บททั้งหมดของ The Wife He Chose Too Late: บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

Claire's POVThe auction display turned out to be far less dramatic than everyone had feared.One of the framed photographs had been placed on the wrong easel, causing the item numbers to no longer match the catalogue. It took less than five minutes to correct, yet by the time we finished, three more members of staff were already waiting for me with new questions.I couldn't help smiling.Some things never changed."Claire?"I turned to find Daniel, the hotel's banquet manager, weaving his way through the growing crowd backstage."I've got a small problem.""Only one?" I teased.He laughed. "So far.""What happened?""The pianist arrived almost forty minutes early.""Is he in the green room?"Daniel nodded. "He is now.""Good." I looked at my watch. "Have someone take him some coffee while he waits. He always asks for it before he performs."Daniel blinked. "I forgot about that.""I didn't."A grateful smile spread across his face. "I honestly don't know what we're going to do without

Claire’s POVI should have walked away.The thought crossed my mind more than once as Damien and I made our way toward the Ferris wheel with the last group of guests.The waterfront looked beautiful at night. Strings of warm lights reflected across the river while soft music drifted from the ballroom behind us. Couples strolled hand in hand, children laughed as they ran between their parents, and the giant Ferris wheel turned slowly against the Manhattan skyline.For a few moments, it almost felt peaceful.Damien glanced sideways at me. "You still have time to change your mind."I looked up at the enormous wheel towering above us and sighed."I've been trying to change my mind since we left the ballroom."A quiet chuckle escaped him. "I knew you'd say that.""I wasn't joking.""I know." His smile lingered. "You'll survive."I looked at him. "If I don't, I'm haunting you."He laughed properly this time, the sound warm and effortless. "I suppose I'd deserve it.""You definitely would."

Damien's POVThe first rescue boat reached the wreckage within minutes.Its powerful spotlight swept across the collapsed Ferris wheel, illuminating twisted steel jutting from the Hudson like the broken bones of some enormous beast. Firefighters climbed carefully over the mangled framework while rescue divers stood at the edge of the boat, fastening oxygen tanks onto their backs before disappearing beneath the black water one after another.The moment the first diver surfaced, every person waiting behind the police barricades held their breath. He shook his head and nobody spoke as he disappeared beneath the water again.The waterfront no longer resembled the place where hundreds of people had laughed and celebrated only an hour earlier. Music had been replaced by sirens. Champagne glasses had been replaced by shattered concrete covered in broken steel and glass. The warm lights from the gala had given way to floodlights so bright they turned the night into an eerie imitation of dayl

One week had passed.The headlines had changed, but the story hadn't.Every news station in New York carried the same update, though the urgency that had consumed the city during those first desperate days had long since faded. The live broadcasts from the Hudson River had disappeared, the helicopters no longer circled overhead, and the rescue boats that had spent days combing the water had finally returned to their docks.The search was over.Authorities had searched every section of the collapsed Ferris wheel. Divers had descended beneath twisted steel until it became too dangerous to continue. The Coast Guard had expanded the search through the Hudson River, into New York Harbor, and along miles of surrounding shoreline. Every possible lead had been followed. Every recovered victim had been identified.Every family had been given answers except one. Claire Laurent remained the only passenger who had never been found.Officially, her status now read:Missing. Presumed dead.No body

Third POVDamien didn't remember leaving the office. One moment he was standing in the hallway, Olivia's words still echoing inside his head and the next, he was sitting behind the wheel of his car.The city moved around him in a blur of traffic lights, impatient horns and pedestrians crossing busy intersections, but he barely noticed any of it. His hands rested on the steering wheel while his mind replayed the same sentence over and over again until it became impossible to think about anything else.Claire was pregnant.His chest tightened so painfully he had to pull the car to the side of the road. For several moments, he simply sat there. His forehead rested against the steering wheel as he struggled to draw a full breath.He had spent the past week believing he'd lost his wife and now he knew he'd lost his child too. A child who had never taken a single breath. A child who had never even known its father.His fingers curled so tightly around the steering wheel that his knuckles tu