The Wife he threw Away (Claire and Lucian) novel Chapter 173

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-THREE LUCIAN’S POV

The mansion was quiet when I got home.

That wasn’t surprising- for the last couple of months, the mansion had felt unbearably empty.

Once, I had thought this place felt powerful.

Now it only felt hollow.

My gaze drifted instinctively toward the sitting room.

Then toward the kitchen.

Claire used to leave tea steeping too long because she always got distracted reading books while

cooking.

Then I remembered how she used to wait for me there sometimes when I came home late.

I shut my eyes briefly.

God.

I missed her everywhere.

I poured myself whiskey in the study and barely touched it before sinking into the leather chair behind

the desk.

Then I picked up my phone and the first thing I saw was news about the end of the Langford vs Virex

case.

There were multiple pictures of the both legal teams leaving the courthouse earlier today.

Claire in particular looked beautiful.

Confident.

The press had surrounded her like she belonged at the center of the world.

And looking at her now, I realized that she did.

I stared at the picture too long.

Then the memories came anyway.

I was fourteen years old when my father invited the chairman and CFO of Dhark Holdings over for dinner

in the mansion.

Three months after my mother died.

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ONENET AND SEVENTY THREE HAJANS POV

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Three months.

The dining room had felt cold and enormous that night.

The chandelier light reflected sharply against silverware, while the three men discussed the company over untouched wine.

I barely touched my food.

I still remembered thinking my mother would’ve insisted that I ate anyway.

“Lucian.” The chairman called.

I looked up immediately.

“What’s the current valuation growth projection for the Singapore expansion?” He wore a polite, but expectant smile on his face.

I answered carefully- but not quickly enough.

And unfortunately, not completely enough either.

My father sighed sharply from the head of the table.

“Christ!” He exclaimed.

I looked down at my plate, the humiliation hitting me like a hundred bricks.

“Sometimes I think the boy inherited intelligence from absolutely no one.”

The men laughed awkwardly.

I kept my eyes down, but that did nothing to stop the heat burning behind them.

“He’s fourteen,” the CFO offered mildly.

“Exactly,” my father replied coldly. “At fourteen I was already accompanying my father to negotiations.”

My mother would’ve insisted have called him a “hard-ass”. She would have defended me.

She hated when Leonard humiliated me for sport.

But she was gone now. And all I could do was remain silent.

Leonard Dhark leaned back in his chair, visibly irritated.

“Elena should’ve had more children.”

The room went quieter after he said that.

My hands tightened beneath the table.

“One heir isn’t enough,” he continued flatly. “Especially not one this slow.”

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NEWED AND SEVENTY THREE LUCIAN POV

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Something inside my chest twisted painfully.

“She was too sickly for it,” my father added dismissively, not minding the awkward silence. “Always weak, always in the hospital.”

My mother had barely been buried.

Barely.

And still-

this was all he cared about.

Heirs, succession and his legacy.

“She spoiled him, to bits,” Leonard continued. “I’ll make sure he chooses a healthier woman one day.”

The chairman shifted in his uncomfortably.

I said nothing.

Because grief had already taught me silence by then.

But I remembered hating him in that moment- more than all the years I had spent hating him.

Not just for insulting me.

But for speaking about my mother like she had been defective.

Disposable.

Like all she had ever been worth was the children she could or couldn’t produce.

I opened my eyes slowly.

The whiskey burned as it went down my throat.

Ironically, Leonard Dhark died before he ever got to decide who I married.

And somehow-despite hating him for most of my life- I still became him anyway.

My chest tightened at the thought.

No one ever warns you about becoming the thing you hated the most.

Claire had spent years apologizing for something that had never been her fault, feeling defective and damaged.

And I had let her.

Worse-

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COUNDRED AND SEVENTY THREE LUCIANS POV

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I had abandoned her emotionally when she needed me most.

I thought about the nights she tried to talk to me after the diagnosis.

The times she reached for me.

Begged me to say something.

And I had withdrawn further every single time.

In fact, I had gone as far as leaving the house.

Not because I stopped loving her, but because I had been too damaged to know how to survive disappointment without becoming cruel.

Eva may have orchestrated the lie.

But I destroyed my marriage myself.

I let out a harsh laugh.

Maybe this was what I deserved.

Claire gone, Dhark Holdings collapsing, my entire life rotting slowly in front of me.

Perhaps this was my punishment for failing the only person who had truly loved me after my mother.

A soft knock interrupted my thoughts.

Camilla stepped into the study, and as expected, her expression immediately softened when she saw me sitting there alone.

“You haven’t eaten.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“That’s unfortunate,” she replied calmly. “Because I still made dinner.”

I rubbed a tired hand over my face.

“Camilla-”

“No.” Her tone sharpened slightly, like a mother speaking to a stubborn child. “Get up.”

I looked at her quietly for a moment before finally standing.

The dining room felt smaller with only the two of us sitting there.

Camilla watched me carefully while I barely touched the food the food she had prepared.

“You’re spiraling again,” she said eventually.

I let out a humorless laugh.

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NEONDRED AND SEVENTY THREE BOCIANS POV

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“Observant.”

She ignored my attitude.

“You loved Claire deeply, I know that better than most.”

The words landed harder than expected.

“But you punished her for not healing parts of you she never broke.” Camilla added quietly.

The silence that followed was devastating. The kind that hollowed a person out from the inside.

Because she was right.

God, I knew she was right.