The Billionaire's Insignificant Wife novel Chapter 182

Jealousy

Daniel stared at the phone lying on the table with narrowed eyes.

For several seconds he didn’t move.

Then, with reluctance that was almost visible, his hand lifted and reached for his mother’s phone.

Daniel’s eyes dropped to the screen.

His jaw hardened the moment he saw the photo of Alina with a man Daniel knew.

First photo. The man was standing too close to Alina’s bed, his body leaning forward.

Second photo. The man’s hand on Alina’s shoulder–light, brief, but from the camera’s angle it looked like more than just a professional gesture.

Third photo. The two of them looking at each other, the distance between them too close. Too intimate for the standards of a lawyer and his client.

The anger on Daniel’s face froze. The muscle at his temple twitched. Daniel’s hand holding the phone tensed until his knuckles turned white.

“Adrian Lawson,” Daniel said in a low and dangerous voice.

Margaret observed her son’s reaction carefully, her lips curving in a thin smile. Knowing Daniel had fallen into the trap.

“Yes. That is Adrian Lawson,” Margaret answered calmly. “The lawyer who filed the petition to get Alina out of the house. The man who claims to be fighting to free her.”

Daniel was still staring at the screen. Not blinking.

“But what’s interesting,” Margaret continued, letting her words hang in the air, “Alina and Adrian are not strangers, Daniel. They have known each other for a long time.”

Daniel’s head lifted. His hand clenched tighter. Of course, he could guess what his mother was talking about. But Daniel stayed silent. Listening.

“They went to the same school. Lincoln High.” Margaret chose her words carefully, measuring each impact. “And Adrian–the man who is now so relentlessly defending Alina, who spends time alone with her in the hospital room -used to have feelings for Alina. He carried feelings for her since their school days.”

Daniel’s gaze darkened. “Mother is lying.”

“What reason would I have to lie about this?” Margaret looked straight at her son. “I know this from Adrian’s own mother. Katherine Lawson. Years ago, before she died, she told me herself. Proudly, even. About her son who carried feelings for a girl at school–Alina.” Margaret paused briefly. “And now, look. That man has returned. Exactly when Alina is vulnerable and alone and far from your watch.”

Silence hung in the room.

Daniel looked at the photos once more. Adrian’s hand on Alina’s shoulder. The distance too close. The gaze too intimate.

And something within him that was dark, possessive, and broken began to boil.

His Alina.

Being touched by another man.

A man who had carried feelings for her, who now had the perfect reason to be near her, to talk with her. To whisper things that should only belong to Daniel.

“Damn it!”

Daniel threw Margaret’s phone to the floor.

The device slid across the marble and stopped with a cracked screen in the corner of the room.

Margaret wasn’t surprised. On the contrary–the corners of her lips nearly lifted in satisfaction she hid perfectly.

This was what she had hoped for.

Margaret knew her son better than anyone. And she knew one thing Daniel could not tolerate in this world.

Betrayal.

That was why Daniel could still maintain a civil relationship with Clarissa even after they had separated–because Clarissa left not for another man, but to pursue her career. There was no betrayal in that parting. Only ambition.

But Alina–if Alina betrayed him, if Alina turned to another man–Daniel would hate her. Margaret was certain of that. Certain that the seed of hatred she had just planted would grow into a hatred that would destroy the dangerous bond between her son and his wife.

“Now you understand,” said Margaret softly, adding fuel to the fire already burning. “That woman doesn’t deserve you, Daniel. You risked everything for Alina–even dirtying your own hands–and she is being intimate with another man behind your back. Divorce her. Let her go before she destroys you further. Let her go with her lawyer and-”

“NO.”

Margaret went silent.

“What?”

Daniel stood in the middle of the room, his chest rising and falling with breaths he tried to control. When he looked at his mother, there was something in his eyes that made Margaret feel cold crawling up the back of her neck.

Not hatred. But something far darker.

“I will not divorce Alina,” Daniel said in a low and certain voice. “Not. Ever.”

“Daniel-”

“Adrian Lawson may have feelings for Alina.” Daniel cut Margaret’s words quickly and coldly. “Perhaps he has carried feelings for my wife since before.” He laughed briefly–a sound that contained no joy whatsoever. “But I know Alina doesn’t have the same feelings for that man. I know that very well.”

Margaret stared at her son in disbelief, not believing what she was hearing.

“How can you be so certain?”

“Because Alina is mine,” Daniel answered simply, as if it were the most fundamental truth in the world. “She has always been mine. These photos prove nothing except that there is a man who dared to get too close to what belongs to me.”

Daniel walked closer to Margaret, looking at her with a sharp gaze.

“And precisely because of that,” Daniel continued, his voice dropping to a whisper full of threat, “I will guard Alina more closely than before. I will not allow Adrian–or anyone–to approach her again.”

Daniel looked at his mother even more sharply.

“And if Adrian Lawson dares to fouch my wife one more time, I will destroy him. His career. His reputation. His life. I will make sure he regrets ever thinking he could take something that belongs to Daniel Blackwood.”

Margaret froze.

This wasn’t what she had planned.

Not at all.

She had thought the photos would make Daniel hate Alina, release her, distance himself from her. But the opposite had happened. Daniel’s obsession wasn’t shattered–it had only grown deeper, darker, more dangerous Instead of releasing Alina, Daniel was more determined to bind her even tighter.

Margaret opened her mouth, searching for words to redirect the situation that had just exploded beyond her control.

But before she could speak, Daniel’s phone–lying on the table–lit up.

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