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CHAPTER FORTY-THREE: THE LAST SINNER.
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-02-08 01:12:24
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THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR: THE DNA.
AVERY’S POV: I had always prided myself on being a woman of will and persistence. A survivor. But the moment Axel Blackwood stepped into the room, covered in splashes of blood, his pupils blown so wide they swallowed the light, I felt my resolve wither. He looked like something out of a nightmare. His white shirt was ruined, stained in dark patches, and his hands—God, his hands were dripping with it. I didn’t want to know whose blood it was. Bile surged up my throat, and I had to swallow hard to keep it down. Still, I forced myself to stand, my movements stiff and unsteady. His presence had always been oppressive, but now? Now, it was deadly. "Avery, you will make that appearance tomorrow," Axel said, his voice eerily calm, as if he hadn’t just returned from whatever act of horror he’d committed. "You will act like my trophy wife at several events tomorrow. The priority, however, is for you to make a statement with your appearance." I stared at him, stunned by the audacity.
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-08THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE: TROPHY WIFE.
AXEL’S POV: I never planned to show Avery the envelope. Never intended to let her see what was inside. It was supposed to be leverage, a weapon I could use when the time was right. But she had this way of getting under my skin, of unearthing something within me that even I couldn’t fully understand. Her defiance mirrored my own. Instead of subduing her, I had ignited an unquenchable fire. I had done my research. I always did. I knew everything I needed to about the people I allowed in my orbit. And yet, despite knowing what I knew, I hadn't planned to share any of it with her. It was supposed to remain tucked away, a tool to use when necessary. But I had shown her anyway. And seeing her reaction, watching the way she processed it, unsettled me. The way her expression had cracked—not just with pain, but with something deeper—had stirred something in me. Something I didn't like. Maybe she had seen that flicker of hesitation in me. Maybe she had sensed it. That pissed me off more
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-09THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER FORTY-SIX: THE BOY WHO CRIED.
AVERY'S POV:"Good job, wifey," Axel murmured against my ear as we stepped out of the elevator. "You're a fine actress." His voice was mischievous—almost like he was testing me, waiting to see if I’d break character now that we were alone. But I held my ground, even as the heat of his breath on my skin ignited an involuntary fire within my core. The last few hours had been a whirlwind. From the moment I sat in the makeup chair, watching the artist transform me into a woman I barely recognized, to the second I stepped into Axel’s office, my heels clicking against the polished marble, every moment had felt surreal. The office itself was a show to the kind of wealth that made people listen before they even knew your name. But it wasn’t the decor that had shaken me. It was him. Axel Blackwood, standing close, his presence consuming every ounce of air between us. His touch, brief yet electric, sent an embarrassing rush through me. It was maddening. How could my body react to him when
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-09THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN: LETTING THE MASK SLIP.
AVERY’S POV:At some point, I found myself joining in. Maybe it was the way the kids smiled at me, or maybe I just wanted—needed—a distraction from my own thoughts. Either way, I found myself playing hide-and-seek with a little girl in a lavender hospital gown, her giggles echoing through the halls. Then, pain shot through my feet. I winced, the nude Louboutins digging into my toes from standing too long. Before I could even think about taking them off, Devon appeared at my side, holding a small designer bag. I recalled the brief exchange I'd overheard earlier. Ryan's voice had carried across the room, "Devon, get the last set of gift boxes." The name had stuck in my mind, and now I mentally paired it with the face of the guard who stood before me - Devon. "Here," he said, his voice gruff but not unkind. "Boss sent me to get these." I frowned, taking the bag. Inside was a pair of flat designer slippers. I looked up, my gaze instinctively seeking Axel. He was still surround
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-09THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT: IN AND OUT.
