The Wife he threw Away (Claire and Lucian) novel Chapter 92

CHAPTER NINETY TWO LUCIANS POV

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CHAPTER NINETY-TWO_ LUCIAN’S POV

By the time the sun rose over the glass towers of Dhark Holdings, I had already been in my office for a

few hours.

The city moved like it normally did.

I didn’t.

The audit trail was open across three screens, with lines of data layered over each other-timestamps, authorizations, and routing paths. Everything was clean and orderly. 1

Except it wasn’t.

I leaned back slightly, narrowing my eyes as I traced the sequence again.

The fifty million that was redirected.

It wasn’t delayed. It wasn’t flagged. It was moved.

That alone was enough to incite a full investigation.

But it didn’t stop there.

I noticed another entry- smaller this time.

Then another.

Different dates, different channels, but the same pattern.

My jaw tightened as I pulled the full report, expanding the ray. Forcing the system to show me everything it had tried to keep buried beneath routine movement.

It was all revealed slowly, line after line. Transfer after transfer.

Redirections that shouldn’t exist.

Amounts that shouldn’t be missing.

I didn’t move. I didn’t react- at least not outwardly.

J

But inside, something cold and hard had settled in my chest. Then I saw the total, finalized at the bottom

of the screen.

$170,000,000.

Gone.

Not in one move. Not even in a coordinated sequence.

Just scattered in fragments, hidden in plain sight.

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CHAPTER NINETY TWO LUCIAN’S POV

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Someone had stolen from me. Repeatedly.

And whoever had done this, was a very smart thief.

The operations were slow, deliberate and carefully planned.

Almost careful enough to avoid notice. Almost.

I closed the file, then on a second thought, I opened it again.

I ran the trail backward, then forward.

Every route led back to one thing: internal authorization.

Which meant someone inside had touched what belonged to me.

I reached for the intercom without hesitation.

“Get everyone in,” I commanded. “All assistants. Now.”

They arrived within minutes. All five of them, all at once.

They stood across from my desk in a straight line, tension already visible in the way they stood.

Good.

They understood the weight of being called in like this.

Let the fear eat them up until the culprit cracked.

I didn’t ask them to sit. I didn’t offer anything.

I let the silence stretch. Let it press against them, let it settle into their bones.

Then I began. “Who approved the secondary channels on the March transfers?”

No one spoke.

Their eyes flickered briefly and instinctively toward each other, then back to me.

“I’ll ask one last time,” I continued, my tone even but threatening. “Who authorized it?”

The younger woman who happened to work closest to me swallowed, then attempted to speak.

“Sir… there might be a system reroute-”

“There isn’t.” I shit that down.

She stopped immediately, and silence returned to the room.

“Heads of finance don’t move money without oversight,” I went on. “Assistants don’t process secondary approvals without clearance.”

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CHAPTER NINETY TWO LUCIANS POV

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My gaze moved slowly across each of them, deliberate, meant to make them squirm.

And they did.

“And yet-$170 million has been redirected through internal channels.”

I watched them as the words left my mouth.

This time, their reaction was immediate.

The shock on their faces was not calculated or controlled. It was very much real, very much unfiltered.

“What?” someone said under their breath.

Another stepped forward slightly. “Sir, that’s not possible-”

“It’s already happened.” I stated factually.

The room went still.

I waited to see if their confusion would shift into guilt.

It only deepened. And fear followed.

Not the kind of fear that hides something, but the kind that realizes something is very, very wrong.

I watched them carefully-every movement, every breath. 1

No one avoided my gaze. No one overexplained. No one tried to redirect the conversation.

They weren’t protecting themselves, they were simply trying to understand.

Just like I was.

My fingers tapped once against the desk.

Then stilled.

Could it be that the culprit wasn’t here?

“This wasn’t external,” I said, more to confirm the thought than to announce it. “No breach. No outside

interference.”

The fear in their expressions intensified. Because they understood what that meant.

Internal; someone with access. Someone with clearance.

And yet, No one here was ready to admit anything or even show any signs of guilt.

“You’re telling me,” I continued, my voice dropping just slightly, “that $170 million moved through this company… through my accounts… and none of you saw it.”

No one answered.

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RN NITV TWO, LUCIAN’S POV

Because they couldn’t. Because it didn’t make sense.

And that was the problem.

I held their silence for another second, getting more angry.

“If I have to repeat myself-” I began.

I didn’t finish the sentence. I didn’t need to.

They understood.

But no one cracked.

Because there was nothing to confess- I could see it now, clearer than before.

This wasn’t planned between them. At least not in the way I had initially thought.

There was no visible pattern of control, just gaps, exploited quietly. Repeatedly.

I leaned back slightly, reassessing the situation

“Leave,” I finally said.

They didn’t hesitate, linger or ask any questions which could further anger me.

They simply scurried out.

Within seconds, the room was empty again.

Except for me and the numbers still sitting on the screen.

Later, someone knocked on the door.

I didn’t look up.

“Enter.”

Theo stepped in.

I didn’t speak immediately, I just let my gaze settle on him long enough to make him very still.

“You’re late.” I stated.

“I was compiling what you asked for,” he replied, holding out a file.

I took it without a word, then opened it.

Eva’s schedule from the past month.

Every movement was well documented. Events, appearance, private engagements.

Then I looked at the appointments. They were repeated and consistent.

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CHAPTER NINETY TWO LUCIAN S POV

Hospital visits, doctor consultations.

The dates aligned neatly- almost too neatly.

My eyes scanned the entries again.

There were no gaps or inconsistencies. No obvious flaws.

It was… complete. Clean.

Maybe even curated.

I closed the file slowly, then looked up at him.

Theo didn’t react.

“Leave it,” I said.

He nodded once, then stepped out.

The door hadn’t fully closed before it opened again and Eva walked in.

I was getting quite used to her irritating habit of entering my space without knocking.

She walked in like she belonged there- like nothing inside this was that important.

“Lucian.” She called.

Her voice was softer than usual.

I didn’t respond immediately.

She crossed the space between us with ease, then placed something on the desk in front of me.

I looked down.

It was an ultrasound; black and white.

Real.

“I went this morning,” she said gently. “You’ve been busy, so I thought you should see.”

I picked it up and studied it for a moment.

It was real.

That wasn’t what was in question.

But the timing…

The consistency of those hospital visits in the schedule in my hand.

Everything aligned perfectly.

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CHAPTER NINETY TWO LUCIAN’S POV

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