The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 152

Chapter 86-1

The hum of the refrigerator is the loudest sound in the kitchen, a low, steady thrum that does almost nothing to drown out the oppressive silence settling over us.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city sprawls like a blanket of scattered embers against the pitch-black night, indifferent to the violent fracture that has torn through my family just hours ago.

Clam

sit perched on the edge of the tall wooden stool, my hands wrapped tightly around a mug of green tea. Across the marble island, Locke moves with quiet, practiced rhythm. He’s rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, revealing the intricate ink tracing his forearms.

He’s preparing a pasta dish, boiling a pot of salted water, slicing ripe cherry tomatoes, and tossing garlic into a skillet with olive oil. The sharp, comforting aroma fills the kitchen, a stark contrast to the thick, lingering ghost of Willow’s rage.

Locke’s trying to create a sanctuary, I know. He’s trying to build a mundane, safe reality out of garlic, olive oil, and boiling water to protect me from the storm raging inside my head.

I appreciate it; God knows I adore him for it. But every time I take a sip of tea, my tongue feels dry, and my throat tightens around a heavy knot of shame.

You always win. You’ve spent your whole life winning without even realizing you were playing a game.

Willow’s voice echoes softly in my ears, repeating on an endless, torturous loop. I stare down into the pale green liquid, watching my own fractured reflection tremble against the surface.

She was wrong about so much. She was delusional about Locke, dangerously unmoored, and wildly unfair to my father. But buried beneath all that festering jealousy, beneath the wild accusations and spiritual babble, her words have carved deep, bleeding gashes straight into my conscience:

You have money and protection… a luxurious penthouse… a family…Locke…

Am I spoiled? Have I taken every single safety net in my life for granted just because I’ve never known a world without them?

I think about my terrible marriage to Knox: the isolation, the cheating, the bruising nights spent lying awake waiting for the other shoe to drop. When it all blew up, I wasn’t forced onto the streets. 1 didn’t spend nights freezing in a back alley or packing my entire life into a single worn backpack. I ran straight home. I fell, and a wall of powerful, dangerous men instantly moved to catch me.

Willow has fallen her entire life, and no one has ever caught her. People have just watched her hit the pavement and called it part of her journey.

“You’re doing it again, baby.”

Locke’s deep, gravelly voice cuts through the dark spiral of my thoughts. I blink, lifting my head slowly to find him standing just on the other side of the island. He’s turned off the flame under the skillet and is leaning his broad hands against the marble, watching me with intense eyes that read every

micro-expression on my face.

“Doing what?” I whisper, my voice sounding thin and small in the quiet kitchen.

1/2

Chapter 86+

Claim

“You’re absorbing her toxicity,” he says 30ftly, his brow furrowing as he tracks the pale, exhausted lines of my face. “You’re taking every insane, bitter string of poison she spat at you, and weaving it into a hair shirt

to wear.”

I look down at my hands, my fingers tightening so hard around the ceramic mug that my knuckles turn white. “She wasn’t entirely wrong, you know.”

Locke lets out a quiet sigh, stepping around the side of the island until he’s standing right beside my chair. He reaches out, his broad, calloused hand gently wrapping around my wrists, easing my grip off the hot mug before I can hurt myself.

“What’s happening in that head of yours, Zara?”

I

“I’m not apologizing for existing,” I say, a hot, stinging tear escaping my eye and trailing down my cheek. I try to wipe it away quickly, but Locke is already there, his warm thumb gently brushing the moisture off my skin. “It’s just… look at this place, Locke. Look at my life. I have Dad, and Mayhem, and Jade. I have the club. I have an entire army keeping me safe. I have you.”

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