The Wife he threw Away (Claire and Lucian) novel Chapter 212

CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND TWELVE LUCIAN’S POV

I had never wanted to argue with a sixty-year-old woman more in my life.

Yet somehow, Margot Sinclair was making it very difficult not to.

The video call filled the screen mounted on the wall across from my hospital bed.

Margot sat upright against her pillows, looking entirely too comfortable for someone who had just been told she. was Hart Sullivan’s newest target.

Beside her sat Professor Grant.

Unlike his wife, he looked alarmed- as he should.

Claire stood near the foot of my bed with her arms folded tightly across her chest.

The detective assigned to Hart Sullivan’s case stood nearby.

Nobody looked happy.

Except Margot, who looked like she couldn’t have cared less.

That was the problem.

“I’ve already arranged additional security,” I said.

My shoulder throbbed, my side ached- I ignored them.

“There will be double the number of guards outside your room twenty-four hours a day.”

Margot sighed dramatically. “You make it sound as though I’m under siege.

“You are under siege.”

The words came out sharper than I intended.

Margot raised an eyebrow, while her husband simply adjusted his glasses.

“Margot, perhaps we should take this seriously.” I added, calmer this time. More polite.

“I am taking it seriously.”

“No, you’re not!” Claire interrupted, her voice cutting through the room immediately.

Margot turned toward the camera.

Claire didn’t back down- not in the slightest. “They found a photograph of you in Hart Sullivan’s car.”

Margot nodded. “So I’ve been told.”

Claire looked genuinely offended. “So I’ve been told’?” She repeated. “That’s your response?”

“Claire-”

“No.” Claire shook her head.

“No.” I watched the anger form on her face. “Hart Sullivan has attacked people. In fact, he’s the reason you’re in

that bed.”

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CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND TWELVE LUCIANS POV

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Margot remained calm. “I am aware.” She said. “But I’m choosing not to panic. I’m choosing to focus on what really matters right now: the lawsuit.”

The word came out like a gunshot.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Margot settled back comfortably against her pillows.

“If Hart Sullivan is focusing on me, then he’s stopped focusing on Claire.”

My stomach dropped.

Immediately.

“No.” Claire and I spoke at the same time.

Margot shrugged. “It’s true.”

“No.” Claire took a step closer to the screen. “You don’t get to decide that.”

Margot’s expression softened. “I do, actually.”

“Margot-”

“I’m sixty years old.”

The room went silent. The kind of silence nobody ever tried to fill.

Margot continued. “You’re thirty-one.”

I saw Claire flinch.

“One life has more future attached to it.”

“No.” Claire shook her head immediately. “You don’t get to say things like that.”

Margot remained completely serious.

Not joking, not exaggerating. Serious.

“I’ve had a wonderful life, Claire.”

“Stop.”

“I have.” She stated firmly. “I’ve loved, I’ve won, I’ve lost.”

Claire’s eyes immediately brightened with unshed tears.

“Margot.”

“I’ve lived.” Margot said, her voice softening as she looked directly at Claire.

“You still have so much left.”

Nobody spoke for several seconds, because we all knew she meant every word.

And somehow, that made it much worse.

Thankfully, Claire’s phone rang.

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HAFTER TWO HUNDRED AND TWELVE LUCIANS ROV

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That immediately shattered the tension.

Claire glanced at the screen before answering. “Nathaniel?”

His voice wasn’t loud enough for me to hear what he was saying clearly.

But I knew something was wrong the second her expression changed.

“What?”

A pause.

Then, “What do you mean she’s been taken into custody?”

I looked at her. Even Margot and her husband looked more fixated from the screen.

Claire listened for several more seconds, then frowned.

“She requested legal counsel?”

Another pause.

Then realization crossed her face. “Oh, of course.”

I knew immediately who the requested lawyer was.

Of course it was Eva.

Nothing in our lives was ever allowed to be simple.

Claire rubbed her forehead.

“I’ll be there soon.”

The call ended.

The detective was already moving.

“We need you at the station.”

Claire nodded.

I hated the timing.

She looked toward the screen; towards Margot who was still recovering from the car crash. Towards me and my gunshot wound.

“I have to go.”

Margot waved dismissively. “Go.”

Professor Grant squeezed his wife’s hand.

The detective stepped outside the room to give Claire and I a minute.

Then door closed and silence settled.

I looked at Claire.

Neither of us spoke immediately.

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HACHE WAY HUNDRED AND TWELVE LUCIANS POV

Then I broke the silence, speaking quietly;

“Be careful.”

Her expression softened a little. “I will.”

I studied her face- the exhaustion, the stress lines, the fear she pretended wasn’t there.

For a second, everything else faded away.

The detectives, the case, the hospital.

Everything.

In that moment, it was just Claire and I again.

Like it always somehow became.

When she took a step closer, I felt my pulse stumble.

Neither of us moved away.

The air changed dangerously.

Her dark eyes dropped briefly to my mouth, then returned to mine.

I saw the exact moment she realized how close we were standing.

I saw the exact moment she stopped caring about what the closeness of our bodies meant.

God help me.

I stopped caring too.

Then-

Her phone rang again.

Of course it did.

Claire closed her eyes.

I laughed softly despite myself.