The Wife he threw Away (Claire and Lucian) novel Chapter 258

For a moment, I simply stood there, my fingers resting lightly against the edge of the lectern, even though I wasn’t looking at my notes anymore.

I knew what came next— I had rehearsed these questions dozens of times.

I’d asked them aloud in an empty conference room until they no longer made my voice shake.

And yet, now that I was here, now that the man who had changed the course of my life was sitting only a few feet away, the words suddenly felt impossibly difficult.

I drew a slow breath. “Dr. Ramon…” I called, my voice suddenly growing a mind of its own, and becoming quieter than before.

“When you handed Mr. Dhark and me that report… were you aware that I believed I would never be able to have children?”

“Yes.”

The answer landed with a weight that no dramatic speech ever could.

I swallowed carefully before asking the next question.

“Did that matter to you?”

Silence.

He didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he stared at the witness stand as though hoping the wood would somehow swallow him whole.

Finally…

“It should have.”

Nothing else.

Just four words.

It should have.

For some reason, they hurt far more than if he’d apologized.

Because an apology acknowledged regret.

Those words acknowledged indifference.

He had known.

He had watched me leave that office believing my future had been stolen.

And he’d let me.

I blinked once, forcing the sting from my eyes before turning back toward the jury.

“No further questions at this time, Your Honor.”

The judge nodded.

“Cross-examination.”

Eva’s lead attorney rose immediately, approaching the witness stand with purpose.

His entire strategy was obvious before he even asked a single question—

Destroy the witness. Destroy his credibility. Destroy everything he’d just said.

“Dr. Ramon…” he began. “You’ve admitted under oath that you committed fraud.”

“Yes.”

“You falsified medical records.”

“Indeed.”

“You accepted bribes.”

“I did.”

“You lied to your patients.”

“Yes.” Dr. Ramon answered, his tone laced with irritation.

“So you violated your professional oath.”

“Yes.”

“You lost your medical license because of those actions.”

“Yes.”

The attorney stopped pacing.

“So…”

He folded his hands together.

“You are, by your own admission, a liar.”

“I was.”

“And now you’ve accepted a plea bargain from the prosecution.”

“Yes.”

“One that significantly reduces your sentence.”

“Yes.”

“So isn’t it true…”

“…that you’ll say absolutely anything Sinclair & Co wants you to say if it means saving yourself?”

The courtroom waited.

Even I found myself watching Dr. Ramon carefully.

He could become defensive.

He could argue.

He could lose the jury.

Instead…

He surprised all of us.

“No.”

The answer was calm.

Steady.

“I am saying…”

He looked briefly toward me before returning his attention to the attorney.

“…what I should have said instead of running.”

Silence.

The attorney’s confident expression faltered ever so slightly.

He tried again.

“So your testimony today is entirely altruistic?”

“No.”

Dr. Ramon shook his head.

“I’m trying to survive.”

He looked toward the jury.

“But survival and telling the truth aren’t mutually exclusive.”

The attorney hesitated.

For the first time during his cross-examination…

He looked uncertain.

“No further questions.”

He returned to his seat.

Jonathan looked at me.

I already knew what he was thinking.

This was our moment.

I stood once more.

“Your Honor…”

“Brief redirect.”

“Proceed.”

I approached the witness stand again.

“You already destroyed my life.”

A long pause.

“You don’t get to destroy my last chance at survival too.”

Eva froze.

The words hit harder than any accusation I’d made.

Because they came from one of her own.

Slowly…

She lowered herself back into her chair.

She looked…

Broken.

Not defeated.

Not yet.

But fractured.

Like someone realizing there was no version of this story where she walked away untouched.

I let the silence linger before speaking. “No further questions.”

When Dr. Ramon stepped down from the witness stand, he didn’t look grumpy.

If anything, he looked lighter. As though finally telling the truth had removed a weight he’d been carrying for too long.

As he walked past counsel’s table, he slowed— only for a second.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered to me.

His voice was so quiet I almost didn’t hear it.

I held his gaze, but chose to say nothing.

Because there are apologies that come too late.

And forgiveness wasn’t mine to give.

The judge checked the time. “We’ll recess for twenty minutes before hearing the next witness.”

His gavel struck once, and the courtroom immediately erupted into conversation.

Reporters rushed for the exits, phones already pressed to their ears.

The gallery buzzed with whispers.

I remained where I was, slowly organizing my exhibits back into neat piles.

My hands were steady now— steadier than I’d expected.

I was sliding one file into my briefcase when I felt a warm hand gently cover mine beneath the counsel table.

I looked sideways.

It was Nathaniel’s hand.

He didn’t say a word— he simply gave my hand a single, reassuring squeeze.

It felt like a silent acknowledgment of everything I’d endured— everything we’d just exposed.

I squeezed back before letting go.

Across the courtroom, Eva was still sitting in her chair.

Her attorneys spoke urgently around her, but she didn’t seem to hear them or even care.

She was looking straight at me.

Or perhaps… not at me, but the life she’d spent years trying to build.

The life she’d tried to steal. The life that was now collapsing around her piece by piece.

It seemed like for the first time since this trial began, she was finally starting to understand that she hadn’t just lost control of the narrative.

She hadn’t just lost public opinion. She hadn’t even lost the case just yet.

What she had truly lost, was the future she’d believed she could manufacture.

And no amount of lies would ever build it again.