All Chapters of The Wife He Betrayed Became His Ruin : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

NADIA POVThe knock came at seven in the morning.I had not slept. I had spent the whole night at the window. Watching the dark car. Watching the watcher. Watching nothing. He never moved. He never left. He just sat there. Engine running. Tinted windows. Waiting.I did not know what he was waiting for.I did not want to find out.The knock made me jump. I had not been expecting anyone. I had not ordered food. I had not called Rachel. I had not called anyone.I walked to the door. I looked through the peephole.It was a man. Tall. Dark coat. Badge clipped to his belt. He was holding a folder."Who is it?" I asked."Detective Harris. Fraud division. I need to ask you some questions about your husband."I froze.I did not open the door."I do not have a husband," I said."You are still legally married, Mrs. Ashford. The divorce is not finalized."I closed my eyes. He was right. The divorce was not finalized. Julian was still my husband. Julian was still my beneficiary. Julian was still e

SERENA POVI laid it all out for him.I had been planning this for years. Not just the affair. Not just the company. Not just the house. Everything. From the moment I met Eleanor. From the moment I learned who Nadia was. From the moment I decided she would pay for what she did to my father.But Julian did not need to know that.He did not need to know that Eleanor was involved. He did not need to know about my father. He did not need to know anything except what I told him."The plan is simple," I said.He sat across from me at the small table in my apartment. He was holding a glass of whiskey. He had not touched it. He was just holding it. Staring at it. Staring at nothing."She has a routine," I said. "She goes to the coffee shop every morning. She goes to her lawyer's office every Tuesday. She goes to the pharmacy every Thursday."He did not speak."We watch her. We learn her schedule. We find the perfect moment."He did not speak."It will look like an accident. A car accident. A

JULIAN POVI slept on a bench that night.I had nowhere else to go. I had no money. I had no home. I had no one. I just walked until I could not walk anymore. I just sat down on a bench in a park and closed my eyes.I did not sleep. I just lay there. Staring at the sky. Staring at the stars. Staring at nothing.I thought about Nadia. I thought about the way she used to smile at me. I thought about the way she used to look at me. I thought about the way she used to love me.I thought about Serena. I thought about the way she used to touch me. I thought about the way she used to kiss me. I thought about the way she used to pretend.I thought about my mother. I thought about the way she used to control me. I thought about the way she used to manipulate me. I thought about the way she used to tell me what to do.I thought about the son. The son I had celebrated. The son I had loved. The son I had thought was mine.I thought about everything.And then I thought about nothing.The sun came

NADIA POVI saw him for the first time on a Tuesday.I was leaving the coffee shop on the corner. It was a small place. Anonymous. The kind of place where no one knew my name. I had been going there every morning since I moved into the hotel. It was a routine. A small comfort. Something to hold onto.I walked out with my tea in my hand and I saw him.He was sitting in a car across the street. A dark sedan. Tinted windows. Engine running. He was not looking at me. He was looking at his phone. But he was there. He had been there when I walked in. He was still there when I walked out.I told myself it was nothing. I told myself he was waiting for someone. I told myself I was being paranoid. I told myself I was imagining things.I walked back to the hotel.I did not look back.The next day, I saw him again.The same car. The same street. The same position. He was sitting there with his phone in his hand. He did not look at me. He did not move. He just sat there.I told myself it was a coi

NADIA POVI started with the ones he had thrown away.I made a list. Names. Faces. People Julian had pushed out of the company over the years. People who had been loyal to me. People who had been loyal to the work. People who had been discarded like they meant nothing.I called them one by one.Some of them did not answer. Some of them hung up when they heard my voice. Some of them told me they could not help me. They were afraid. They had families. They had bills. They could not afford to go up against Julian Ashford.But some of them listened.Some of them remembered.Some of them had been waiting for this call.The first was a man named David.He had been my head of engineering. He had helped me build the patent. He had worked beside me for years. He had believed in me when no one else did. Julian had fired him six months ago. No reason. No warning. Just gone.He met me at a coffee shop across town. He looked older than I remembered. Tired. Worn down. But his eyes were sharp. His m