Whats She Overheard in Her Own Marriage novel Chapter 360

When Kaia saw Finnían, her expression instantly hardened. “What are you doing here?”

Her tone was so frigid she might as well have been speaking to a total

stranger.

I came to see my daughter. You’ve been looking after her by yourself hese past few days. You must be exhausted,” Finnían replied softly.

I’m not. I’ve been having a great time,” Kaia sĥot back.

Hearing her father’s voice, Brynlee came running out from the balcony. Daddy! What are you doing here?”

She was just as shocked.

Finnian crouched down, scooped his daughter into his arms, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Daddy missed you, so I came to find you.”

But how did you know where we were? I didn’t tell you we were staying at his hotel!” Brynlee wrapped her arms around his neck, asking the exact question that was on everyone’s mind.

Finnian’s handsome face flushed slightly, and he quickly shot a glance at Kaia.

Kaia glared at him with icy disdain.

Celine grit her teeth and let out a sharp, mocking laugh. “Well, well. Does Mr. Sanders have psychic powers? Or maybe he just has us under 24/7 surveillance?”

Finnian managed a tight smile, keeping his composure. “I apologize, Kaia. i was just concerned about your safety, so I had some people discreetly keep an eye on you.”

“Save it.” Celine was absolutely done listening to his garbage. Could this man be any more of a hypocrite?

throat.

Kaia didn’t give him a chance to recover. “Do you even remember what day that was? It was Rafael’s memorial. Your wife, your daughter, and your entire family were downstairs. And where were you? Making out with your brother’s widow in a third–floor storage room.”

“It wasn’t like that!” Finnian’s composure finally shattered. “It’s not what you think, Kaia. It was a misunderstanding.”

Drained of all her energy, Kaia took a few steps back and leaned against the opposite wall, regarding him with ice–cold disdain. “Later that day, you acted like absolutely nothing happened. You walked up to the podium and delivered your eulogy with a straight face. Rafael was so good to you when he was alive. How could you do something so morally bankrupt? She was his wife. Even if you lusted after her…”

‘Kaia.” Finnian’s voice dropped, laced with a faint tremor. “Stop, please.”

‘Why shouldn’t I say it? It’s the truth. When she begged you to give her a child, you didn’t even reject her outright. That tells me everything I need to know about your guilty conscience. A married man who doesn’t know how to set boundaries is already betraying his wife.”

Finnian’s face flushed a deep, violent red. He stared fixedly at her, desperate to explain, yet knowing how pathetic any excuse would sound. ‘You’re disgusting,” Kaia spat.

Finnian leaned back against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut. When he opened them a second later, he had wrestled back a shred of his composure. “Kaia, Noelle had too much to drink that day. Grandmother was threatening to send her out of the country. She was panicking, which is why she said those inappropriate things. It wasn’t her true intention. Afterward, she apologized to me on her own. She admitted she was drunk and babbling nonsense…”

“Enough. I don’t want to hear your pathetic excuses,” Kaia cut him off,

hapter

As soon as they sat down, Celine leaned in. “I can’t believe he actually had us tracked. What a psycho. He clearly doesn’t care about you, but he’s still obsessed with controlling your every move.”

Kaia despised being monitored, but she knew Finnian had the money and power to pull it off. He just slipped up and admitted it today.

“He’s probably just terrified that his precious ‘Mrs. Sanders‘ is going to do something to humiliate him,” Kaia deduced flawlessly.

“The nerve of that guy! He’s out there playing house with his widowed sister–in–law, and he thinks he has the right to control you? Talk about a massive double standard! The monarchy died a long time ago. Does he still think he’s some kind of emperor?” Celine ranted, her anger boiling over on her friend’s behalf.

‘Let him try to control me,” Kaia replied flatly, staring out at the tourists crossing the nearby bridge.

Celine shook her head with a heavy sigh, then muttered, “Please don’t tell me you’re still holding a torch for him after all the toxic crap he’s pulled.”

Kaia shook her head, her voice rock solid. “I’m not. I see right through him

now.”

Celine couldn’t help but ask, “Seriously though, how on earth did Noeile manage to wrap both Sanders brothers, around her little finger? I mean, yeah, she’s pretty, but guys in their tax bracket have seen every stunning supermodel on the planet. Why does it absolutely have to be her?”

Kaia froze. Honestly, she desperately wanted the answer to that question

too.

Why Noelle?

She would have rather Finnian cheated on her with a string of random women than harbor a twisted obsession with Noelle.

This was a woman Kaia had genuinely viewed as a friend and family member. She had treated Noelle with nothing but pure sincerity.

Chapte

And in return, Kaia was turned into the ultimate punchline.

From the very beginning, Noelle knew that Finnian’s marriage to Kaia was nothing but a sham..

“Ugh, manipulators like her just have a sick talent for sinking their claws into men. Learning her tricks takes natural toxicity, but our Kaia is way too incredible to ever stoop to her level.” Celine thoroughly despised Tomewreckers, but it killed her to see her best friend get played like this. Kaia had given her whole heart, only to be paid back in deceit and betrayal, all thanks to that bastard Finnian.

