The Billionaire's Silent Wife (Ryan and Eve) novel Chapter 54

<Chapter 54 The Cost of Blood 2

Chapter 54 The Cost of Blood 2

Claim

The words landed harder than she expected. Steven’s nostrils flared. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. His hand clutched at his chest briefly, as though her defiance had struck something deeper than he wanted to admit.

“You’ll regret this,” he managed finally, his breath uneven. “You’ll get rid of that bastard in your womb and give Mr. Ashbrook a proper heir.”

Eve’s laugh was soft but bitter enough to cut glass. “You’re delusional,” she said. “Ryan doesn’t want a child with me. He made that clear every time he told me not to hope. Every time he reminded me that love and family were luxuries we couldn’t afford.”

Her voice broke on the last word. She turned her face slightly, blinking back tears. “You must be out of your mind to think the Ashbrooks want an heir with your blood in their lineage.”

Steven’s mouth opened, but no sound came. For a moment, he looked like a man realizing just how far gone his daughter was from his control.

Eve forced a small, hollow smile. “You sold me once,” she said quietly. “But never again. You can call me ungrateful. You can call me ruined. But you’ll never call me daughter again.”

She turned, her eyes finding Ryan briefly. There was something unspoken between them, a silent acknowledgment that this, whatever it was, had gone too far to fix in a single morning.

Then she stepped away, her shoulders straight even as her knees threatened to give out.

“Eve,” Ryan started, but she didn’t stop.

“I have nothing more to say,” she whispered.

She disappeared down the hall, her footsteps soft against the polished floor. She didn’t go to the master bedroom. Her heart wouldn’t let her. Instead, she returned to the guestroom, the small, lonely place that had once been her world, and closed the door behind her.

The lock clicked with finality.

Inside, the air felt heavier. She stood there for a moment, motionless, staring at the faint imprint her suitcase had left on the floor. Then she sank onto the edge of the bed, her body trembling with the weight of everything she’d held in.

For a few seconds she tried to breathe evenly, but it came out in shuddering gasps. The tears she’d been holding back finally spilled, hot and relentless.

Her cheek still throbbed where her father’s hand had landed. She pressed her fingers against

1/3

<Chapter 54 The Cost of Blood 2

Claim

it, more in disbelief than pain. It wasn’t the slap that hurt, it was the reminder that she’d once called that man family.

The sobs came harder. She tried to muffle them, biting her knuckles, but the silence of the house only made them louder.

She was alone again.

Her mind replayed every word, every accusation, every cruel truth she’d spoken aloud for the first time. The shame. The heartbreak. The relief.

She had told her father he wasn’t her father anymore. And though the words had tasted like liberation, they left a hole so deep it hurt to breathe.

Eve curled on the bed, her hands resting protectively over her belly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to the child growing inside her. “You didn’t deserve to hear any of that.”

Her voice cracked. “But I’ll protect you. Even if I have to do it alone.”

The room felt too small for her grief. Too full of ghosts.

Images flickered in her mind, Ryan at the stove that morning, quiet and distant; his eyes when he saw her father raise a hand; the unreadable expression when she’d said Mr. Reynolds. He had looked shocked, almost… proud.

But pride didn’t matter. Guilt didn’t matter. What mattered was the truth, and the truth was that she could never be free until she uncovered what bound their families together.

Her father’s words echoed again: Nana was dying. What did that have to do with the Ashbrooks? What had the Ashbrooks done that had forced Ryan into this marriage?

She needed to know. And she would find out, no matter what it cost her.

Her tears slowed eventually, leaving her eyes sore and her heart raw. She sat up, staring at the small window. The morning light had shifted into a dull afternoon haze. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear the faint hum of traffic, life continuing beyond the walls of her

quiet prison.

Eve wiped her face and drew a deep breath. Her reflection in the mirror looked nothing like the woman who had once begged for love. This one looked tired, yes, but stronger.

She wasn’t the girl her father could sell anymore. And she wasn’t the woman Ryan could

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify