Rise of the Formidable Ex-wife (Lucia and Alex) novel Chapter 256

Chapter 256-

Chapter 256

The front door opened and the hallway light fell across Lucia’s face. She was still wearing the clothes she had worn to the police station. Her hair had some loose from the braid at some point during the afternoon. She looked smaller than she ha this morning, like something inside her had contracted and made her take up less space in the world.

Alexander was behind her, his hand immediately finding the back of her neck in that way that had become automatic for him over the past month. The gesture that meant I am here. The gesture that meant you are not alone in this.

The children appeared almost instantly. They had been waiting. Lucia could tell by the way they emerged from the living room, like they had been sitting close to the edge of something, ready to move the moment they heard the key turn in the lock

Lena reached them first. She was wearing the sweater her grandmother had given her last year, the gray one that made her look older than fifteen. Her eyes were red and slightly swollen, which meant she had been crying, which meant she had been worrying about whether her parents would come home arrested too.

“How did it go?” Lena asked. The question came out careful, like she was testing the answer before accepting it.

Lucia looked at her daughter and something in her chest shifted. The afternoon at the police station had been necessary. The lawyers had been competent. The process had moved forward exactly as it was supposed to move forward. But coming home and seeing her children waiting, seeing the fear in their faces, made it all feel very real in a way it had not felt real before

“The Lowes were arrested,” Lucia answered. The words sounded strange in her mouth, like they belonged to a story about other people. “They will face charges”

Monica had stayed slightly back. She was hovering near the doorway to the living room with her arms wrapped around her middle. Her fourteenth birthday was a month away. That fact sat in Lucia’s mind like something that had weight. Monica had been thirteen when she was grabbed. Monica had been thirteen when the videos were made. Monica was still thirteen when her family’s name had been dragged across the internet/A few more weeks and she would be fourteen. She would be one year older than the age she had been when her childhood broke into a before and after.

“Is it over?” Monica asked. Her voice was very small.

Alexander’s hand never left Lucia’s neck. He looked at his daughter, and Lucia could see him making the calculation between honesty and comfort, between telling the truth and protecting her from the parts of the truth that were still top sharp.

“The Lowes will not disturb you for the main time,” Alexander answered. “They have their own legal situation to manage now. They will be focused on that, not on us.“

It was not a lie. It was also not the whole truth. The lawsuit would continue. The trial would eventually happen. There would be more media coverage and more conversation and more of Monica’s name appearing in places where she did not want it to appear. But for now, in this moment, the inmediate threat had been contained. The family that had been making videos and calling her a thief and accusing her mother of manipulation was now facing criminal charges of their own

That was something.

Ria was standing near the staircase, and her expression had shifted into something purposeful she had something on her mind and she was waiting for the right moment to bring it into the open.

“We wanted for you” Ria announced: “We did not eat without you. The maids arranged the dining table. We (10 m should eat together since we are all home.”

it was such a simple statement. The kind of thing that would not have registered as serincant before des mor

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Imia did med respond thus was thinking about all the ways this could still go wrong, she was thinking about the trial. She was thinking about Kdrama’s testimony she was thinking about the fact that her youngest daughter was still healing and

Ma appeared in the dunway of the dining room. She was still wearing her school clothes, and her hat was pulled back the same style she had worn all day she looked very calips and very sure of herself in the way that came before she sad

The form thinking. Blachagar She sat down at the table with them, sending into her chair like this was a

pealy “Monica will be fourteen in a month. I think we should celebrate it

The wogude landed differently than His produbly expected them cland. The celebration was not just about a birthday it w

nike le sue olamik the fondly deciding no mark tus in a way that was not aban brwys and police stations and

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2:08 pm PA

Chapter 256–

You are right. Alexander said. “We should celebrate it properly.”

“Something meaningful,” Ria continued. “Not just a cake and presents. Something that says we made it through this

Lucia opened her mouth to agree and then found she could not speak. Her throat was too tight. All the things she had held together over the past hours, the control she had maintained in front of the children and at the police station and in front of lawyers, suddenly felt like they were threatening to crack open.

Alexander reached across the table and took her hand.

“We will plan something,” he assured Ria. “Something that Monica will remember.”

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