The Wife he threw Away (Claire and Lucian) novel Chapter 114

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN LUCIAN’S POV

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By the time Theo was brought in, the house had already settled into a kind of silence that wasn’t natural

I didn’t sit behind the desk this time. Instead, I stood beside it, my hands resting lightly against the polished surface, my attention fixed on the door as it opened.

Theo stepped in looking disheveled, almost like he hadn’t slept.

Good.

He paused just inside the room, uncertain, like he didn’t know how far he was allowed to come.

“Sir,” he said, his tone, polite, and careful. Too careful.

I didn’t respond immediately. I let the silence stretch longer, just long enough for it to start pressing in on

him.

Then-

“Sit.” I said.

He obeyed quickly.

I watched his hands clasp together, then unclasp, then settle again. I watched the movement without

saying anything.

“Do you know why you’re here?” I questioned.

His throat moved as he swallowed.

“I assumed it was about the accounts,” he answered,. “I can explain-” ”

“I’m sure you can.” I stated, cutting him short.

I moved then, circling the desk before finally taking my seat.

Not hurried, not hesitant, but deliberate.

“Explain the one hundred and seventy million.” I demanded.

He did.

Immediately.

Numbers, transfers, and carefully constructed, explanations that sounded rehearsed, my ears, but still incomplete.

I let him talk though- let him feel the silence, let him believe just for a moment that he could still manipulate this conversation in his favor.

He couldn’t.

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When he finished, the room went quiet again.

I leaned back slightly in my seat, studying him.

“You’re still free,” I said, “because I allowed it.”

I watched him go still before I continued. “I could have sued you.”

The color quickly drained from his face.

“Or had you arrested for theft.” I held his gaze. “I still can.”

That was the moment something broke inside him. Not loudly, not dramatically, but I saw it; fear.

Real fear.

“I didn’t-” he started, then stopped, recalibrating. “I didn’t mean for it to go that far.” He blurted out.

“You didn’t act alone.” I stated. It wasn’t a question.

Theo hesitated too long, so I pressed further. “You helped her.”

His eyes flickered.

He didn’t ask who- he didn’t need to ask.

“I don’t know what else to say.” He said, but it came out thinner this time.

I didn’t respond to that. “You must have heard about the incident that took place in my house. Claire was the target, and she has no enemies – none but Eva.”

That got to him.

Something flickered in his eyes, and I watched his jaw tighten slightly. That told me enough.

I leaned forward slightly, my voice lowering.

“What else is she hiding?”

Theo shook his head too quickly.

“There’s nothing else,” he said. “I’ve told you everything I know.”

“Think carefully before you lie to me again.” I said, bringing my voice even lower.

Silence settled heavily between us.

Theo looked away, then, unable to hold my gaze

Then he looked back at me- then away again.

His composure was slipping, I could see that very clearly.

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HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN LUCIANS POV

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The calculation, the hesitation, the fear tightening around whatever he wasn’t saying.

“You don’t know everything,” he said finally. The words came out low, shaky and uneven.

I didn’t move. “Then tell me what I don’t know.”

Theo shook his head immediately. “I can’t.”

“You can.”

“I can’t,” he repeated, more firmly this time-but the fear was still there.

I held his gaze and waited.

Then he exhaled slowly, like he was trying to steady himself.

“There are things…” he started, then stopped.

After a moment, he heaved a sigh, then straightened. “Things you haven’t questioned.” he said.

I watched him. “Be specific.”

“I can’t,” he said again, almost under his breath. “You just… you should look deeper.”

“Into what?”

A pause.

Then-

“Into what she’s told you.” He said. “Everything she’s told you.”

The room fell silent then.

Theo realized much too late that he had already said too much.

“I don’t know anything concrete,” he added quickly. “I just-I heard things.”

“You heard things.” I repeated.

“Yes.” Theo answered.

I didn’t believe him because I knew just how closely worked with Eva. What I didn’t want was to scare

him into silence.

“What things?” I asked.

“Nothing I can prove.” Theo answered quickly.

Not a denial, not an answer, but a retreat.

I let the silence stretch.

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Let him sit in it- in what he had just done.

Then I leaned back slightly.

That was enough.

For now.

I didn’t need him to say more.

He had already said enough.

I lifted my hand and the door opened almost immediately.

Relief flickered across Theo’s face as the guards stepped in.

“Sir-” he started, like he wanted to take something back.

I didn’t give him the chance.

“Take him out.”

They did.

The door closed behind them, and the room fell into silence again.

I sat without moving, without reaching for anything, without calling anyone.

All I did was replay every word he had said.

“You don’t know everything.”

My jaw tightened slightly. That wasn’t information.

It was a warning.

Or a mistake.

Either way, it meant the same thing: that I had been looking in the wrong direction.

Not at what happened, but at what everything I had accepted without question.

If that was true- then I had been looking at this whole situation the wrong way.

I called my assistant in shortly after.

“Prepare the car.” I ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

The drive back to the mansion was quiet- perhaps even a little reflective.

My thoughts were all over the place- spiraling

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INDRED AND FOURIFIN LUCIANS POV

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The event, the timing, Eva.

And then, it was like I could hear Theo’s voice again.

“There are things you haven’t questioned.”

I felt my hand tightened slightly against the armrest.

What hadn’t I questioned?

What had I taken at face value- simply because it came from her?

The car slowed at the gates, and by the time it came to a stop, my mind was already moving ahead-

Steps. Connections. Next moves.

I stepped out of the car without waiting.

“Make sure no one leaves,” I said as I walked inside.

“Yes, sir.”

The house was very quiet- it had been that way since the event. Since Claire had almost died in a house

that used to be hers too.