The Billionaire's Silent Wife (Ryan and Eve) novel Chapter 105

CHAPTER 105 The Mother Who Chope War

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CHAPTER 105, The Mother Who Chose War

Ryan stood on the terrace, the cool morning air brushing against his face, making the hairs along his jaw

prickle as if the environment itself sensed the tension surging through him. The city below hummed quietly, cars gliding down the main road, a distant dog barking, the distant thrum of early morning workers

starting their routines. Everything and everyone else moved on as though the world hadn’t just shifted

under his feet.

As though his mother hadn’t just chosen violence.

Leah’s silence on the other end of the call wasn’t peaceful.

It wasn’t reflective.

It was the kind of silence that came when someone had been struck in the ego so hard they needed a

moment to reassemble their armour.

Ryan didn’t speak.

He let her sit with it.

Let her feel the weight of what he had said.

Let her realise that for the first time in his life, he was not bending.

When Leah finally found her voice, it returned full of venom.

“That’s a lie!” she snapped. “Kimberly would NEVER say something like that. Never! Is it that girl putting

these ideas in your head?”

Ryan breathed out a humourless laugh, the sound floating into the morning air like a dark, soft exhale of

disbelief.

“Keep telling yourself that, Mum.”

There was no sarcasm in his voice.

No raised tone.

Just exhaustion, bone-deep exhaustion, the kind that comes not from lack of sleep but from years of

trying to reason with someone who was committed to misunderstanding him.

He rubbed a hand along his jaw, feeling the tension there.

“But let me ask you this,” he said quietly, each word sharp but measured. “You didn’t even sound surprised

when I mentioned it. So tell me, Mother… did you actually put her up to it? Or are you just pretending for the sake of your pride?”

A sharp inhale snapped through the phone.

“How dare you insinuate,”

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“I didn’t need to insinuate anything,” Ryan cut in smoothly. “Your reaction said enough.”

Leah’s voice rose instantly, indignant. “I didn’t need to steal anything!”

A bitter laugh slipped from Ryan’s chest, deeper, harder this time.

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“Of course not. Not when I’ve been monitoring every cent you spend. To make sure you didn’t find another

roundabout way to funnel money to Steven behind my back.”

Silence.

He didn’t raise his voice, he didn’t need to. His tone alone carried enough precision to cut straight through

Leah’s composure.

“You could have got desperate,” he added.

That comment struck something raw,

Leah gasped, offended. “RYAN, how DARE you?! I have NEVER,”

“Never what?” he said coolly. “Never lied? Never manipulated? Never pushed other people to do your dirty work so you could keep your hands clean?”

“Enough!” Leah snapped.

But Ryan wasn’t stopping.

Not today.

“I know how you operate, Mum.”

“You know NOTHING!” she hissed.

“I know you’re capable of this,” he said. “I know you encouraged Dad to call the police on Eve. I know you’re the one who pushed for the public statement. The press release. The televised announcement.”

Leah made a strangled noise. “I did no such thing,”

“Then prove it,” Ryan said simply.

Silence.

Not defensive silence.

Fearful silence.

The line crackled quietly as though even the phone was holding its breath.

Leah regained herself enough to scoff. “It was only one point eight million, Ryan. ONLY one point eight! And didn’t you give that girl TEN million? Are we really having this argument over such a minor sum?”

Ryan felt something cold and sharp slide through him.

His mother’s priorities had always been warped.

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CHAPTER 105 The Mother Who Chose War

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But hearing it out loud, hearing her refer to his wife as that girl, hearing her reduce months of trauma, humiliation, unjust accusations to a “minor sum”, it made him feel something ancient snap inside him.

“Mum,” he said, voice low. “I told you and Dad that the amount was too small for police involvement. I told you it wasn’t worth ruining a life over.”

“I told you not to escalate it.”

“You insisted,” he said. “You wanted her disgraced. You wanted the shame. You wanted the humiliation.”

“I DID NOT, !”

“You did,” he cut in sharply. “And Dad followed your lead. As always.”

A shaky breath scraped through the line, and he knew his words had landed with painful accuracy.

“Ashbrook men never make decisions alone,” he said. “We’ve always been an extension of your ambition.”

He paused, his voice softening but in a way that felt more dangerous.

“You and Dad used her,” he said. “A pregnant woman. Someone who loved me. Someone who was loyal to this family. And you threw her to the wolves.”

Leah said nothing.

The silence was a confession.

“All I want to do now,” Ryan continued, “is vindicate my wife. And the mother of my child.”

The words felt powerful. Solid.

Heavy.

They hung between them.

Then Leah spoke, and her voice was cold enough to freeze bone.

“I will NEVER accept a Reynolds spawn as my grandchild.”

For a moment, Ryan said nothing.

Then he laughed, a short, low, deadly sound.

It wasn’t humour.

It was the sound of disbelief that a human being could be so cruel without flinching.

“You don’t have to accept anything,” he said smoothly. “My child doesn’t need your approval.”

“You will NOT allow a bastard to inherit,”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Ryan said softly. “Did you forget? I’m the one with real control here. Not you. And my child,

MY child, will inherit whatever I choose.”

Leah sputtered. “You… you’re letting that girl fill your head with nonsense! She’s manipulating you,”

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CHAPTER 105 The Mother Who Chose War

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“No,” Ryan said sharply. “You manipulated me. All my life. Eve is the first thing in my world I chose by

myself.”

A sharp silence hit again.

“I met Oliver,” he added. “The man you keep implying she slept with. There’s nothing between them. Eve

never looked at him the way she looks at me.”

“She lied!” Leah spat. “Women like her, ”

“Mother,” Ryan said tightly, “this is the last time you will ever call my wife a liar.”

“And why should I believe that child is yours?! Why would you accept such a thing?!”

“Because I trust my wife,” he said simply:

Nothing more. Nothing less.

The silence that followed was suffocating, loud, ugly, thick with resentment.

“You didn’t think this through,” Leah finally whispered. “You think this is strength, Ryan? You think this is loyalty? No. This is stupidity.”

“You’re afraid,” Ryan corrected.

“Afraid? AFRAID? Me?”

Then she snapped, the anger cracking through her composure like lightning.

“Do you know what this scandal has done to us? To your father? To the company? The police have

interrogated him TWICE already! Investors are pulling out! Reporters won’t stop calling! Steven is already trying to ruin us, and you want to help him finish the job by sending your own sister to jail?!”

There it was.

The truth she hadn’t said but always acted on.

Money.

Legacy.

Reputation.

The Ashbrook name.

Not justice.

Not truth.

Not family.

Ryan felt all remaining sympathy leave him.