Chapter 256
Anna’s POV:
Blake’s face was expressionless. ‘It’s Christmas Eve.”
The hotel room felt cold. I pushed myself up against the headboard, trying to steady my breathing.
“How are things going with your meetings?‘ I asked, my voice still raspy from sleep. I’m feeling much better now. We can head back to Boston whenever you’re ready.”
I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Blake’s composed facade crumbled completely.
His knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the floor, his shoulders hunched over as if bearing an invisible weight.
“My father is dead, he said, his voice hollow.
The words felt like a punch to the gut. “But his condition seemed stable before the holidays…”
“Claire said the doctors called it a rally before death.” Blake’s eyes were unfocused, staring at nothing.
“My father was waiting for us to come home. He died without seeing me one last time.”
He looked up at me then, his eyes suddenly sharp with anger. “If it weren’t for Seth, we wouldn’t even be here, would we?”
The accusation in his voice was unmistakable. I remained silent, shock giving way to worry
–
not just for William, but for what Blake might do next.
After the shock of William’s death, we spent the next sixteen hours in a blur of airports and flights, barely speaking.
By the time our car pulled up to the Wright Estate on Christmas night, I was beyond exhausted.
The mansion that should have been adorned with holiday decorations was instead draped with black ribbons, symbols of mourning dominating where festive ornaments should have hung.
I felt weak from the journey, barely able to stand.
Blake wordlessly lifted me into his arms and carried me upstairs to our bedroom, setting me down gently on the bed before immediately turning and leaving without a word.
I lay there listening to the muffled sounds of the household.
A week after the funeral – a grand but solemn affair that Blake had orchestrated perfectly – I found myself seated at the window of my bedroom, phone pressed to my ear as I spoke with Daniel.
I was trying to help Seth without being obvious about it.
“Are you sure about this information?” Daniel asked, concern evident in his voice.
“If things continue this way, Blue Wave Technologies will have serious operational problems. Many projects have already stalled.”
He sighed heavily into the phone. “Several partners have privately expressed concerns, but they’re too afraid to complain openly because of your connection to Wright Group.”
The strange thing was that Blake hadn’t taken any direct action against Seth, at least not that I could see.
After handling the funeral arrangements, he had become unusually quiet, almost… satisfied.
I watched him move through the estate with a strange calmness that worried me more than any outburst would have.
1/3
In the weeks that followed, Blake was rarely home, consumed by work I didn’t dare ask about.
Our relationship had grown tense, conversations reduced to necessary exchanges about household matters and brief updates,
Each time Claire visited, she would casually drop hints about troubles facing Seth’s business, watching my reaction carefully.
I remained silent during these moments, afraid of provoking Blake’s anger if I showed any concern.
Daniel and I decided to wait and see what would happen next, maintaining a cautious distance from Seth’s situation while monitoring it from afar.
Days turned into weeks of this uneasy holding pattern.
Then one evening, as I was reading in the living room with a cup of tea, the front door opened unexpectedly,
Blake walked in, looking exhausted but determined.
Without removing his coat, he asked me to meet him in William’s study in fifteen minutes.
My stomach tightened with apprehension as I marked my page and closed my book.
William’s study remained untouched since his death – dark hardwood furnishings creating an atmosphere of stern authority.
Blake sat behind the massive desk, looking thinner than before.
His cheeks hollowed when he frowned, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips. He looked defeated somehow.
“You’ve diverted all available funds from Blue Wave Technologies to collaborate with Seth,” he said with a faint smile.
“Do you realize that if this news got out, you’d be in trouble before I even had to lift a finger?”
I stood my ground, unsurprised he’d discovered my attempts to help Seth.
Blake stared out the window. “I never understood how to have my own family,” he said quietly.
I thought having Claire was enough. I spoiled her completely.”
He turned back to me. “After we married, I kept wondering – is family just about my sister, or should it include my wife and children?”
“When we first got married, my bond with Claire was stronger. I almost lost her because of our marriage.”
He laughed bitterly. “I blamed you for everything. But you were so understanding at first, fitting into my version of ‘family.”
“We maintained that false balance for years.”
His eyes narrowed. “But since last year, you’ve changed. You wanted out. You forced me to choose between you and my sister.”
His voice dropped lower. “I realized Claire is just my sister. She’ll have her own life eventually.”
‘I understood I wanted a normal marriage, a complete family.”
He looked at me with reddened eyes. “I fell in love/with you too. I gave you everything I could. *
The raw emotion in his voice surprised me.
“Everything keeps slipping away from me,” he continued. “My mother died. My father’s gone. The child I never met is gone too.”
He hesitated. And my wife… my wife’s heart belongs to someone else.”
2/3
Chapter 256
His eyes glistened. Tin your husband. I just lost my father. Haven’t you felt any sympathy for me at all?
I kept my expression neutral. “Adults suffer in ways others can’t truly understand. I’ve lost parents too. They can’t stay with you forever. They always leave eventually.
But inside, I thought: He’s a man. He should be stronger than me.
1 feel sorry for him, but who feels sorry for me?
Who mourns for my child?
Where am I supposed to direct all this bitterness?
I walked over and placed the documents I’d prepared on the desk in front of him.
“Your father is gone now. You have time. Let’s discuss our situation,” I said calmly.
“Let’s get divorced, okay?”
I had drafted these divorce papers multiple times, and now, finally presenting them, I felt strangely calm.
Blake looked dumbfounded. He rubbed his eyes and checked the papers–again and again, as if unable to believe what he was seeing.
Are you leaving me too?” he whispered.
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