The Wife he threw Away (Claire and Lucian) novel Chapter 314

“We could renovate.” I said quietly.

Lucian looked at me.

“I mean the Dhark mansion.” I wiped another tear from my cheek. “We could change things.”

He didn’t interrupt.

“I know what that house means to you. Memories of your mother, your childhood...”

He nodded.

“All the beautiful memories you have there there.” I squeezed his hand. “I don’t want you to lose that because of me.”

Lucian stared at me for a moment, then he smiled.

“You’re the one who taught me that my mother’s memories aren’t trapped inside those walls,” he said. “You told me that on my birthday, remember?”

He placed my hand on his chest. “You reminded me that she lives in my heart.”

My eyes filled with tears again as I nodded. “She does.”

“I know.” He glanced around the room. “And that’s why I don’t need the mansion to keep her.”

I stayed silent.

Lucian continued. “The truth is, Claire, the mansion isn’t only filled with good memories for me either.”

I watched his jaw clench. That’s how I knew he was about to say something difficult for him.

“My father had always been a difficult man. But after my mother passed, he became even worse.”

I already knew about Leonard Dhark. But hearing Lucian say it again still hurt.

“He became colder.”

His eyes drifted toward the windows.

“I spent years in that house feeling like I had to earn the right to belong there.”

I moved closer to him.

“And then there was Eva.”

He let out a humorless breath.

“My greatest regret.”

I looked down.

He continued.

“I brought her into that house.”

His jaw tightened.

“And everything that followed happened under that roof.”

He looked at me.

“I don’t want to pretend those memories don’t exist.”

“I know.”

“But I also don’t want them to define the place where we raise our children.”

My heart squeezed.

He took both my hands.

“I’m not selling the mansion.”

I looked up.

“You’re not?”

“No.”

He shook his head.

“That house belongs to my history.”

Then he looked around us.

“But this?”

His eyes softened.

“This belongs to our future.”

I couldn’t speak.

He continued.

“I want our children to grow up somewhere that doesn’t know anything about our worst days.”

A tear slipped down my cheek, despite all my efforts to hold it back.

“I want their first memories to be ours,” Lucian explained. “I want their first Christmas here.”

I laughed through my tears.

“Their birthdays.” He nodded. “Their first steps.”

“Lucian…”

“Their first day of school.”

I smiled.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself.”

“I have plans.”

“Apparently.”

He pulled me gently into his arms.

“I want this house to remember the best days of our lives.”

I rested my head against his chest. For a moment, I simply listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

Then I asked: “When did you decide?”

“A few days ago.”

“You bought it a week ago.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify