The Unwanted Wife's Return (Ex-Husband Wants Me Back) novel Chapter 32

Too Late To Claim Me 

HANNAH’S POV: 

He gulped and added, “I know there’s still a lot to be discussed, and resolved but I do believe….” He was still speaking but I had mentslly cut him. 

Enough was enough, and without any words, I exhaled and reached for it. I placed the envelope on the white linen tablecloth between us. For a heartbeat, he didn’t notice. He was too lost in his reverie, his voice filled with hope, his hands animated as he painted pictures of a second chance neither of us had asked for. 

“Elijah,” I called his attentin, cutting him short. My tone was calm, clipped. “Before you go any further, I need you to look at this.” 

His eyes flickered down. The moment he saw the envelope, his expression faltered. His hand froze mid-gesture. Slowly, he picked it up, sliding out the neat stack of papers. His eyes scanned the bold heading which read, Petition for Divorce and I watched the light dim in him like a candle snuffed out by a sudden wind. 

“What is this?” His voice was low, almost disbelieving. 

“You know what it is.” I answered in a tired tone. 

His jaw clenched as he flipped through, his eyes darting across my signature on every page. “No. No, Hannah… you can’t-” 

“I can,” I cut in sharply. “And I already did. These papers were filed. Tonight was just the courtesy of handing them to you directly. We’ve been apart for seven years and that’s already grounds for the dissolution of this marriage. There’s nothing attaching us to one another, this is it.” 

As soon as those words escaped my lips, I thought about the twins whom he would never meet and how they were indeed what could be attaching us to one another. 

His breathing grew uneven, his hands tightening around the envelope until it crumpled. “After everything I said, after… after what I’ve been trying to do all week.” 

“Words don’t erase the past,” I interrupted again, my voice steady though my heart raced. “They don’t erase what you did to me. What you took from me. How you treated me. And they don’t undo the fact that I left you for a reason. A reason that hasn’t changed.” 

The silence that followed was deafening. The waiter appeared briefly with our wine but sensed the storm at our table and disappeared just as quickly. 

Elijah leaned back in his chair, staring at me as though he was seeing me for the very first time. His face was pale, his eyes clouded with something between anger and despair. “Hannah… please. I’ve changed. I can do better. I just need-” 

“What you need,” I began saying firmly, rising to my feet, “is to accept that this is over. It was over years ago, Elijah. Tonight was never about reconciliation. It wasn’t like we were never even going to be married more than two years, remember? And I never knew you then nor do I want to know you now. This is it.” 

I picked up my clutch, sliding it neatly under my arm. My chair scraped softly against the floor as I pushed it back. 

His hand shot forward, gripping the edge of the table as though he was anchoring himself. His voice broke, low and desperate: “Please, Hannah. Don’t do this. Don’t end us like this.” 

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