Lahat ng Kabanata ng Untouched for Three Years: Leaving My Billionaire Husband: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

Liam’s words sank into the deepest part of Vance’s fear, like a poisoned needle.Moving in, Vance grasped Liam’s collar at the front of his shirt. His grip tightened. The control that always served him so well in boardrooms and negotiations seemed dangerously fragile now, barely held together now by pride and force of habit.“That’s enough, Vance.” Rebecca’s cool voice came from behind Liam.She didn’t look at either of the men. Instead, she reached up and removed the brilliant Heart of the Ocean necklace from around her neck, and placed it carefully on the passenger seat of Liam’s car.Only then did she look at Vance. There was no sorrow in her eyes. No accusations or anger.“Didn’t we agree on thirty days?” she calmly 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 patted Liam on the shoulder, as if to dismiss him. He didn’t even pause to smooth down the disarray of his own ru

“I spoke up for you every time, Rebecca,” Catherine declared.Rebecca stood very still. The words ‘couldn’t bear children’ were laid bare in the room, wrapped in the false compassion of someone claiming to defend her.“I felt badly for you, Rebecca,” Catherine continued, a tear sliding down her face. Her tone was full of sacrifice, yet every sentence carried the sting of condescension.“You saved Vance from the freezing sea when he couldn’t swim. He would have died! You literally exchanged your health for this marriage, for the title of Mrs Bradford. No matter how much I love him, I vowed I must never be the woman who takes away your entitlement.”She lifted a trembling hand and 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 now?”She turned toward Vance, weeping openly. “I’m sorry, Vance. I really shouldn’t

No involvement.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 with good intentions,” 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 ever so slightly.She turned over and pushed herself up. Sitting in the dim moonlight, her eyes glittered. There was a stubbornness in them now, forged by three years of being misunderstood and overlooked.“Vance, 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 whatever relationship you two once had is in the past, even if we needed more time, could the

“I’ve already spoken with my uncle, and his team is drafting a sponsorship proposal,” Catherine continued. “If I can’t join the British Swimming Team as an athlete, then I’ll join in another capacity. I’ll become the national association’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 Thorne Enterprises.”As she spoke, she looked up at him with a playful smile.Trailing behind the pair, Rebecca watched Catherine’s performance silently. The flamboyant, 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, on the actual day of the competition, what do you think I should wear? Should I wear the cheer squad uniform myself, to support our swimmers from the sidelines?”Vance gave a short, amused laugh. “A cheer squad?”He raised an eyebrow and followed her lead with easy p

After three years away, the pool was colder and more unforgiving than Rebecca had anticipated.The moment she pushed off from the starting block, the water closed around her with a sharp force that brought every nerve in her body instantly awake. The noise of the outside 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 didn’t answer with the clean power she remembered. Every stroke carried an accusing heaviness, as though the water itself was asking where she had been.Rebecca gritted her teeth and kept going.Then, slowly, something older than pain began to return.Her rhythm rediscovered 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 t