Semua Bab His Tamed Wife, The Wild Heiress: Bab 141 - Bab 150

Chapter 142ADRIANMarcus had his hand over his face.Elijah was looking at his phone, which was the thing Elijah did when he was feeling something he didn't have a protocol for.My father had turned from the window.He watched his daughter held by his wife for a moment and then he crossed the room and put his hand on her back, and she turned from our mother and went into his arms, and he held her the way fathers held their children when the children had been somewhere difficult and had finally come home—not saying anything, just present, just there."Papa," she said."I know," he said."He gave me—" She stopped. "He said—""I know," my father said again."He's lying," she said. And then: "I know he's lying. I know why he's lying. And I'm still—I'm still—""I know," my father said.She pulled back. Looked at the room. At all of us."When did you—" she started.

Chapter 144KIERAN"Even if she is," Penny said. "Even if she is the girl from the warehouse. Even if everything you feel is based in something real and not in projection—she is still his wife. And you are still his best friend. And whatever happened sixteen years ago in a place neither of you remember clearly does not automatically entitle you to the person she has become."The room was quiet."Damien helped you for fifteen years," she said. "Consistently. Without conditions. He is your best friend and somehow you got entangled with his wife and that is—" She stopped. "That's not a simple thing to come back from. Even if your reasons are real. Even if the connection is real. This is not fair, Kieran. Not to him."I looked at her."And what if it's not fair to her either?" I said. "What if she's in a marriage that—""That's not your determination to make," Penny said. "That's hers."The lavender and eucalyptus candles burned.

Chapter 146THOMASDamien had told us to go home.He had said it at eight o'clock, in the reasonable voice of a man who has made a decision and expects it to be implemented. He had said he was fine, he needed rest, there was nothing we could do by sitting in chairs watching him exist in a hospital bed, we should all go home and he would see us tomorrow.None of us had moved.Marcus was in the chair by the window, on his phone, doing what Marcus did when he was processing something he wasn't ready to discuss—manufacturing the appearance of busyness. Robert had found a book somewhere, an actual physical book, and was reading it with the focused attention he brought to everything. I had the chair nearest the door and a coffee that had gone cold an hour ago and no particular occupation except thinking.Damien had looked at us, registered that none of us were leaving, and returned to his tablet without further comment.This was how we functioned. This had always been how we functioned."Yo

Chapter 148ADRIAThe doorbell rang at eight forty-seven.I knew it was him before anyone moved. Not because I had been expecting him—I hadn't, not specifically, not tonight—but because there was a particular quality to the timing of it, the way it arrived in the middle of a sentence my mother was saying about something entirely unrelated, that had the feel of the universe making a structural decision about how the evening was going to go.Elijah looked at the security feed on his laptop without being asked."Kieran Ashford," he said. "At the door."The room did the thing that rooms full of Salvodores did when new information arrived—a split second of collective processing, a rapid silent negotiation, and then everyone landing on the same position without a word being spoken."Cousins," Adrian said. "Visiting from out of town.""I'm not a convincing cousin," Elijah said."You're a cousin who spends too much time on his laptop," Sophia said. "That's extremely convincing, actually.""Ma

Chapter 150ADRIAThe room's attempt at covering lasted approximately four seconds.Sophia said "cousins" with the conviction of someone who had committed to a word and was hoping the word would do the rest of the work. Adrian tried something about family friends that didn't have a clear ending. Elijah looked at his laptop. My father picked the newspaper back up with the timing of a man who had decided his cover was still viable despite all evidence.My mother simply looked at Kieran with the expression she used when she had decided something and was waiting for events to confirm it.Kieran looked at the room.Then at me."Outside," I said.---The front step was cold.I pulled the door mostly closed behind us and stood in the specific chill of a November evening and looked at the street rather than at him."Who are they," he said."My family," I said."The cousins story—""Is not a good story," I said. "I k