All Chapters of FROM HIS SILENT WIFE TO HIS GREATEST REGRET: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The Paris order shipped on a Tuesday. Thirty-two pieces, each one cut around the watermarks or with the tide lines stitched into the design on purpose. I signed off on the final box and pressed my palm against the cardboard like I could send a message through it. This is what surviving looks like. This is what staying looks like.Tayo took a photo of me doing it and sent it to the group chat with the caption: Boss sending love to France. I rolled my eyes, but I saved the photo. Proof for the days I forgot.That night I couldn’t sleep. Not from panic. From the quiet that came after a storm. The studio was empty for the first time in weeks. No fans. No interns. No orders to fill. Just me and the hum of the fridge and the weight of a week I’d been holding up.James found me at the cutting table at midnight, running my fingers over the leftover blue silk. The scraps are too small for dresses but too big to throw away. “You’re thinking out loud again,” he said from the doorway. “Old ha

ARIA'S POVThe bed feor James moving around the kitchen like he usually did. His leather jacket was gone from the chair too.I pushed myself up, my heart beating faster. “James?” I called, but there was no answer. I got outlt too big when I woke up. I reached across the sheets without thinking, expecting to feel James beside me, but my hand touched nothing except the cold bedsheet. My eyes opened at once. The apartment was too quiet. I couldn't hear the coffee machine of bed and checked the bathroom, then the living room and kitchen. Nothing. James was gone.I grabbed my phone from the bedside table. No message. No missed call. Nothing at all. I checked our chat twice as if a message would suddenly appear. After everything I had told him about my past and how badly silence affected me, he had still left without saying a word.Lily came out of her room a few minutes later in her dinosaur pajamas. Her curls were messy from sleep, and she rubbed one eye as she walked towards me. “Where'

ARIA'S POV“Start from the beginning, James.” My stomach felt sick, but I forced myself to stay where I was. Lily was only a room away, and I refused to turn our home into another place filled with shouting. “And this time, don't decide which parts of the truth I can handle.”James stood across from me, still holding the old photograph. “Four years ago, Luminère's proposal came up during a Valère expansion meeting. The company was small and already in debt. The board considered it a risky investment.” I folded my arms. “I know how small my company was. Keep going.”He looked down at the photograph. “I remembered the sketches.” That caught me off guard. “What?” James finally looked at me. “Your sketches were different from the proposals we usually received. Most brands tried too hard to look expensive. Yours didn't.”For one stupid second, the compliment almost reached me. Then I remembered why we were having this conversation. “And that meant what exactly?” James sighed. “Julian said

JAMES'S POV“You can't keep ignoring my calls.” Daniel stood inside my hotel room with an angry look on his face. I glanced at my phone, then back at the picture Lily had sent me of her unfinished bra-rock shelf. “I wasn't in the mood to talk.”“You're less than ten minutes from Aria's apartment, James.” He sat across from me. “You left Valère five years ago and stayed silent while everyone decided what happened. Now you're doing the same thing again.”I dropped my phone on the bed. “Telling Aria about Valère meant telling her about the missing money, Julian, Evelyn, and why I recognised Luminère.” Daniel stared at me. “Yes. That's what telling the truth means.”“She had already survived enough.” My voice rose before I could stop it. “Marcus destroyed years of her life. I didn't want to drag her into my family's mess too.” Daniel shook his head. “You don't get to decide which truth Aria is strong enough to hear.”The words hit harder because Aria had said almost the same thing. I look

ARIA'S POV“Check the address again, Tayo.” I paced around the living room with my phone pressed to my ear. “Maybe you read the wrong invoice.” Papers moved on his end before he sighed. “Aria, I've checked it three times.”I stopped walking. “And?” Tayo was quiet for a second. “The dress was ordered eighteen months ago through our private client service. The payment came from a consulting company, but the delivery address belongs to Valère.”“Julian's residence?” I asked. “Yes. According to these records, he was the only person who regularly used it.” I rubbed my forehead. “Why did nobody question someone paying ten times the normal price for one dress?”Tayo laughed without humour. “Have you forgotten what Luminère looked like eighteen months ago? We were struggling with production costs and accepting almost every international commission we could get.”I sat on the couch. He was right. Back then, every large payment felt like a miracle. We celebrated first and asked questions later.