The Wife he threw Away (Claire and Lucian) novel Chapter 168

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT CLAIRE’S POV

Nothing was wrong with me.

The thought repeated endlessly in my head during the drive back to Nathaniel’s house.

Nothing was wrong with me.

No part of me was damaged.

I wasn’t incapable of conceiving, carrying and birthing a child.

My fingers remained tightly wrapped around the test results sitting in my lap.

I must have reread it twenty times already.

I still couldn’t stop looking at it. Like somehow, the words might just rearrange themselves if I looked long enough.

But they never did.

I stared at the papers again after we entered Nathaniel’s house.

Then again after sitting down on the couch.

And somehow, the truth still didn’t feel real.

It felt like a lucid dream I would soon be woken from.

Nathaniel loosened his tie quietly before crouching slightly in front of me.

“Claire.”

I looked up slowly as he held my hands.

And suddenly-

everything shattered.

A small, broken sound escaped me before I could stop myself.

Then tears came immediately afterward.

Not loud sobbing or even screaming.

Just the grief… the sadness, collapsing inward all at once.

“I… I hated my own body.”

My voice cracked violently as I tried to speak.

Nathaniel’s expression tightened instantly.

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UNDRED AND SIXTY HIGHT CLARES POV

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He moved to sit beside me immediately, wrapping his right arm carefully around my shoulders while I cried harder.

“I know,” he said quietly.

No.

No, he didn’t.

Because no one did.

No one knew what it felt like to spend years believing your body had failed the person you loved most.

And to have it all confirmed in the most humiliating way possible.

I pressed trembling fingers against my mouth.

“I thought-” My breathing shook. “I thought I couldn’t have children.”

The words destroyed me all over again.

Because I remembered everything differently now.

The fertility appointment, the cold hospital office.

The way Lucian had sat beside me in complete silence afterward, while I tried desperately not to fall

apart.

Then the way I begged him later to say something.

Anything.

I remembered standing in his office, literally begging to get words out of him, even after he had

embarrassed me with the affair.

God.

I had apologized so many times.

I remembered the board pressure he spoke so often about too.

The whispers from investor’s wives, the glances and politely hurtful remarks at events.

I watched Lucian slowly start carrying the weight of Dhark Holdings more heavily on his shoulders while our marriage quietly fractured beneath it.

Then Eva entered our lives.

And somehow everything got worse from there.

But now-

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INDWET AND SIXTY FIGHT CLAIRE SPOV

the memories had changed.

Because this entire time… I knew we had both been lied to.

A fresh wave of tears hit me so suddenly I almost doubled over.

Nathaniel tightened his arm around me immediately, pulling me even closer.

“She’s going to pay for this,” he said again, fury barely restrained beneath his calm tone.

But I could barely hear him anymore.

How could I, when one realization kept crushing through me over and over again?

I could’ve had children.

Having my own family had always been part of my plans.

But I was forced to bury that dream.

I buried it so deeply that I stopped allowing myself to even think about it anymore.

And now suddenly-

it was alive again.

The grief of that nearly suffocated me.

Nathaniel brushed tears away from my face, while speaking to me in soft tones.

“This wasn’t your fault.”

I laughed weakly through my tears.

“I know that now.” I stated.

But knowing it now almost hurt worse.

Because Lucian and I never got the family we wanted.

Not because of me, but because we had both been lied to.

Nathaniel stilled slightly beside me.

And I realized- a little too late- what I had just revealed.

Because this wasn’t only about me emotionally anymore.

It was about Lucian too.

About our marriage.

About everything we had lost.

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DAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FIGHT CUMRESTOV

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Nathaniel noticed it immediately- of course he did.

He was too perceptive not to.

His hand remained warm against mine though, but it was almost like he had grown quieter. More uncertain.

Then finally, he asked me very softly, “Are you thinking about him?”

I froze completely then.

Because I was.

Not romantically- not fully.

But emotionally?

God, how could I not be?

Everything about this revelation led back to him.

It led back to us. To the life we thought we couldn’t have.

“We lost everything over a lie.”

Nathaniel looked away briefly afterward.

And for the first time since I had known him, I saw fear flicker quietly across his face.

Not anger-fear.

Because suddenly the foundation of my divorce had shifted.

He exhaled slowly before speaking again.

“If it’s any comfort, I already told Lucian.” 1

My head snapped toward him instantly.

“What?”

Nathaniel nodded once. “We’re building a case against Eva and this new evidence is one piece in the puzzle.” He stated. “Besides, I thought he deserved to know.”

And now, all I could picture was Lucian hearing the truth.

Lucian realizing I had never been infertile.

Lucian realizing we could’ve had children.

A family- everything he had wanted.

The image devastated me so badly that I started crying again immediately-harder this time.

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OSA HUNDRE AND SIXTY LIGHT CLAIRES POV

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Nathaniel pulled me closer instantly, clearly assuming the grief that was bringing these violent sobs out of me was entirely my own.

Maybe part of it was.

But another part- another painful part- ached for Lucian too.

Because I knew this revelation would destroy him.

Nathaniel held me quietly until my breathing finally steadied again.

Then eventually, I pulled away.

“I think…” I swallowed hard. “I think I need to be alone tonight.”

Concern took over his expression immediately.

“Claire-”