All Chapters of The Wife He Never Knew: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

The once lively table fell quiet, like everyone was waiting on Julian to finally define exactly who Eleanor was to him.After a beat, he answered, calm."Eleanor's not Tyler's girlfriend... she's..."He paused, almost against his will."My soon-to-be ex-wife."He delivered it like it was nothing, no hesitation, no discomfort.Gregory and Diane both looked briefly embarrassed."Well let's eat, let's eat. Where were we?" Diane pivoted fast.Her embarrassment was a performance, meant to convince Julian this was her first time hearing Eleanor's name.In reality, Cassandra had told her all about it weeks ago that Julian was married, and his wife's name was Eleanor.But in Cassandra's telling, Eleanor had always been painted as a hardworking, unremarkable housewife, someone who'd dropped out of college to marry Julian.Diane had even seen a photo once, courtesy of Cassandra.Pretty enough in the picture, sure, but plain, with none of the polish on display tonight.At first, Diane had consid

In the office, Eleanor looked over the sample Faith had just handed her.An emerald necklace, Faith's own design, built entirely by hand.Lab-grown emeralds, not natural stones, but the cut still had room to grow. The concept itself, though, genuinely impressed Eleanor, and she said so repeatedly, enough that Faith flushed.Faith knew her technical skill still fell well short of Eleanor's standards.Compared to where she'd started, though, the growth was real, and Eleanor made sure to encourage it without letting it go to her head."Excuse me, sir, who are you here to see? This is a private office, J Jewelry doesn't take walk-ins."Nadia, seated closest to the entrance, stood up fast.She didn't recognize the man who'd just walked in handsome, impeccably dressed, gold-rimmed glasses, the whole look reading like a young, refined professor.The rest of the office clocked the uninvited visitor right after Nadia spoke up.Just days after Tyler had warned her off ever crossing paths with D

Derek turned, pushing his glasses up, facing Eleanor.She crossed to him, expression hard."That necklace you broke was my employee's design. Not mine. You owe her an explanation."Derek found her seriousness almost funny.He shrugged, smiling, and turned to walk off, ignoring her completely.Eleanor let out a quiet breath."Guess it's not just me. You're simply unpleasant across the board. No manners at all."Derek paused, turned back, smiling like he was silently agreeing, while also mocking her for hating him and still being stuck dealing with him.The second his guard dropped fully, Eleanor grabbed his wrist and collar, and in one clean motion, threw him flat on his back.Faith and Nadia stared, speechless.Derek lay there, more stunned than hurt.Thrown. By Eleanor. A woman he'd clocked, moments earlier, as harmless.He blinked, vision blurring.His glasses had snapped.In all his years of fighting, getting hit, throwing punches getting thrown by a woman was a genuine first.He f

Dylan arrived at the location Cassandra had sent him after work.A hotel.He'd assumed dinner, a straightforward meeting. Then, once he got there, Cassandra texted him a room number instead.Right as he lifted his hand to knock on Room 1783, the door opened from inside.Cassandra, naturally.Dylan's eyes went wide instantly.She was in nothing but a bathrobe, fresh out of the shower, the neckline wide enough to show more than it covered."Right on time. Come in."She smiled, easy, waving him inside.He'd never seen her like this before, and he walked in deeply uncomfortable.Fruit and snacks sat laid out on the coffee table. She poured two glasses of scotch, handed him one."Relax."Dylan tipped his head back, downed the whole glass in one go.Late autumn, the room heated, and already he was sweating through his collar.Cassandra settled beside him, robe still on but her legs deliberately crossed, a long stretch of skin on display.Dylan swallowed hard.Reading the moment as perfectly

Something in Eleanor's chest gave without permission.She'd made him dumplings dozens of times over the years pork and cabbage, pork and celery, mushroom, beef and onion, lamb and zucchini, every filling she could think of.He'd never once said they tasted bad.He'd also never once said they were good.Three years married, and she still had no idea which filling he actually preferred.And now, on the edge of divorce, he was suddenly craving them. Something about that landed as painfully ironic."You can get your dumplings from Cassandra from now on. I'm sure hers are better."She said it flat.Julian let out a sigh beside her.She didn't understand what the sigh meant.Disappointment, maybe.In her.Eleanor shrugged.Whether he was disappointed or not wasn't her problem anymore."Marcus resigned."He said it out of nowhere.It took her a second to place the name the lead attorney on Cross Group's legal team.She glanced over. Julian kept his eyes forward."New counsel's handling the a