AXEL’S POV:There was something about Avery that made me want to take her everywhere. Maybe it was the way she carried herself tonight—poised, effortless. She played the role of my wife so seamlessly that I almost forgot it was a performance. She didn’t just stand beside me like a fragile accessory; she engaged in intelligent conversations, entertained every guest who approached us, and, most importantly, understood when to speak and when to let silence be her strength. She didn’t pry. She didn’t overdo it. And for that alone, I planned to reward her. I despised these gatherings. They were breeding grounds for hypocrisy, a room full of people who smiled with one hand extended in friendship while sharpening their knives with the other. But I couldn’t avoid this one. Not when it was personal. The cancer research gala wasn’t just another event on my calendar—it was something I had built from the ground up. A program I had started in honor of my mother before her life was cut sh
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-10THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER FORTY-NINE: ONE LAST SHATTERED HEART.
AXEL’S POV:"Yes, I did," I answered Ryan nonchalantly. Baron grinned, stepping closer to Ryan with his arms wide, either for a handshake or a hug—I wasn’t sure which. Whatever it was, Ryan wasn’t having it. He took a step back, arms crossed, expression blank. Baron clicked his tongue. "Still stiff and unwelcoming as always," he joked. Then, without missing a beat, he turned to me, his usual grin in place. "Thank you for having me back, boss." I nodded. "You're welcome." Truth be told, it was good to have Baron back. Maybe he’d shake Ryan up a little. Ryan saw him as a challenge, and that was exactly what he needed. He was growing too... predictable. Baron was my third-in-command, the complete opposite of Ryan. Where Ryan was cold and disciplined, Baron was dangerous in a different way—rational, brutal, but somehow, annoyingly charismatic. He made friends easily, never raised suspicion, and had a charm that worked on both children and women alike. A deadly combination. "Ryan
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-11THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER FIFTY: IN MY HEAD.
AXEL’S POV:For some reason, my room was hot. Stifling, almost. I liked my sleeping environment cold and dark—just like my heart and soul. I tossed and turned, shifting onto my side before sighing in frustration. It had to be the settings. Dragging myself up, I checked the thermostat. Default. The air-conditioning was fine. Then why did it feel like I was suffocating? I ran a hand through my hair and exhaled. It wasn’t the temperature. It was her. Avery. Even now, as I stood shirtless in my navy-blue sweatpants, all I could think about was the way she’d looked tonight. The way her dress hugged her curves, the way her lips moved when she spoke. But it was all fake. A character I made her take on. A puppet performing for my amusement. And yet, I couldn’t shake her from my mind. I rubbed at my chest absentmindedly. The pain I had lived with for months—it wasn’t there. I hadn’t taken my pills, hadn’t felt the usual dull ache clawing through my ribcage. Had I just been too busy to
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-13THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE: BURN IT ALL TO THE GROUND.
AXEL’S POV:A small voice cut through the chaos in my mind. “Daddy?” Sea. Her voice was soft and uncertain, as if she wasn’t sure I could hear her. My eyes were open, but my body wouldn’t move. I could see her, standing a few feet away, the dim light from the hallway casting her in a soft glow, but I couldn’t react. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t even lift a finger. Panic clawed at my chest, but my limbs remained locked. My mind screamed at me to do something, anything, to reassure her, but all I could do was lie there, frozen. Her tiny footsteps approached, hesitant at first, then quicker as she realized I wasn’t responding. “Daddy?” Her voice cracked, thick with fear. A lone tear slid down my good eye. My mind was a warzone, still trapped in that nightmarish haze. I could still hear the sickening crunch of metal against bone. Still see my mother’s broken body, her blood mixing with the dirt. I wasn’t here. I was there. Dying all over again. Sea crouched beside me on the fl
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-13
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THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & THIRTY-TWO: ALWAYS A STEP AHEAD.
