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CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN: MORE MYSTERY.
Last Updated:
2025-02-19 05:55:46
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THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT: MY NEW BESTFRIEND.
AVERY’S POV:Routine had become my safe space—predictable, comfortable, and yet, in the quiet moments, I felt something creeping in. Restlessness. A hollow kind of boredom. I told myself I liked this life, this peace, but deep down, I knew what was missing. Axel. It wasn’t just his presence—it was the way he made the world feel more alive. The way everything around him burned with danger and excitement. And yet, it had been over a week with no sign of him or Ryan. Nothing. I told myself not to care. I wasn’t his wife, wasn’t obligated to worry. But the silence stretched too long, pressing against my chest like a weight I refused to acknowledge. Instead, I poured myself into the people still here—Sea, Baron, even Katie and her mute entourage who communicated mostly through stiff nods. Sea, especially, had become my shadow. My best friend. We spent hours in the kitchen, making a mess of Axel’s pristine counters, flour coating our faces as we experimented with recipes she found
Last Updated : 2025-02-20THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE: BLOODIED WHITE.
Her words touched a nerve, and my chest grew tight as she repeated calling me mom—so naturally, as if the words had been waiting inside her all along, just waiting for the right moment to be spoken. I knelt beside her, helping distribute the small gifts I had picked out. Baron had taken me shopping without a single question, letting me pick whatever I thought Sea might need. He didn’t make me feel like a prisoner, didn’t hover over my every move like the others. With him, I had a sliver of freedom, something I hadn’t had in years. It was strange—liberating, yet unsettling, like I had forgotten how to exist outside of someone else’s control. As we handed out the last of the gifts, Sea beamed up at me. “Thank you,” she whispered. “For what?” “For coming.” I brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Always.” Time slipped away as I observed Sea effortlessly connecting with the other children. Several parents approached me, beaming with admiration, and complimented me on having
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AXEL’S POV:I had eyes and ears everywhere, so the moment I left that godforsaken pit of horror, I tracked Ryan down. We flew out immediately, landing on the outskirts of his location, though I knew full well that his attackers would’ve already been alerted to our arrival. They’d be watching, waiting. The sky was burning red from the fires, thick columns of smoke rolling toward the heavens like the battlefield itself was screaming. The stench of gunpowder clogged my throat, mixing with the iron tang of blood that had long since stopped fazing me. Bullets tore through the air, whizzing past with deadly precision, chipping the concrete walls of the fortified mansion ahead. Ryan crouched behind a wrecked car, his knuckles white around his rifle. His men—what was left of them—were taking cover behind whatever they could find: bodies, debris, smoldering remains of vehicles. The battlefield looked like a goddamn war zone. I stormed over, firing off a few rounds before ducking beside h
Last Updated : 2025-02-21THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE: BEGGING MY BIGGEST ENEMY.
AXEL’S POV:The battle was supposed to be over. For seven days, we had fought through hell, clearing every one of Bruno’s strongholds, cutting through his defenses like a relentless storm. We were exhausted—our clothes tattered, covered in soot, sweat, and the blood of men who hadn’t been fast enough to survive. Our bodies ached from sleepless nights and countless injuries, but there was relief in knowing it was done. Bruno was dead. His empire was dust. Or so we thought. Our sole means of escape, our ticket home, was now nothing more than twisted wreckage.I had no time for arguments. The ambush was perfectly timed. Whoever was left in Bruno’s command wasn’t just throwing bodies at us; they were executing a planned counterattack, waiting for the moment we dropped our guard. We were only four now—me, Ryan, Devon, and one other. Our clothes were shredded, burned in some places from close encounters with grenades. Blood had dried in patches on our skin, most of it not even ours.
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AXEL’S POV:I felt myself slipping away, my grip on consciousness tenuous at best. The edges of my vision began to blur and darken, like ink spreading through water. A dull, throbbing pain still radiated from my shoulder, but it was no match for the crushing weight that threatened to flatten me. My skull felt like it was being squeezed in a vice, making it hard to think. Yet, despite the fog closing in, I could still hear everything around me – the distant voices, the rustling of clothes, the sound of my own ragged breathing. It was a strange, disjointed sensation, as if my body was shutting down, but my senses remained stubbornly alert.I expected her to hesitate. To freeze. Maybe even walk away and let me bleed out, considering everything I'd done to her. It would be a fitting end, wouldn't it? But Avery surprised me. She moved. Not with panic, not with fear, but with purpose and confidence. Then she screamed. "Help! Someone! We need help!""Fuck." I groaned. This was exactly wh
Last Updated : 2025-02-23THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE: THE MIND IS STABLE BUT THE HEART IS WEAK.
