Lahat ng Kabanata ng The client's wife : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

I never break my rules. Not for money. Not for loyalty. And certainly not for anyone else’s wife.Yet here I was, standing in a room where power whispered from every corner. The polished mahogany tables gleamed under soft chandeliers, men in tailored suits whispered deals, and yet all I could see was her. Selene Hawthorne moved through the crowd like a storm contained within elegance — untouchable, graceful, and utterly oblivious to the chaos she’d already sown inside me.Her husband, Edward Hawthorne, was a master of appearances. The perfect smile, the steady handshake, the calm confidence that made him untouchable. He was Edward Hawthorne — philanthropist, elite businessman, my richest client — and he was about to be my undoing.I smiled at him, smooth and controlled, concealing the storm beneath my skin. Every instinct screamed to keep my distance, to maintain the lines I had spent years drawing. And yet, the moment our eyes met — hers and mine — a quiet war began, silent but unden

The city lights blurred through my office window, but my mind was sharper than ever—sharp, fractured, and dangerous. Selene’s face haunted every quiet moment, her laugh echoing in my skull like a siren I could not ignore. I should have been reviewing contracts, analyzing numbers, securing my empire. Instead, my thoughts circled her, over and over, a tempest I couldn’t calm.It started small. A missed call. A delayed response. A signature I didn’t double-check. Normally, I was meticulous—flawless. Every decision precise, every movement calculated. But obsession doesn’t ask permission. Desire doesn’t respect schedules, priorities, or logic. By the time I noticed, the first cracks had already appeared.Marcus knocked softly at the door, holding a neatly stacked folder. “Mr. Voss… Edward’s team wanted this reviewed before morning.” His tone was polite, deferential, but I felt the weight of every eye in the office watching, even in his silence. Every minor slip could ripple into disaster,

The office smelled of polished wood and lingering coffee, the hum of the city below faint against the quiet tension that had wrapped itself around me like a second skin. I was supposed to be reviewing contracts, preparing for Edward’s next round of meetings, managing my empire with precision. Instead, I was thinking of her. Selene. Every inch of her poised elegance invaded my thoughts, and no amount of focus, no number of documents, could push her out.It began innocently enough—or so I told myself. A glance across Edward’s boardroom table, just as she adjusted the cuff of her sleeve. A faint shimmer of diamond against the soft curve of her wrist caught my eye. My chest tightened, my mind short-circuited, and I missed a clause in the contract I had reviewed twice before. A minor oversight, but in this world, nothing was minor. Mistakes multiplied quietly, like seeds in fertile soil, and I was beginning to see the harvest.Marcus, ever attentive, appeared at my side, a folder in hand.

The morning was heavy, thick with the scent of rain lingering from the night before, the streets below still wet and reflective under the city lights. Normally, I welcomed the early hours—the silence, the control, the ability to manipulate the world around me before anyone else awoke. Today, that calm was a distant memory, replaced with a gnawing tension that had taken root in my chest. Selene Hawthorne had transformed it from a simple obsession into a dangerous, all-consuming distraction.Even before arriving at the office, my mind replayed the events of yesterday—the meeting, the accidental brush of hands, the way she had looked at me. Noticing me noticing her. It was deliberate. I had no doubt. And yet, I couldn’t resist. Desire had become a blade pressed to my skin, one I could not pull away from.I entered the boardroom for a critical meeting with Edward’s clients, contracts lined meticulously before me, each signature and clause calculated to perfection—or so I thought. My pulse

The morning light slanted harshly through the blinds, casting stripes across my desk. I stared at the papers before me, but the numbers and clauses blurred into insignificance. Selene’s presence from last night haunted me—every glance, every touch, every teasing smile replayed relentlessly. My obsession was no longer hidden, even from myself, and I could feel the first threads of exposure begin to fray around me.It began with whispers. Marcus mentioned a discrepancy to Lila while thinking I wouldn’t notice. Lila raised an eyebrow, subtle, professional, but the message was clear: someone else was aware. Even Evelyn, usually lost in her own work, looked up at me with an expression that suggested she had noticed the subtle chaos rippling through my behavior. These small observations might seem insignificant, but in a world built on perception, power, and loyalty, they were deadly.The deal I had handled the previous evening—a negotiation I had barely survived mentally—was under scrutiny