All Chapters of Untouched for Three Years: Leaving My Billionaire Husband and Return the Pool: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

99 Chapters

Chapter 61: You Owe Me a Race

The women’s changing-room door closed behind Romy, reducing the noise of the pool to a dull rush beyond the tiled wall.She made it as far as the nearest row of lockers before the muscle in her right calf tightened again.Romy stopped and placed one hand against a metal door. She kept her heel flat on the floor and lengthened each breath until the knot began to release. Her fingers tightened their grip on the towel she was holding.1:08.01.She hadn’t looked back at the whiteboard. She didn’t need to. The taunting number had etched itself into her brain and followed her in through the door.“So the rumors are true.”The voice came from the far end of the changing room.Romy lifted her head.A red-and-white national team bag sat on the bench between two rows of lockers. Behind it stood a young woman in black training pants and a team jacket, with her arms folded across her chest.Her hair was shorter than Romy remembered. The restless sharpness in her face had settled during the past t

Chapter 62: The Pace Beside Her

When Anny walked onto the pool deck beside Romy, poolside conversation trailed off.One girl had been tightening the laces of her trainers. She straightened slowly, leaving one lace still undone. Two younger swimmers relaxing near the recovery boards lowered their water bottles and turned.Most of them knew the public version of the two women.Romy Palmer was the prodigy who had vanished.Anny had become the only British female finalist in the Olympic 100M freestyle two years earlier — the woman left to carry a country’s hope after Romy disappeared.Those who had trained with them before, knew the story the newspapers didn’t. Whenever both women had stood behind the same blocks, Anny had always finished second.Miller looked up from the sheet Liam had been showing him.“No!”Anny had not yet said anything. “Good to see you, too, Coach.”“You’re on leave.”“I ended it.”Miller’s gaze shifted to Romy. She had pulled her cap back on, but the exhaustion in her posture had not disappeared.

Chapter 63: You Cannot Always Be First

Liam reached the timing console before the numbers had finished flashing on the board.He brought up the touchpad record, checked the manual stopwatch, and then returned to the start log as though the same result might become less startling if he approached it from three directions.It did not.1:04.13.Romy had improved on 1:08.01 by 3.88 seconds!Liam checked the display once more. The tension that had held his shoulders high for most of the afternoon finally eased by a fraction.“The system is clean,” he said.Miller was already studying the splits. “I can see that.”The hard line beside the coach’s mouth had eased. His thumb moved once across the edge of the paper before he folded it back, as if he needed to confirm that the numbers remained there.In lane three, Anny pushed her goggles onto her forehead and rested both arms across the pool edge. Her breathing was controlled. Beside her, Romy remained at the wall with her head lowered between her shoulders, taking in air more slow

Chapter 64: Belated Concern

“Don’t tell me,” Anny said slowly. “This is him?”Liam deftly intervened, redirecting the conversation. “Haven’t you attracted enough attention for one day?”His voice was quiet, but the warning in it stopped Anny before she could say anything else to Romy. “Let her rest,” he added.Anny’s mouth remained open for another second.Liam had promised Romy that no one in the team would learn the identity of her husband from him. That promise alone was enough reason for him to end the conversation.Yet,it was not the only reason.His gaze passed over the paper carrier in Devon’s hand and settled briefly on the loosened knot of his tie. Devon had missed an emergency national sponsorship meeting to quietly stand in a staff entrance and watch Romy swim. Whatever connection Anny had begun to see, Liam had no intention of helping her pull it into the open.Anny regarded him, withering under his steely-eyed gaze. The challenge she had intended to press, dissolved with surprising speed.“Fine,” sh

Chapter 65: Stay Away From That Married Man

The expression on Romy’s face was very sincere. There was no anger, no resentment — not even a hint of rejection. It was as if she were simply stating a fact.Devon’s jaw shifted once.He looked down and selected another mouthful of sushi.Romy refolded the timing sheet along its existing crease. “The Thorne Group tried to impose a condition designed for one athlete, and I won’t accept it. But I will accept the same rules as everyone else. I’ll meet the team’s medical requirements, and tomorrow I’ll swim for the required 1:03.00 standard.”“I know,” he conceded.“Then there is nothing here for you to manage.”This observation wasn’t cruel but its accuracy made it harder to digest.Devon had negotiated acquisitions across tables crowded with people waiting for him to choose the wrong word. He could explain risk, obligation, and strategy until disagreement became consent.And yet, he didn’t know how to explain that he had brought food and waited for her, because they had agreed to spend

