The Billionaire's Silent Wife (Ryan and Eve) novel Chapter 60

Chapter 60 Cutting Strings

Eve’s POV

The drive home was made of silence, thick, suffocating, unbroken.

The hum of the engine was the only sound between them. The sun had begun to sink, spilling its orange glow across the dashboard, but inside the car it might as well have been midnight.

Ryan’s hands were tight on the steering wheel. His jaw worked, muscle twitching with every breath. Eve stared out of the window, her reflection faint against the glass. Two ghosts, one driving, one disappearing, sharing a space they didn’t know how to fill.

When they pulled into the driveway, she unbuckled her seatbelt quietly, half expecting him to walk straight to his office like he always did. But when she opened the door, he was already stepping out too, following her inside.

The air in the foyer felt charged, waiting.

She set her purse down and turned, and there it was. The look. The question sitting in his eyes like a storm waiting for a trigger.

“You say all those things to me, Eve,” he began, voice rough, “yet you’re carrying another man’s child.”

He gave a dry, humorless chuckle. It wasn’t amusement, it was disbelief, bitterness twisted

into sound.

Her heart dropped.

He still thought that.

She turned to face him fully, the ache in her chest turning sharp. “Three years, Ryan,” she said quietly. “Three years and you don’t know me.”

Her voice trembled but her eyes didn’t waver.

“You placed me on birth control and reminded me again and again that nothing would come out of this, You made sure of that. I was just a tool to you, Ryan, something to use when you pleased. So don’t you dare act hurt.”

The words hit him like bullets, every syllable pulling up ghosts he thought he’d buried. His eyes darkened.

“Is that what you think?” he said, stepping closer. “That you were just a tool to me?”

1/5

Chopdig kj Cutting Strings

She didn’t move. “Weren’t 17”

Ryan’s anger flared, not at her, but at himself.

“I could have had anyone else, Eve,” he said, his tone sharp but not cruel, “Anyone. But I came home to you every night. I never cheated on you. Not once!”

Her eyes flickered, uncertain.

“Those receipts you saw,” he continued, voice low, controlled. “They weren’t for her. Kimberly and my mother would drag Luan everywhere, dinners, charity events, they’d bring her along just so people would talk. But I never looked back. Not once”

He took a step closer, his expression cracking with something raw. “Do you know what it feels like to have someone pressing every button you have, controlling you? To have your father walk into my office every month, threatening me with another secret, another favour owed?”

He exhaled shakily, raking a hand through his hair,

“I want to destroy him sometimes, I should. But I don’t. Because of you. Every single time, Eve. And I hate myself for it.”

He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. “I still do.”

He looked at her again. “I was angry, Eve. I still am. Taking away my choice still hurts.”

Eve’s voice was soft, broken but steady. “Then you should have let me go when I left, Ryan. You could have had your choice. Your love.”

He moved toward her before she could finish, his hand catching her wrist gently. The fury in his eyes dimmed, replaced by something deeper, almost pleading,

“My choice would have been you, Eve,” he said quietly. “It was always you.”

For a second, she forgot how to breathe.

She shook her head, the pain in her throat rising like a tide. “No. Don’t try to get in my head, Ryan. Don’t you dare,”

He nodded once, slowly. “You think I didn’t care? I came home to you every night. I made sure you never lacked for anything, I could have walked away like everyone wanted, but I didn’t. I stayed. I provided. I protected you. Even when I was furious. Even when I was broken.”

Her tears fell freely now, hot against her skin. “My father did this,” she said, her voice rising, shaking. “But you hurt me the most, Ryan.”

215

<Chapter 60 Cutting Strings

He froze.

Claim

“You took from me and never gave back. Not once did you hold me after. Not once did you say anything kind. Not once did you see me. When Nana died, I mourned her alone. Did you even notice? Did you even know my world was falling apart too?”

Her words cut through him like glass.

He wanted to defend himself, to explain, to say he did notice, he just didn’t know how to show it. But the words didn’t come.

“You hurt me the most, Ryan,” she whispered again.

Something in him cracked. He stepped forward and held her, his arms wrapping around her trembling frame. His voice dropped to a near whisper.

“Then let down your walls so I can make it up to you.”

She stiffened in his arms. Slowly, she pulled away, eyes rimmed with red.

“It’s my only defense,” she said. “My only protection.”

And she turned, walking toward the stairs.

He followed, the sound of her steps echoing off the marble.

“Tell me what you want me to do, Eve,” he said, his voice rough with desperation. “Tell me you won’t go back to him.”

She stopped at the top of the stairs, her back to him. She was about to speak, to tell him there was no him, that she had never betrayed him, when his phone rang.

The sound shattered whatever fragile peace had started to form between them.

He answered, irritation flashing across his face.

“What?”

Eve stood still, watching him, every nerve on edge.

His expression hardened with every word that came through the receiver.

“I won’t,” he said finally, voice low and cold. “You and Mom can attend. You don’t get to use me to cover your shame.”

Eve’s breath caught, he was talking to Jonathan.

“You’re the ones he’s controlling, not me,” Ryan continued, his tone like steel. “And definitely

3/5

<Chapter 60 Cutting Strings

Claim

not Eve. My wife and I are out of this fucked-up game. Whatever Steven has on you, that’s your problem. Let the high and mighty Jonathan and Leah attend his party and smile for the cameras. You don’t get to use me anymore.”

He hung up sharply, the sound echoing through the hall.

Then he looked at Eve, his breathing heavy, his eyes fierce but strangely clear.

“We won’t be dancing to your father’s tune anymore,” he said. His voice wasn’t angry now, it was resolute, final. “You and me, Eve. I’m cutting his strings.”

He didn’t wait for her to answer. He just turned and walked away, his footsteps fading down the hall.

Eve stood there, gripping the railing, her heart a storm of emotions, fear, confusion, and something dangerously close to hope.

She watched him disappear around the corner, realizing that for the first time, Ryan Ashbrook had stood against them, against everyone who used them like pieces on a board.

And this time, he was doing it for her.

But she also knew what defying Steven Reynolds meant.

Nothing he did went unanswered.

As the house settled into silence again, she placed a trembling hand over her belly and

whispered to the life growing there,

“Whatever happens next, we’ll survive it. We have to.”

Downstairs, Ryan poured himself a glass of whiskey and stared at the dark liquid. The burn in his chest wasn’t just from the drink, it was from everything he’d swallowed for years.

He had spent so long obeying, enduring, pretending that power made him free. But he had been Steven’s puppet as much as anyone else.

Now he was done.

If there was one thing he had learned tonight, it was that freedom always came at a price.

And he was finally ready to pay it.

2

Comments

H

Vote