All Chapters of Untouched for Three Years: Leaving My Billionaire Husband: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

“You were the one who let go.”Liam’s words sank into the deepest part of Vance’s fear like a poisoned needle.Vance’s hand tightened in the front of Liam’s collar, then trembled. The control that had served him so well in boardrooms and negotiations seemed dangerously fragile now, held together only by pride and force of habit.“That’s enough, Vance.”Rebecca’s cool voice came from behind him.She did not look at either of the men. Instead, she reached up and removed the brilliant Heart of the Ocean necklace from her neck, placing it carefully back on the passenger seat of Liam’s car. Only then did she turn to Vance.There was no sorrow in her eyes.No anger either.“Didn’t we agree on thirty days?” she said. “Let’s go home. I’m tired.”Home.That single word pulled Vance back from the edge of his temper.He released Liam’s collar with a sharp movement. He did not even pause to smooth the wrinkles from his own suit. Taking Rebecca by the wrist, he led her to the Maybach with an urgen

“I spoke for you every time.”The words couldn’t bear children were laid bare in the middle of the room, wrapped in the false softness of someone claiming to defend her.Rebecca stood very still.“I felt sorry for you, Rebecca,” Catherine continued, tears sliding down her face. Her tone was full of sacrifice, yet every sentence carried the quiet height of condescension. “You saved Vance from the freezing sea and exchanged your health for this marriage, for the title of Mrs Bradford. No matter how much I love him, I told myself I must never be the woman who takes away your last shelter.”She covered her mouth, as though the pain had finally become too much.“I was willing to leave London forever. I was willing to disappear from your lives. How could you take every bit of my kindness and trample it under your feet?”She turned toward Vance, weeping openly now.“I’m sorry, Vance. I really shouldn’t have come today. I thought I was helping, but I only made things worse between you and Reb

Innocent.In the past.Nothing to do with this.Each word pressed into Rebecca like the dull edge of a rusted knife.“She came here tonight under pressure from my mother,” Vance continued. “In her own way, she was trying to protect your dignity. You can be angry with me, but you shouldn’t take all that hurt out on a friend who came here to make peace. It isn’t fair.”Rebecca’s mouth curved faintly.She turned over and pushed herself up. In the dim moonlight, her eyes were still faintly red from the allergic reaction earlier, but now there was something almost pleading in them, a stubbornness worn thin by three years of being misunderstood.“Vance,” she said, her voice unsteady, “please. Just once, can you open your eyes and really look?”He went still.“I have never wanted to target her,” Rebecca said. “I have no interest in trampling on her dignity. I only wanted to be your wife.”The words came out quiet at first. Then something in her broke through the restraint.“Even if you had a

“I’ve already had my uncle’s team draft a sponsorship proposal,” Catherine continued. “If I can’t join as an athlete, then I’ll join in another capacity. I’ll become the national swimming team’s largest brand sponsor. I’ll personally help select and build the best cheer squad to support the team throughout the Commonwealth Games tour on behalf of the Thorne family.”As she spoke, she turned slightly and gave Vance a playful look. The fitted gown outlined her figure perfectly, and the hint of flirtation in her tone made the conversation sound less like business and more like a private game.“Vance, when competition day comes, what do you think? Should I wear the cheer uniform myself and support the swimmers from the sidelines?”A low, amused laugh left Vance’s throat.“A cheer squad?” His brow lifted, and he followed her lead with easy praise. “Then I’ll have to admit, the competition floor will be much more exciting.”“Stop it. You’re teasing me again.”The two of them walked ahead be

After three years away, the pool was colder and more unforgiving than Rebecca had imagined.The moment she pushed off from the starting block, the water closed around her with a sharp force that made every nerve in her body wake at once. The noise of the world narrowed to breath, motion, and the hard pressure of water against muscle.One length became another.Then another.At first, her body resisted her. Three years of absence had left weight in places where there used to be speed. Her shoulders burned too soon. Her legs did not answer with the clean power she remembered. Every stroke carried a dull heaviness, as though the water itself were asking where she had been.Rebecca gritted her teeth and kept going.Then, slowly, something older than pain began to return.Her rhythm found itself in pieces. The angle of her hand. The line of her body. The turn of her head for air. The clean, ruthless economy of movement that had once made coaches go silent along the poolside. Her muscles ha