‘Celine, as long as he signs over custody of my daughter, I’ll happily step back and let them have their twisted little romance. I won’t even make a scene,” Kaia said. She had made her peace with walking away.

No scene? Then all the hell you’ve been through was for nothing! If you ask me, you have to make Noelle’s life a living nightmare. Piss her off, drive her crazy, stress her out until she can’t sleep at night! You cannot ust let her walk away unscathed. You have to fight back. If you show her you’re an easy target, she’s just going to keep trampling all over you,” Celine said fiercely, ready to teach Kaia how to go on the offensive.

“I’m just shocked someone like Finnian actually swallowed his pride and apologized. Celine had always pegged him as too arrogant to ever admit fault.

“He mentioned he was going to set Noelle up with Julian. But seriously, why would an incredibly successful, eligible bachelor like Julian want a widow with that kind of baggage?” Kaia scoffed, finding the idea utterly absurd.

“Well, either the guy is madly in love with her, he’s blinded by her looks, or he’s using her to tap into the Sanders family’s resources. Never assume a man’s motives are purely noble. They don’t do anything unless there’s a payoff. That’s why they say a man marries the most optimal choice he can secure. We need to start thinking like men, instead of getting hung up on fairy tales.” Celine had officially entered her jaded dating–expert era, her outlook growing more ruthlessly realistic by the day.

Kaia paused, mulling over the logic.

Though she didn’t mingle much with Finnian’s inner circle, it was obvious Julian gave Noelle special treatment. He loved teasing her, and that kind of playful banter was usually just a thinly veiled display of affection.

‘Then Julian must really be into her,” Kaia concluded.

Celine handed her a glass of warm water and sat down next to her. “Are men literally incapable of spotting a manipulative woman, qr do they just secretly love the act?”

Kaia didn’t have an answer for that. After all, she had only ever loved one man her entire life.

“Whatever. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the damsel in distress gets the guy. It’s the independent, responsible women who always end up holding the bag.” A wave of melancholy washed over Celine. The reward for enduring hardship, it seemed, was only more hardship.

A heavy silence settled between the two women.

Back home.

It was 9:00 PM, and Noelle was still sitting alone in her office.

The room was unlit, illuminated only by the glow of the city skyline through the glass, casting her in shadows.

She had been sitting there for hours. Dexter was handling the conglomerate’s affairs in Finnian’s absence, but Finnian himself had practically vanished. No one seemed to know where he was.

Noelle had pressed Dexter for answers, but he had dodged the question.

She had even called Elaine, who was equally clueless, assuming he was on a business trip.

But Noelle knew exactly where he was. He had gone after Kaia. Maybe he missed his daughter, or maybe… he was using his time off to salvage his marriage.

Exhaustion sank into her bones. Ever since Rafael passed away from his heart attack, Noelle felt like she had been stripped of her safety net. She spent her days consumed by anxiety over the future, desperately searching for a powerful man to anchor herself to.

probably best to let her sleep in his room for the night.

Without another word, Kaia turned on her heel to head back to her own suite.

Suddenly, Finnian caught her arm. His voice was low and raspy. “There’s misunderstanding. We need to talk.”

His grip felt searingly hot against her skin. She yanked her arm away on nstinct.

‘I’m not in the mood,” she said coldly.

‘It’s about Noelle and me.” This time, Finnian didn’t seem to be avoiding he subject.

Kaia stiffened. Without looking back at him, she replied icily, “I don’t want o hear a single thing about either of you.”

Even if you avoid it, the issue is still there. We are husband and wife. If here are misunderstandings or conflicts, we can communicate.” Finnian stared at her rigid posture, noticing how tightly wound she was.

We won’t be married for much longer. Strangers don’t need to discuss hese things.” Kaia turned her head, meeting his gaze with a frosty glare.

Finnian pressed his lips into a tight line, a hint of anger flashing across his face. “Kaia, ever since I met you, you’ve always kept your feelings ocked away. Do you expect me to be a mind reader? If you want me to open up to you, shouldn’t you show a little good faith and let me know what’s going on in your head?”

Kaia stared at him in disbelief. In the seven years they had been together. Finnian rarely lost his temper or even raised his voice at her. Their relationship had always coasted on a polite, lukewarm plateau.

Yet now, just because she refused to discuss Noelle with him, he had the nerve to get angry.

“Oh, so now you want to know what I’m thinking?” Kaia sneered, eyeing

him with thinly veiled contempt as if she were humoring a disobedient dog. “Too late. I don’t even want to breathe the same air as you right now.”

“I know it’s because of Simon.” Finnian choked back his own frustration, delivering the low, mocking blow.

The color drained from Kaia’s face. Finnian’s ability to pull baseless accusations out of thin air was truly staggering.

‘Don’t project your own filthy mind onto other people,” Kaia snapped, genuinely furious. Maybe it was the liquid courage from the wine, but she found an unexpected burst of strength, shoving him hard in the chest. “If you want to lust after your sister–in–law, cheat on your wife, and parade your mistress around, that’s your problem. But don’t you dare drag my hame through the mud.”

Caught completely off guard, Finnian stumbled backward from the force of her push. His broad back hit the wall, and his eyes widened in sheer shock.