The Wife he threw Away (Claire and Lucian) novel Chapter 91

CHAPTER NINETY-ONE LUCIAN’S POV

I didn’t move when she did.

Instead, I just stood there, watching her.

Claire.

She was right in front of me.

Close enough that I could see how stiff and tense her shoulders were, and the way she held herself together… the way she refused to let anything show.

Somehow, she looked unshaken by the whole situation.

As if what had just happened out there-Eva, the drink, the whispers-hadn’t reached her at all.

My gaze lingered.

And then the realization hit me like a hundred bricks- 1

I hadn’t looked at her like this in years.

Not even when she was my wife.

“Did she do that on purpose?” I asked, even though I knew that probably wasn’t the righy question to ask

in the moment.

Claire met my eyes. “Does it matter?” She sounded slightly irritated.

But she wasn’t reacting. She didn’t even seem angry, neither did she try to defend herself.

She just… didn’t care.

For a moment, I yearned to say something else.

Something I couldn’t quite define.

Maybe her name. Or just a question.

Anything that would pull her attention back to us… to me.

But the words didn’t come.

Damn it. It was as if I didn’t know how to speak to her anymore.

A knock came from the door, bring the moment to an abrupt end.

“Mr. Dhark?”

I didn’t respond. I didn’t even want to move.

But Claire did.

1/4

CHAPTER NINITY ONE, LUCIANS POV

+25 Bonus

Of course she did.

She stepped back first, then walked past me without hesitation. Without even waiting.

She never used to do that before.

I stayed there a couple minutes longer than necessary, before I finally turned and walked out.

The moment I stepped back into the event, the noise hit me- laugher, music, conversations.

All of it sounded louder than it had been before. More irritating. More meaningless.

I moved through the room without acknowledging anyone. I didn’t bother to stop and engage, like they would expect me to.

Unfortunately, Eva found me immediately.

“Lucian,” she said smoothly, slipping into place beside me like she belonged there. “Everyone’s been asking about you. The investors from earlier-”

She continued speaking… lightly, social and polished.

The same way her voice had always sounded.

But something about it felt different now.

Or maybe I was the one seeing it differently.

Before, it had looked like confidence.

Now it looked like performance.

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“…and I told them we could host something next week,” she was saying.

I had only begun listening again, so I didn’t bother to respond.

And she couldn’t tell that I hadn’t heard a single word she had just said.

My attention had already shifted across the room. 1

To her.

Claire stood near one of the pillars, speaking to someone-another man, from the look of it. A guest. Maybe media. Maybe legal.

It didn’t matter.

What mattered was the way she looked… at ease.

There was a faint smile on her lips, and the man beside her was leaning in slightly, interested and comfortable.

2/4

CHAPTER NINETY ONE LUCIAN’S POV

+25 Bonus

Too comfortable.

That would have never happened when we were still married.

I felt something tighten in my chest, Dhark and unwelcome.

I didn’t like it.

It was the same way I felt when I first saw her in the café with Nathaniel.

I forced myself to looked away, but the image stayed in my head.

In fact, more images appeared-

The divorce papers. Her silence. The ring she had left behind.

I had ended it. Signed it. I had let her walk away.

And now-it was starting to feel like a mistake.

“Lucian?”

Eva’s voice cut in again, interrupting my thoughts.

I glanced at her briefly, irritated by her constant presence.

Then I looked away.

When she had first returned to my life, her presence excited me. But now… it felt misplaced and

unnecessary.

I didn’t stay much longer after that.

There was nothing left in that room worth my attention.

The car ride back home was quiet.

And that was when my mind started working again-organizing and sorting. Returning to something

familiar: control.

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