All Chapters of The wife I swore I’d never be : Chapter 161 - Chapter 166

The moving crew arrived before eight, and by noon the empty building had transformed into something loud and chaotic and entirely alive, fabric bolts stacked in careful rows, sewing machines being wheeled into place, Ruth directing traffic with the confident authority of someone who had apparently done this exact thing several times before in her own career.“Not there,” she called to one of the movers, gesturing at a large cutting table. “By the window. She’ll want the light on her hands while she works.”I hadn’t asked for that specifically, but she was right, and I felt a small warmth at how well she already knew what this space needed to become.Manny had claimed his courtyard the moment we arrived, dragging a small folding table and chair out there himself before anyone could stop him, Sir Hops propped carefully on the table’s corner, overseeing the whole operation with his usual quiet dignity.“This is officially my office now,” he announced, to no one in particular. “I’m going

The first order in the new building arrived by courier on a Tuesday, an ordinary brown box that Helen intercepted before I’d even noticed the doorbell.“This is the wedding coat,” she said, setting it carefully on my new cutting table. “Finished. Ready to ship. I wanted you to see it laid out here, in this room, before it leaves.”I unwrapped it slowly, the fabric I’d chosen months ago finally realized in full, every seam exactly where I’d planned it, the coat’s silhouette catching the light pouring through the tall windows behind me.“It’s good,” I said quietly.“It’s better than good. It’s some of the best work you’ve ever done.” Helen ran a hand along the collar, admiring the construction. “The bride’s going to cry when she sees this.”I thought about the woman who’d commissioned it, her mother’s old coat, the strange, layered meaning of building something new out of a connection to work I’d made in an entirely different life.“I hope it makes her happy.”“It will.”Manny wandered

Kelvin made it home in fifteen minutes rather than twenty, still in half his costume, a jacket that clearly belonged to someone else’s wardrobe department thrown over his own shirt, his hair still styled for a scene he’d abandoned mid-setup.He crossed the workshop floor without stopping to catch his breath.“Where’s the letter.”I handed it to him, and watched him read it standing in the middle of the workshop floor, his jaw tightening with each line, one hand flat against the cutting table as though he needed something solid to press against while he took it in.“Six figures.”“Six figures.”“For a claim that makes no sense. Sorrel existed before you married him.”“I know.”Helen’s lawyer arrived within the hour, a woman named Odette Marchetti who shook all our hands briskly and set a laptop on the cutting table without waiting to be offered a proper seat.“Helen filled me in on the phone,” she said. “I’ve had a chance to run a few searches already. I want to walk you through what I