AVERY’S POV:"If I could, I'd kill London a second time," Axel growled, his voice gravel-coated and bitter. "She was a traitor. A whore. Imagine the woman I loved, bent over for the Don of a rival cartel like a common street slut. Not just once—but again and again, even when she was carrying my child."He wasn’t yelling. That made it worse. His voice was calm, even fond in a twisted way, as if the memory had hardened into something precious—just not in the way love is supposed to be.His lip curled, disgust tightening every word. “She didn’t just betray me. She betrayed her father. Our family.”I stood frozen, every inch of me recoiling. My mouth went dry. Axel’s rage was volcanic—rising, spilling, burning everything in its path.“At first, I had my suspicions,” he said, almost too calmly. “But I dismissed them. Turned a blind eye. You know why?” He scoffed and looked away, his jaw twitching. “Because I loved that loose hole.”He laughed, but there was no joy in it—only the sound of a
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & THIRTY-ONE: I TOOK MY OWN LIFE.
AVERY’S POV:Axel coughed violently, blood splattering the stone beneath him. His limbs were twitching now—shock setting in. His breaths were ragged like each one hurt more than the last. The kind of pain that looks more animal than human. Still, he tried to speak."Devon…” he managed, gasping between words. “How… did I ruin your life? You… you pledged allegiance to me. Swore on your mother’s life. You said I saved you. You—”“Oh, please,” Devon cut him off, sneering. “I told you what you wanted to hear. You’re so arrogant. So hungry to be worshipped. That story about the boy you saved? It was real. I just found him. Killed him. Took his place.”The courtyard stilled.Devon’s voice turned cold. “He was a drunk, anyway. I did the world a favor.”My blood chilled. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.Axel’s face twitched. Whether from pain or betrayal, I didn’t know. His hands were slick with blood now, trying weakly to press down on his wounds. His lips quivered, mumbling words I could
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & THIRTY: THE SHOTS OF BETRAYAL.
AVERY’S POV:I was drenched in blood. It had soaked into the white of my temple robe, turned my hands sticky, and clung to my skin like guilt. Akira’s body—now wrapped in linen, still and pale—lay in front of me. Her death had left a hollow in my chest that no scream could fill. I cried until I couldn’t anymore, until the pain became dry and raw like my throat. She had just begun to teach me how to live through this pregnancy, how to breathe again in a world that felt so suffocating. And just like that, she was gone. Snatched from me as quickly as she'd come.The others sat quietly around her body. No chants. No songs. Just silence thick enough to choke on.Then came the chaos.Gunshots. Screams. The kind of terror that twists reality in half. My head jerked toward the sound, and my heart thudded in my throat. I scrambled to my feet, wiping at my tears, suddenly alert."What’s happening?" I asked the nearest person—a small Orion boy, no older than eight, trembling beside a pillar."T
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED &TWENTY-NINE: THE LIGHT THAT FADED.
AVERY’S POV:I stopped counting the days. Time moved like molasses, thick and slow, as we lived under the constant shadow of fear. We were caged like animals—patrolled, watched, starved of dignity. Devon wasn’t the man I remembered. Whatever light used to be in his eyes had long been smothered by something cruel and cold. The once-easy smile he wore like a badge was now replaced by a stone-hard jaw and the hollow stare of a man long lost to the dark.He used to be kind.Now, he hit my brothers for speaking too loud.But I didn’t hate Devon.I hated the man who turned him into this. The one who gave the orders. Who turned my protector into a monster.Axel.I couldn’t fight back. I didn’t have the strength. And worse—I’d brought this ruin to my people. The earth was ransacked, torn apart by metal and greed. The same land that once glistened under the sun was now a wounded body, bled dry by machines. They dug up every corner, searching for a 'precious mineral' as I overheard one of the g
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY-EIGHT: LONDON'S BACK.
AXEL’S POV:From where the car stopped, a jet was already waiting on the tarmac, beneath the pale morning sky. Less than two hours later, I was in our new location—a fortress tucked deep into the outskirts, reinforced and brimming with security. I showered, shaved, trimmed the unruly beard. Cedric stitched the gash on my brow and reset two of my ribs without a complaint. My knuckles were still bruised, but the fresh set of clothes—black shirt, tactical trousers, leather boots—made me feel human again. Strange how luxury used to feel normal. Now, even clean water felt sacred.Cedric didn’t speak much, but I could tell from his eyes that he knew we were standing in the middle of a long war—and that everything, even moments like this, had consequences. He’d been brought by Baron, apparently to save Ryan. Since then, he hadn’t stopped working. He patched, treated, and kept morale up without asking for thanks. That alone earned him more of my respect.Ryan had updated me as soon as we lan
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY-SEVEN: THEY WANTED HIM DEAD.
