The Billionaire's Silent Wife (Ryan and Eve) novel Chapter 183

Chapter 183 Steven Breaks and Tells the Secret

The police had moved quickly the moment Steven handed over the threats. Units had been dispatched. Names had been barked into radios. Leah Ashbrook, his mother, had become an official target. Chief Claude had promised action in a tone that tried to sound confident and came out strained instead.

Then the cars had left with lights flashing into the night.

And now the abandoned tower was quiet again.

Too quiet.

No sirens. No officers. Just weeds, rust, chains, and the cold air scraping across Ryan’s skin like

punishment.

Tevin stood a few steps away, arms folded, jaw tight. Maxwell was closer, silent and still, eyes scanning the perimeter even though the police were gone, because Maxwell looked like the type of man who never assumed danger had left simply because authority did.

Steven paced in frantic, broken circles, dragging his hands through his hair like he was trying to rip the thoughts out of his head.

Ryan didn’t pace.

He couldn’t.

If he started moving, he didn’t know if he’d stop.

He stared at the chains again, two heavy lengths of metal that had held two women.

Eve.

Alissa.

Two lives tied down like objects.

He felt something inside him twist hard enough to hurt.

Tevin’s voice cut into the silence. “Ryan. Look at me.”

Ryan didn’t move his eyes. “Don’t.”

Tevin took one step closer anyway. “You can’t freeze.”

Ryan’s jaw tightened. “I’m not freezing.”

Maxwell spoke for the first time, voice flat and dangerous. “You’re calculating. That’s different.”

Ryan’s grip tightened around the broken phone. The cracked screen cut into his palm. He didn’t care.

Steven stopped pacing suddenly and turned, his eyes wild. “They won’t find anything.”

Ryan’s gaze snapped to him, cold. “What.”

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Chapte 123 Steven Breaks and Tells the Secret

Steven’s voice was hoarse. “The police. They won’t find anything on her.”

Tevin’s brows knitted. “Steven,”

Steven shook his head violently, like even acknowledging Tevin’s presence felt like delay. “Leah has a very good fixer. She doesn’t leave loose ends. She doesn’t leave evidence. She doesn’t leave,” he swallowed hard, eyes burning, “, witnesses.”

Ryan went very still.

The word witness landed like a blade.

Maxwell’s jaw flexed. “You’re saying she’s done this before.”

Steven laughed, sharp and broken. “I’m saying she lives like this.”

Ryan’s voice was low. “The police are going to her house.”

Steven stepped closer, desperation tightening his features. “And they’ll find a polished woman in silk and pearls who cries and tells them she’s being targeted. She’ll offer them tea. She’ll call them ‘officer’ with that soft voice. And her fixer will already have wiped everything that matters.”

Tevin’s mouth tightened. “You don’t know that.”

Steven’s eyes flashed. “I do know that.”

Ryan’s jaw clenched. He didn’t want to believe it. Not fully. Not even now. Not even with Eve’s phone shattered in his hand and chains lying in the dirt.

Because if he believed Steven, then he had to accept the unthinkable:

That his mother, Leah Ashbrook, had planned this.

That she had taken Eve.

That she might be about to kill her.

Ryan felt a dark pulse of rage and fear collide in his chest.

He forced his voice steady. “The police have resources.”

Steven scoffed. “So does Leah.”

Ryan took one step closer, his eyes turning colder. “If you’re so sure, why are you standing here talking and

not telling them everything you know.”

Steven’s mouth tightened.

The hesitation was small.

But it was there.

And Ryan saw it.

Tevin’s brows rose slightly. Maxwell’s gaze sharpened.

Ryan’s heart thudded in his chest. “Steven.”

Steven looked at him, and for the first time tonight, Ryan saw no performance in Steven’s face.

Only fear.

And grief.

And a kind of exhausted surrender.

“It has come to this,” Steven said hoarsely. “So I will tell you who your mother really is.”

Ryan’s stomach dropped.

He braced himself without meaning to, his shoulders tightening, his jaw clenching, his mind shifting into that place where you accepted impact before it landed.

Tevin stepped closer to Ryan, not touching, but near enough to be felt.

Maxwell stayed silent, eyes locked on Steven.

Steven’s gaze flicked between the three men, then landed on Ryan again. “Do you want them here for this.”

Ryan didn’t hesitate, because he could already feel the ground shifting beneath him. “Yes.”

Tevin’s mouth tightened with grim approval. Maxwell didn’t move, but his presence felt heavier, like a wall

behind Ryan’s back.

Steven nodded once, as if that settled something.

Then he exhaled slowly, like he was about to jump off a cliff.

“Leah was never faithful to Jonathan,” Steven said.

Ryan’s eyes narrowed. He said nothing.

Steven continued, voice low and strained. “Never. Not once. Not for the whole marriage.”

Tevin’s jaw tightened. Maxwell’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes sharpened.

Ryan’s voice came cold. “That’s your secret.”

Steven’s gaze snapped to him. “It’s not about a marriage bed. It’s about what she does when she wants something and how far she’ll go to make sure no one exposes her.”

Ryan’s hand tightened around the broken phone.

Steven swallowed hard. “During my time working for your parents, she had flings. Affairs. Men she kept

around like… entertainment.”

Ryan’s mouth went tight. “And my father didn’t know.”

Steven let out a humourless breath. “I don’t know. I believe, Jonathan pretended not to know. He

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Chapter 183 Steven Breaks and Tells the Secret

pretended because it was easier. Because he is spineless.”

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