Chapter 301: That Trumps Everything

[Lily's POV]I ran.Not because I wanted to. I mean, Lily McCutchen never ran from anything! But I ran because my legs were moving before my mind could stop them. They carried me down the corridor, past the nurses' station, through the ornate double doors of the private ward, into the marble lobby where the afternoon light was streaming through floor-to-ceiling windows. Everything was gold and gleaming and absolutely indifferent to the fact that my life was falling apart.I found a bathroom. Locked the door. Braced my hands against the basin and stared at myself in the mirror.The reflection was a disaster. Mascara tracks like tar stripes down my cheeks. My nose was red and swollen. My eyes were puffy, bloodshot. The careful makeup I had spent forty minutes applying this morning was ruined beyond salvage. I looked like a woman who had been crying, which after all was exactly what I was, and the fact that the tears were real — genuinely, horrifyingly real — made the whole thing worse.

Chapter 302: An Elegant Solution

[Lily's POV]He saved her on the bridge. He's saving her now. He'll always save her, because that's who he is — a rescuer, a protector, a man who defines himself by the women who need him. That scenario worked for me when I turned to him after my husband died. He instinctively reached out to protect me. That’s just the way he is.And now I’m taken care of and engaged, I’m no longer the one who needs him the most. I’ve suddenly found myself in the unthinkable position of being surplus. Not needed. Not the priority.Here I am standing in a bathroom while the man I fought for is sitting at another woman's bedside, and weeping.But if Alice is dying...Then I just need to wait. I need to be patient. I need to be the supportive, understanding fiancée who stands by her man while he navigates this tragedy. And when it's over, when Alice is gone, he'll come back to me. He'll have no one else. The whole situation will have cemented his loyalty to me in a way that no concocted scheme ever could

Chapter 303: The Last One Standing

[Lily's POV]David closed his eyes. The guilt was radiating off him in waves, it was almost visible, almost tactile. The kind of guilt that a skilled operator could use as a lever."You're right," he said. "I haven't been fair to you. I should have explained. I should have been honest about what was happening instead of shutting you out.""Then, why didn't you?""Because I didn't know how." He opened his eyes, and they were wet again. Not exactly crying, not quite, but close. The surfaces of his irises were liquid with the effort of containing everything he was feeling."I didn't know how to tell you that the woman I was married to is dying and I can't save her. I didn't know how to explain that being with her doesn't mean I don't love you. It means I can't abandon someone who is dying, even if she’s no longer my wife, even if…"He stopped. Ran a hand over his face.I watched him. Waited. I let the silence do its work."I love you," David said. "I'm marrying you. That hasn't changed."

All Chapters of The Perfect Wife Walked Away: Chapter 301 - Chapter 303

Chapter 301: That Trumps Everything

Chapter 302: An Elegant Solution

Chapter 303: The Last One Standing