AXEL’S POV:A cold pressure squeezed my chest, but I forced it down. I couldn’t afford to think. Not now.I looked at him—his blood pooling beneath him, face a mess of terror and agony. He was nearly gone, and I was already losing interest.With one swift motion, I sliced off his dick.Then, without hesitation, I pried open his jaw and hacked off his tongue.His legs came next—each cut as clean as the last, each one a punishment, a lesson, a warning. I left him writhing in his own blood and filth, a hollowed-out shell of the man who once smirked in my face."You call those torture games?" I said, stepping over him. "Come learn from me."Then I drove the blade into his right eye. A sickening squelch echoed through the stillness.The men around me flinched. Some looked away. Others stared in stunned silence."Take me to my daughter," I said, my voice flat, final.Ryan stepped forward, nodding once, his expression unreadable. He gestured toward a blacked-out SUV idling nearby."You need
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY-SIX: GETTING THE INFORMATION.
AXEL’S POV:"She's fine," Baron said, steady and sure. "She's with Katie and our men at the safe house."Relief punched through me like cold air after drowning."Where the hell have you been, Baron? How did they even escape?"He exhaled, like he’d been holding the memory in too long. "Boss, it wasn’t easy. When the first explosion hit, I went straight for Sea. Found her curled up in a corner of her room, shaking. Wrapped her in a blanket, threw her over my shoulder, and ran. On the way out, we ran into Ryan—he was barely hanging on, bleeding like hell, but still breathing. He pushed us toward the escape tunnel. We managed to gather Katie and a few others. But before we could get back for the last group..." He paused. "The whole place went up in flames."My heart staggered in my chest. Sea was alive. That was all I needed to hear. That was enough to breathe again, enough to fight again.We’d made it outside now. Armed, masked men formed a silent wall around the perimeter. I stayed aler
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY-FIVE: COULD ONLY BE ONE MAN.
AXEL’S POV:When thoughts went to the people that mattered in life, I tried to brace myself for that clean slice that would end it all. Or worse—he might do it messy, on purpose. Just to draw it out. Just to hear me scream.My mind found my mother first. I hoped she was in a better place, waiting for me, arms open. Maybe death wasn’t an end. Maybe it was our reunion. And maybe, just maybe, I'd recognize my father too. But guilt didn't let me rest there. It crawled up my throat, settled in my chest. Laurent. I should’ve made time for him. I should’ve asked questions, cared more, listened better. And what about the others—the lives I took? Would they be waiting on the other side too, not with open arms, but fists and rage?"Forgive me, Sea," I whispered in my head. "Wherever you are."I breathed in deep, slow. Vaughan was taking his damn time, drawing out the moment like it was some kind of art. That was the thing about death. Sometimes, the silence before it was louder than the act it
THE WIFE YOU LEFT CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY-FOUR: IT WAS NEVER RYAN.
AXEL’S POV:"Not only did I think you were stupid," I began, the taste of blood already pooling at the edge of my tongue, "you're archaic." I kept my eye away from Vaughan. "What’s this? The 1980s?""Seal his mouth. We're about to start filming," he snapped without missing a beat.They pushed me to my knees, the cold bite of concrete pressing into my skin. My hands were tied behind me, and my neck was bared like an offering. An execution. The kind you only read about or see in cartel footage—until it's your turn."Axel, let me tell you before I end you," Vaughan sneered, circling me like a wolf. "You were powerful. But you were also blinded—by pride, by selfishness. You were so easy to manipulate. Infiltrating your organization? Child’s play. Turning you against your second-in-command? A masterpiece."My jaw tightened. What was he driving at?"It was never Ryan, Axel." He crouched down to my level, voice low like a lullaby laced with poison. "This entire game was engineered to divide