Chapter 66: The Bag Was Already Packed

By the time Romy returned to Kensington Manor, the chlorine odor had been washed from her skin but not entirely from her hair.It followed her upstairs in a faint trace, sharper and cleaner than the quiet cedarwood that had lived in the house for years. She showered, changed into loose black training trousers and an old sweatshirt, then sat on the bench at the end of the bed with one leg extended.Miller’s timing sheets remained folded on the dresser.She had obeyed him. She had eaten enough, finished two bottles of electrolyte drink, and left the figures closed rather than carrying them into another hour of useless study. However, the number remained in her head without any further help.1:04.13.Not quite there yet.Her right calf tightened when she flexed her foot. Romy waited for the muscle to release, then reached for the elastic compression wrap beside her. Her fingers closed around it.The muscles in her forearms objected, even before she had completed the first turn around her

Chapter 67: Evaluation Day

The aquatic center was quiet at nine on Friday morning, but it was not calm.The national squad had been moved to the side lanes of the pool, leaving lanes three and four open around the central bulkhead. Coaches spoke more softly than usual. Even the younger swimmers, who normally crossed the deck in noisy groups, lowered their voices near Romy’s lane.No one called it nervousness.They simply kept looking at the clock.Romy stood near the shallow end of the pool while the medical officer pressed two fingers along her right calf. The compression wrap Devon had secured the night before had been stowed in her locker. There was no swelling. The muscle tightened when she raised her heel, but it released again without cramping.“Pain level?” the doctor asked.“Two while standing. Maybe three when I push against resistance.”He checked the movement of her ankle, then the range of both shoulders. “No increase since last night?”“No.”Miller waited beside them with his arms folded. “That doe

Chapter 68: The Decisive 100 Meters

Miller watched Caroline cross toward the stairs to the gallery.The line of his mouth tightened.Romy had already wrapped the towel around her shoulders.“Out of the building by ten,” he told her. “Eat at twelve. Then rest. Back here at two.”Romy collected her bottle. “Okay, sure. Understood.”“Then surprise me by doing it.”At two o’clock, she returned.The open lanes had been cleared. The timing pads in lane four were fixed against both walls, and the two association representatives stood beside the console checking the signal from each plate. A manual timer had been placed on either side of the finish. The whiteboard still carried the same black number that had waited for Romy all week.100M FREESTYLE — 1:03.00The medical officer repeated the calf examination, checked her shoulders, and signed the final line on the assessment form.“Medically cleared to attempt one hundred meters,” he said. “One attempt. If the calf spasms before the start, you report it. If you feel sharp pain i

Chapter 69: Three Hundredths

She turned. And it’s the last turn.The seventy-five-meter split flashed across the console.46.30Liam calculated the final requirement before the last digits settled.Sixteen point seven seconds.Romy had not completed a final length that fast since returning to the pool.She came off the last wall with her legs already beginning to fail. The clean push gave her several meters. Then the water took the advantage back.The final fifteen meters tightened around her shoulders. Her kick lost height. Each hand entered a fraction nearer to the center line as fatigue tried to pull her form apart.Miller did not shout.Liam did not move.Romy took one breath with eight meters remaining.Then she stopped breathing.The timing pad waited beneath the surface at the end of the lane. She kept her head down, held the last full stroke, and reached.Her palm struck the plate.The automatic system stopped.For one second, the board showed nothing.Romy remained against the wall, tensed, lungs drawing

Chapter 70: The Cost of the Lane

“I object.”Caroline's voice wasn't particularly loud. But it was loud enough for everyone present to hear clearly. There was ample confidence in her tone.The conversations on the deck stopped.The association representative looked up at her. “On what grounds, Miss Thorne?”Caroline opened the folder on her lap.“That result does not meet the set standard.”The automatic result remained on the board above Caroline’s head.1:02.97No one on the pool deck moved.Romy stood in the shallow water with one hand against the wall. Her breathing had begun to settle, but the muscles across her shoulders still held the heat of the final length.The association representative looked from Caroline to the timing console.“The automatic system has been verified,” he said. “Both manual times fall within the accepted margin.”“I am not questioning the timing equipment.”Caroline’s tone was composed enough to belong in a board meeting. She removed one printed page from the folder and rested it neatly

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