AVERY'S POV:The silence in the medical room was oppressive, weighing heavily on my chest. My hands shook as I gazed at the two people I had just cared for. Axel sat slumped in a chair, his body a roadmap of old scars and fresh pain, his limbs splayed out. Ryan, on the other hand, seemed fragile, his skin pale and clammy under the harsh fluorescent lights. I felt a wave of nausea, smell of blood lingering mingling with the antiseptic scent of the medical supplies. My mind recoiled at the sight of their battered bodies. Had I really just thrown away my one chance at freedom? My pulse thundered in my ears as I pressed my hands against the counter, gripping the edge as if it could hold me together. This was it, wasn’t it? The moment I realized—no, admitted—that despite everything Axel had done to me, despite all the reasons I had to hate him, I couldn’t let him die. I was fighting to keep him alive for some reason.The irony burned, unforgiving. I'd spent every waking moment plann
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AXEL’S POV:I slowly woke from the haze of anesthesia, my mind foggy and heavy as if wading through thick molasses. The remnants of anesthesia clung to me, and my mind struggled to catch up with reality. In that blurred moment, I could barely distinguish shapes or sounds. But then, slowly, the world began to seep back in. I felt a warmth at my fingertips—a gentle, steady pressure that wasn't mine. I forced my eyes open, blinking away the fog, and, and the first sensation I registered was the gentle, warm pressure of a hand in mine. I blinked, struggling to focus on the shape beside me. Avery was there, her head resting against the back of a chair, her hand interlaced with mine. For a moment, the chaos of the night all faded into a hushed background. In that suspended moment, the chaos of the past few days melted away, replaced by an almost unbearable peace. I stared at Avery, taking in every detail: the gentle curve of her cheek, the quiet determination softened by exhaustion in her
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AXEL’S POV:“I created a diversion—it looks like a daylight robbery. Let the local police handle it so neither the FBI nor SWAT gets involved. They’ll have plenty of heat on them for a while.”I smirked and quickly replied, “Good. I’ll donate five million dollars to the district responsible.”A little extra grease had to be applied to keep the sheriff's department and detectives sufficiently distracted, fed with enough scandal to keep their eyes off our operations during the investigation. A carefully crafted scandal ensured they remained focused on the wrong trail, giving our operations room to breathe. With that settled, I walked over to Devon, gently tapping his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open, and I signaled him with a curt nod, silently urging him to keep his voice low—Avery and Ryan needed their rest.“Walk with me,” I muttered, leading him out of the room and quietly shutting the door behind us.We made our way down the corridor toward the second wing that led to my offic
Last Updated : 2025-02-25
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AVERY'S POV:There was always more to Axel Blackwood. He was a maze of secrets, each one more shocking than the last. But this? This was the mother of them all. Laurent was his father. Chase, his stepbrother and Zora, the witch, his stepmother. Which meant Axel was the true firstborn. The rightful heir to everything Chase thought belonged to him. I wanted to confront him. Badly. And for once, I felt like I actually could. Probably because I was three bottles deep into a very fine wine. Maybe four. My head was fuzzy, my limbs light, and my courage… well, let’s just say it was making some very questionable choices. Ryan didn’t seem to care. He stood in the corner, arms crossed, his gloved hands tucked beneath his sleeves as he watched me with his usual unreadable expression. He had long since stopped trying to take the glass away from me. "Let's go," Axel’s voice disrupted my thinking.I barely had time to blink before Devon was at my side, steadying me before I could make a compl
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DEAD.
AXEL’S POV:I turned slowly, my eyes narrowing with sorrow and steely determination. "Oh, I almost forgot to mention—the missing piece. Laurent is my father. And Zora... she was the one who orchestrated the plan to have both my mother and me killed."Memories rushed back in, reminding me why I became a kid who grew into an adult haunted by nightmares. "he tailed my mother and me until she found us. Zora paid a truck driver to crash into our lives. She's the reason I lost my eyes. They made it look like an accident, covering up her ways."I detailed everything that happened on my birthday to him. "I survived, but my mother wasn't so lucky. Everyone was against us – my mother was just a low-class maid, and Zora came from a family that was meant to rule. But once I got my resources and money, I dug up all these details and vowed to take down every one of them."Ryan's chest rose and fell with a slow, deliberate breath. His voice was barely above a whisper when he finally spoke as if he w
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT: THE FATHER WHO NEVER WAS.
AXEL’S POV:Ryan was there to bitch around.Typical. Yes, I trusted him—hell, he was my second in command. But there were lines, boundaries between what I carried alone and what I shared. Some things rotted better inside me. But lately, keeping him in the dark felt less like protection and more like betrayal. If I shut him out again, I wouldn’t just be undermining his position. I’d be spitting on our friendship.Before he could even part his lips, I cut in. "I know you're about to ask what the hell is going on." Leaning against the wall, arms crossed tight over his chest, Ryan narrowed his eyes like he was staring down a puzzle missing half its pieces. "That's right. Make it make sense, Axel. Why the obsession with the Grayson empire? Why put her in charge? And why the hell risk exposing our intel like that? You know better. Now we’re a damn target." I turned away, walking to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Afternoon sunlight poured through, casting long shadows across the floo
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN: SERVING JUSTICE.
