The Billionaire's Insignificant Wife novel Chapter 184

Alina stared at Daniel for a long moment.

Then she scoffed.

"You're accusing us of having an affair?"

"Answer my question." Daniel's voice was flat. "How long has this been going on?"

"Nothing has been going on." Alina met his gaze directly. "There is nothing between me and Adrian Lawson beyond attorney and client."

Daniel let out a small laugh.

Not a pleasant one. If anything, that sound was more unsettling than his silence.

"You think you can fool me?" he said. "I have evidence, Alina."

Alina frowned. "What evidence?"

"Your closeness." Daniel listed several details — when Adrian had visited, how long he'd stayed in the room, how they had been positioned when they spoke. Small details that Daniel couldn't possibly have known unless someone had told him.

Alina fell silent for a moment.

Then her mind began to work.

A spy. Here in this hospital. Someone who had been watching every movement in room 412 and reporting back to Daniel.

Alina's expression shifted. Not anger. Something closer to a bitter exhaustion.

She laughed softly. "Of course. You planted a spy here too."

Daniel didn't answer. Didn't deny it.

"You suspect me of having an affair," Alina continued, her voice rising a note, "when you're the one who betrayed this marriage first."

"I never betrayed you."

"Clarissa." One word. Alina said it calmly, without raising her voice. "The night of our fifth wedding anniversary. You spent that night with her. Not with me." She held his gaze without blinking. "And afterward you brought her home. Gave her a place to stay. Gave her space in our family's life — a life that was supposed to be mine alone."

"That was different." Daniel's jaw tightened. "I respect Clarissa as Junior's mother. I only wanted Junior to be close to her."

"And me?" Alina's voice didn't break. It was too calm for that. "I'm his mother too. Five years I raised Junior. But for Clarissa's sake, you pushed me out of his life. As if those five years never existed."

Daniel said nothing.

He offered no defense. He had done everything Alina accused him of.

Alina watched him stay silent. And that hurt more than any denial ever could.

"And now," she said, "you're jealous because a lawyer sat in the chair beside my hospital bed?"

The words hung in the air.

Daniel still didn't speak.

Alina drew a breath. "If you truly want Junior with his biological mother, and you have no trust left in me as your wife — then divorce me, Daniel."

Daniel flinched. As though something had been forcibly torn from his chest.

"What?"

"Divorce me." Alina repeated the words clearly, without stumbling. "I want nothing from you or the Blackwood family. Not money, not the house, not the name. I only want my freedom." She looked at him directly. "I'm tired, Daniel. Tired of being a prisoner inside this marriage. I want to let you go, let Junior go, and leave. That's all."

Daniel clenched his jaw. He hadn't expected Alina to say the word *divorce* again — for what felt like the hundredth time.

She quickly realized Daniel was referring to the reporter who had spread the damaging story about her the day before. Alina hadn't looked up the latest news — she hadn't wanted to know.

"I don't like repeating myself. So you'd better remember everything I've said," Daniel stated firmly. "Stay away from Adrian, or I won't hesitate to dirty my hands again — for you."

Alina's eyes widened. Daniel's words filled her with dread. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She found herself imagining the terrible things he might already have done.

"Eat properly."

Daniel leaned forward, pressed a brief kiss to Alina's forehead — like a routine, like everything was perfectly normal — then glanced toward the food tray that had barely been touched.

"So you can come home sooner."

He moved toward the door, then paused. "I won't even hesitate to shut this entire hospital down if you drag out your stay here."

Alina didn't move.

Her hands gripped the blanket, her eyes fixed on an empty point in front of her.

Her mind was locked on Daniel's threat.

The journalist. Dirty my hands.

'Did someone die?' she thought.

She reached for the TV remote and searched for the latest news. On one of the channels, she came across a report about a tabloid journalist — an unnatural death.

Alina immediately understood. It had to be connected to Daniel's threat just now. Her tears fell harder. She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold all over.

"Daniel," Alina whispered to the empty room, her voice barely audible. "What have you done? Did you really hurt someone — for me?"