The Billionaire's Silent Wife (Ryan and Eve) novel Chapter 177

Chapter 177 The Missing Wife

Ryan expected the house to feel quiet when he got home.

Quiet had become normal lately, quiet with Eve’s footsteps in it, quiet with the kettle clicking, quiet with Marlene moving through the kitchen like a ghost who kept the place running without demanding attention.

Quiet with life.

But when he stepped inside, the silence was wrong.

It wasn’t the kind of silence that meant someone was resting.

It was the kind that meant the house was empty.

Ryan closed the door behind him slowly, keys still in his hand, briefcase still hanging from his fingers. The

lock clicked, sharp in the stillness.

“Eve?” he called, voice low.

No answer.

He stood for a second in the entryway, listening, waiting for the soft shuffle of slippers, the sound of her voice drifting from the living room, the faint run of water in the bathroom.

Nothing.

His jaw tightened.

He set his briefcase down on the console table and checked the time on his watch.

Not late.

Not strange for her to be in another room.

But his gut didn’t settle.

He took off his jacket and hung it neatly out of habit, even though his mind was already shifting into

movement, already scanning for patterns.

“Eve,” he called again, louder.

No answer.

A flicker of irritation rose, brief, sharp, defensive. Ryan hated when people didn’t respond. He hated the feeling of calling into empty air.

He walked through the living room first. The space looked untouched, cushions aligned, the coffee table clean, the curtains half drawn. The air smelled faintly of whatever Marlene had used to polish the wood

last.

Too clean.

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Too still.

Ryan’s eyes moved to the kitchen.

“Marlene?” he called.

The word landed heavier than he expected.

Marlene was usually in by this hour, finishing up whatever she did in the afternoons before leaving.

Sometimes she stayed late if Eve asked her to, especially lately, when Eve’s nausea had been

unpredictable and her appetite fragile.

But there was no sound from the kitchen either.

Ryan’s footsteps were the only ones.

He entered the kitchen, scanning quickly.

No kettle on.

No cup in the sink.

No half-prepared food on the counter.

The place looked like it had been reset.

Like no one had been there for hours.

His stomach tightened.

He opened the fridge without thinking. Closed it. Opened it again like repetition would bring a different

result.

Ridiculous.

He exhaled hard through his nose.

“Marlene!” he called again, this time sharper.

Still nothing.

A cold, familiar tension slid into Ryan’s chest.

He checked the small hallway leading to Marlene’s usual storage room, the laundry area, empty.

No coat on the hook that shouldn’t be.

No bag left by the door.

His mind began to list possibilities.

Marlene might have left early.

Eve might be upstairs.

Chapter 177 The Missing Wife

Eve might be in the garden.

Eve might have stepped out.

Eve might have, his mind tried to reject the thought, but it pushed forward anyway.

Eve might be gone.

Ryan moved faster now, taking the stairs two at a time without fully committing to panic yet.

He checked the bedroom first.

The bed was made.

Not freshly made, Eve never made it that tightly. That was Marlene’s work when she was trying to keep

order.

The pillows were lined too precisely.

Ryan stood still for half a second, eyes narrowing.

His gaze swept the room.

Eve’s slippers weren’t by the edge of the bed.

Her robe wasn’t on the chair.

Her phone charger was empty.

A small, sharp pulse of unease struck deeper.

He turned and checked the bathroom.

Empty.

No steam.

No damp towel.

No scent of soap in the air.

He moved to the sitting room upstairs, where Eve sometimes sat when she didn’t want the openness of

the ground floor.

Empty.

He opened the guest room door out of habit, even though Camila and Mitre had already left days ago.

Empty, cold, untouched.

Ryan’s jaw tightened harder.

He pulled his phone out.

No missed calls.

Chapter 177 The Missing Wife

No messages.

He didn’t like that.

Eve didn’t always text him, but she had been more careful lately. Since Steven’s fiancée went missing, since everything had sharpened into something darker than gossip, Eve had been checking in more.

Not because Ryan demanded it.

Because fear demanded it.

He dialled her number.

It rang once.

Then cut to voicemail.

Ryan frowned.

He tried again.

Straight to voicemail.

His chest tightened.

He wasn’t panicking yet.

Not fully.

But something in him was beginning to shift, the way it always shifted when control was threatened.

He moved back downstairs, scanning again as if he’d missed her. As if she’d appear if he looked hard

enough.

He walked through the hallway, opened the door to Eve’s small reading corner, empty.

He checked the back patio doors, locked.

The garden outside was still, wind moving through leaves gently like nothing in the world was wrong.

Ryan stared at the garden for a second, a cold pulse in his throat.

Then he turned sharply and went to the front door.

He looked at the key bowl.

Eve’s spare set wasn’t there.

His own set was in his hand.

His mind snapped to the simplest conclusion.

She went out.

And didn’t take her phone.

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Chapter 177 The Missing Wife

But then another thought hit, colder.

Or she went out and someone made sure she couldn’t be reached.

He dialled her again, thumb pressing harder this time, as if pressure could force the call through.

Voicemail.

Ryan’s jaw clenched.

He went into the kitchen again and checked the counter, scanning for notes.

Eve sometimes left notes when she didn’t want to text. Small scraps of paper, quick handwriting.

Nothing.

He opened the drawer where Marlene sometimes left grocery lists.

Nothing new.

He turned, walked back to the hallway, and checked the coat closet.

Eve’s coat was gone.

Her shoes, her sensible flats, gone.

Ryan’s stomach tightened.

Okay. She left willingly. She dressed. She took a coat.

That should have calmed him.

It didn’t.

Because if she left willingly, why would she switch her phone off?

Ryan stared at his own phone again, as if it could explain itself.

He called again.

This time the automated message came through, blunt, final.

The phone you are calling is switched off.

Ryan went still.

The air in the house suddenly felt thinner.

His heart beat harder, faster, the rhythm turning ugly.

He hadn’t realised how much he’d been holding his breath until it broke.

He tried again, immediately.

Same message.

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Chapter 17 The Missing Wife

His grip tightened around the phone so hard his knuckles whitened.

His mind began to sprint.

Eve wouldn’t switch her phone off unless she had a reason.

She wouldn’t switch it off when she was pregnant.

She wouldn’t switch it off after everything that had happened, after Alissa, after Steven, after the hints of

Leah’s reach.

Unless,

Unless she wanted privacy.

Unless she was meeting someone.

Unless she was trying to avoid him.