The enmity between us was thick enough to choke on—and I could feel every single eye in the room pinned on our collision. My voice cut through the tension like a razor. "You're not my mother. As a matter of fact, I don’t think you’re even a mother. Which mother sleeps with her son-in-law?" My words thundered over the murmurs. "I should've known something was awry all those times you and that radical went on 'business trips.' They were nothing but excuses—a time and place for your adultery. You deserve to be skinned alive and tossed into a hole with the wolves. You’re a filthy whore." Before her venom could settle, she spat back, voice dripping with rage, "Just because some man is in your life, you think you're untouchable? Avery, I'll destroy you." Her threat barely had time to echo when a deep, authoritative voice interceded. "At least you got one thing right—she’s untouchable." I turned slowly toward the source, and there stood Axel. His eyes burned with fury, and his
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX: CUTTING TIES.
AVERY’S POV: As I stepped away from the murmuring crowd, the soft click of my sunglasses slipping into place was like a switch, switching off voices and opinions that threatened to consume me. The opulent room, with its lavish furnishings and subtle scent of old money, seemed to fade into the background as my mind began to reel. The question that had been bothering me finally boiled to the surface: why was Axel, the puppeteer, pulling the strings with such leniency? Oh my god, it was like he was setting me up or something! Axel had always been a master manipulator, but this was on a whole different level. He had basically handed me the keys to Grayson, a company he had funneled millions into. It was just... too easy. Axel wasn't exactly known for his altruism. He was enjoying this particular drama. There had to be a catch, right? But what if I had just been paranoid? What if he had really wanted to keep to his words. Ugh, my head had spun just thinking about it. I felt like a pawn
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE: POWER LOOKS GOOD ON HER.
AXEL'S POV:The more I tried to run from this little, 4-foot-8-inch woman, the more she dragged me in. Trapped me. Like gravity itself had shifted and Avery was now the center of it all. I've sat at tables with men who built empires and women who could make nations bend. But none of them ever made me pause. None of them ever made me watch the way Avery did. Tonight, power looked good on her. Too good. The way she stood behind that podium, shoulders square, chin tilted slightly upward as if daring the room to challenge her—God, it was magnetic. The chandeliers above across the room couldn’t outshine her. Arms folded across my chest, I observed her every move with rapt attention. She exuded power—elegant yet unyielding—and it was as if the entire room had shrunk in comparison to her presence.A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. I already knew she was going to turn this room inside out. And when she greeted Chase with, “Hello, ex-husband,”—just like that, I knew the game w
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR: QUICKER THAN EXPECTED.
AVERY'S POV:I couldn’t keep still. Every nerve in my body vibrated, adrenaline pulsing under my skin. My heart pounded so loudly it practically echoed in the back of the limousine. I kept telling myself to calm down, but that was impossible. This was it. All night, I’d gone over the documents Axel left for me. I read every word. Every clause. Every line that spelled out the downfall of my enemies especially Chase. And by morning, my decision was easy. Now, dressed in the designer outfit Axel had picked out, with diamonds on my wrist and revenge in my heart, I knew exactly how today would end—no matter what the headlines said. Because the headlines... God, the headlines were a joke. "Grayson Empire Bounces Back!""Astrid Grayson Saves Husband from Ruin!""Power Couple of the Year!" I nearly rolled my eyes. We pulled up to Grayson Empire’s headquarters. The press swarmed the front entrance. Cameras flashed nonstop. Reporters barked out questions as if Chase was some war he
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE: OVERPROTECTIVE.
AXEL’S POV: Sea would one day ask for my already dying heart, and I wouldn't hesitate to give it to her. First, she asked for a baby brother or sister while we cooked yesterday. And today, just as I settled into my home office to review the documents from my lawyers concerning the Grayson empire—my gift to Avery—Sea walked in with her usual sunshine. After wrapping her little arms around me in greeting, she made her requests. “Daddy, let’s have a family day today. I want to spend time with you and Avery. Also… I don’t like being far from Avery. I need to be close to her,” she said, pouting slightly. “Could you get her to move closer to us? Maybe into the empty room next to ours?” It was impossible to deny her. So here I was, already dressed and heading out to meet them by the car. The shock on Avery’s face when she spotted me was satisfying. No one had expected me to tag along, and I kept our security detail minimal—Devon, Baron, and five others. I didn’t want Sea to feel o
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO: THE SURPRISE.
AVERY'S POV:I lay on my bed, staring at the cracks in the ceiling, trying to make sense of it all. My throat still ached from Axel’s grip, the phantom sensation lingering like a cruel reminder. But the pain wasn’t just physical. It was in the way he’d looked at me—as if I had crossed a line that could never be uncrossed. I had taken this too far. Letting myself get comfortable in a world that wasn’t mine. I should have known better than to call Sea my daughter, even as a joke. Even as something that felt natural in the moment. But it wasn’t natural. None of this was. The flour fight, the laughter, the warmth of sitting at the dinner table like a family—it had all been an illusion. And I had let myself sink into it too easily. Like a fool. Axel wasn’t the kind of man who softened, and I had been stupid to forget that. I’d let his presence seep into my thoughts, let the accidental brushes of his touch unsettle me. And for what? A fleeting warmth that was never meant for me? For
