getting nothing.The entire scheme had been exposed.I sat back in my chair, processing.Vivian's lie had finally caught up with her.More articles flooded in.DNA Test Reveals Three-Year Deception in Romano MarriageVivian Romano Trapped Billionaire with Another Man's ChildJaxon Romano Divorces Second Wife After Paternity FraudThe press was brutal of course. Photos of Vivian leaving the penthouse with suitcases. Photos of Derek with Ashley. Photos of Jaxon looking exh

The Dinner

POV: JAXONI arrived at Laurent's twenty minutes early.Too nervous to be late. Too desperate to risk anything going wrong.The restaurant was small. Intimate. Private. Exactly what we needed.I'd reserved the entire back room. Just the two of us.I sat at the table and waited. Tried to calm my racing heart. Tried to figure out what to say.How do you apologize for destroying someone? How do you ask forgiveness for the unforgivable?I didn't know. But I had to try.Isla arrived at exactly 7 PM.She walked in wearing a simple black dress. Hair down. Minimal makeup. Beautiful in a way that made my chest ache.She looked at me with those brown eyes carefully."Jaxon.""Isla. Thank you for coming."She sat down across from me. "Let's skip the pleasantries. Why did you want to meet?"Right to the point. No small talk. No pretense.That was Isla. Direct. Efficient. No games."I wanted to apologize. Really apologize. For everything.""You've apologized before.""I know. But I need you to und

Meeting The Twins

POV: JAXONThe day I would meet my children.I barely slept the night before. Just lay awake, terrified and excited in equal measure.What if they hated me? What if I didn't know what to say? What if I disappointed them? What if Isla was right and I was incapable of love?At 6 AM, I gave up on sleep. Showered. Changed clothes three times. Settled on jeans and a casual shirt, Isla had said to dress comfortably, that the twins would be intimidated by suits.The meeting was at 10 AM. Central Park. Near the playground.Neutral territory. Public. Safe.I arrived at 9:30. Too early because I couldn't wait anymore.Isla arrived at 9:55 with Mia.And two small children.My heart stopped.Rowan and Nova.My children.They were smaller than I'd imagined. Rowan in a blue t-shirt with dinosaurs. Nova in a pink dress with sneakers. Both holding Isla's hands.I stood frozen. Unable to move. Unable to breathe.Isla saw me. Stopped about ten feet away."Rowan, Nova," she said gently. "This is... this

The Shift

POV: ISLASomething changed when I watched Jaxon with the twins.I'd expected him to be awkward. Distant. The same cold man who'd ignored me during our marriage.But he wasn't.He was gentle and patientEverything he'd never been with me.We met at the park again three days later.Jaxon arrived early. Brought a soccer ball and a kite."I wasn't sure what three-year-olds liked," he said nervously. "So I brought options."Nova grabbed the soccer ball immediately. "I like this one!"Rowan stared at the kite. "Can we fly it?""If there's enough wind. Want to try bud?"They spent twenty minutes trying to get the kite airborne. It kept crashing. But Jaxon didn't get frustrated. Didn't give up. Just kept trying, kept encouraging Rowan."Almost! Try running a bit faster!""Like this?""Perfect! Look, it's up!"The kite soared. Rowan's face lit up with pure joy.And something in my chest twisted.This was the father my children deserved. Kind. Engaged. Present.Why couldn't he have been this f

The Photo

POV: JAXONI saw the photos on Friday morning.Someone had sent them to the company email. Anonymously and maliciously.Isla and Reid at a restaurant. Her laughing at something he said. Him kissing her cheek at the end of the night.The jealousy was immediate. It consumed me.I stared at those photos for ten minutes. Unable to look away. Unable to breathe.She was moving on. With him. With Vincent fucking Reid.My competitor. My rival. A man who was everything I wasn't, kind, respectful, someone who'd never hurt her.Someone she deserved.But no, I didn't want her to have him.I stormed to her office at noon.Didn't knock. Just stormed in.She looked up from her computer. "Jaxon? What…""Are you dating him?" I demanded.She blinked. "What?""Vincent Reid. Are you dating him?"Her face went cold. "That's none of your business.""The hell it isn't! You're the mother of my children!""Exactly. YOUR CHILDREN. Not your wife. Not your anything. I can date whoever I want.""So you are dating

The Threat

POV: ISLADante Romano walked into my office on Monday afternoon without an appointment.My assistant tried to stop him. "Dr. Vale, I'm sorry, he just…""It's fine, Jennifer. Close the door behind you."She left nervously.Dante stood in front of my desk. Tall. Imposing. Everything about him radiated power and danger.I'd met him exactly once. At my wedding to Jaxon. He'd looked at me with cold assessment and found me lacking.Now he looked at me the same way."Dr. Vale," he said. "Or should I call you Mrs. Romano?""Dr. Vale is fine. I haven't been Mrs. Romano for quite a while now.""Yes. About that." He sat down without being invited. "I recently learned something interesting. You have children. Twins. About three years old."My blood went cold."What I do in my personal life is none of your concern.""It is when those children are Romano blood.""They're Winters blood. They have my name. Not yours.""DNA doesn't care about names. They're Jaxon's children. Which makes them my grand

The Safe House

POV: JAXONThe drive to the safe house took three hours.Three hours of silence broken only by the twins' excited chatter in the backseat and Isla's white-knuckled grip on the door handle. I kept checking the rearview mirror, watching for tails, for any sign my father's men had followed us.Nothing… for now."Are we going on vacation?" Nova asked, her bright voice cutting through the tension."Something like that, sweetheart," Isla said softly. Her voice was steady, but I could hear the tremor underneath. Fear. She was terrified.I wanted to reach over, take her hand, tell her everything would be okay.I had no right."Will there be a pool?" Rowan piped up."No pool," I said, glancing at him in the mirror. "But there's a big yard. Trees. You can explore.""Cool!" Rowan's eyes lit up.Isla looked at me then. Her expression was unreadable, but I saw the question in her eyes: Can I trust you?I didn't know if she could. I'd broken every promise I'd ever made to her.But I'd die before I

The First Night

POV: ISLAI couldn't sleep.The guest room was beautiful, soft sheets, mountain views, everything I could want. But I lay there in the darkness, staring at the ceiling, hyperaware of every sound in the house.The twins' soft breathing down the hall.The wind in the trees outside.Jaxon pacing in his room.He hadn't stopped moving since we'd said goodnight two hours ago. Back and forth, back and forth. Restless, unable to settle.Join the club.I rolled over, punched the pillow, tried to force my mind to shut down.It didn't work.We were under the same roof. The four of us. The family we should have been years ago.And now we were here because his father, the man who raised him to be cruel wanted to take my children. Our children.Rowan and Nova, who didn't understand why we'd left Seattle in such a hurry. Who thought this was an adventure. Who had no idea that their grandfather was a monster who saw them as property, not people.I squeezed my eyes shut against the wave of fear.How h

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