บททั้งหมดของ My Husband’s Secret Empire : บทที่ 51 - บทที่ 56

The board hearing arrived on a grey Thursday morning, and Wren sat in the gallery beside Eleanor and Victor, watching Nathaniel present the documentation they'd spent weeks assembling with a steady, careful clarity that reminded her, unexpectedly, of the version of herself she'd only ever known through a recording."Cross Dynamics did not create this network," Nathaniel said, addressing the assembled board members and regulatory officials with quiet, unwavering confidence. "My grandfather's early partnership was exploited by men who understood how to weaponize trust. My father died trying to expose it. I've spent the past year finishing what he started, and I've handed federal investigators every piece of evidence we've uncovered, including evidence that implicates this company's own historical records. I'm not asking this board to excuse that history. I'm asking you to recognize the difference between complicity and cooperation."The room was quiet for a long moment before the questi

Wren woke before Nathaniel that Sunday, an unremarkable ache low in her stomach pulling her out of sleep earlier than usual. She lay still for a moment, listening to the quiet house, before the realization settled in slowly enough that she almost missed it.She counted back the weeks in her head, twice, before she trusted the math.She dressed quietly and drove to the pharmacy alone, some instinct making her want to know for certain before saying anything to anyone, even Nathaniel. She sat in the parked car afterward for a long time, test in hand, watching the two lines settle into certainty.She didn't tell him right away. Not out of the old instinct to hide things, but because she wanted to find the right moment, one that wasn't rushed or overshadowed by anything else. She found it two evenings later, in the nursery, both of them standing amid the finished shelves and the soft sage walls that had waited, patiently, for exactly this."I have something to tell you," she said.Nathanie

The months passed in a rhythm Wren hadn't expected to find so steadying — doctor's appointments, the slow, visible change of her body, Nathaniel's hand finding her stomach almost unconsciously whenever they sat together in the evenings."You're doing it again," she teased one night, catching him mid-reach."I can't help it." He didn't pull his hand away, something helpless and adoring in his expression. "I keep waiting to feel something.""You will. The doctor said probably another few weeks."He settled his hand there anyway, patient, and Wren found herself smiling at the sight of this careful, controlled man made entirely soft by the promise of something he couldn't yet feel but refused to stop hoping for.*****The firm slowed its pace as her due date approached, Priya and the other associate quietly absorbing more of the caseload without being asked, a kindness Wren found herself grateful for in a way she hadn't fully anticipated needing."You don't have to do everything right up