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THE DAY MY HUSBAND CHOSE HER

Chapter 4 THE WOMAN HE CHOSE

Word Count: 1446 | Released on: 07/10/2026

r spot beneath the portico, cut the engine, and just sat there. She couldn't bring herself

word didn't

ases, a nervous smile, and that naive hope you have when you really believe things will

she came

ed out of the car

ver the foyer. Lucian's favorite painting hung right beside the stairs, exactly where it alwa

atch box-still on the dresser. Litt

years orbiting ar

the mantel, sat a photograph from their third anniversary. Luc

rs in her bag. How could a photo look so full o

was always her favorite-Lucian looking at her, not the camera. She used to tease him about

was a lie, but because she wasn't s

ks were still by the bed. Favorite cufflinks, right there in the drawer. Nothing out of

g ring. She stared at it, weighing it in her palm, unable

nocked at

was home. A second knock. She wiped a tear fro

the door, her wh

but now in a perfect cream suit, her hair impeccable, her face c

the doorway. "What

t her into the hous

ned around the

p some of

ughed. "You came he

gaze. "Our hous

uth turned col

almost bored, smile. "

ed forward. "Th

fter but sharper, too.

g. Deli

hed the door

. "I don't think you

a cut her off. "You're s

much as blink. "H

sn't done." It

the folder on the table

ch twisted. "Luci

d. "He doesn't have t

queezed Serap

filling the doorway. "You sh

tared her d

staying here af

osted. "Then he can

soft, mocking thing

er chest, but she forced herself to

me collect his

more curious this time. "Yo

yes narrowed.

ke Seraphina suspicious. Then, "Lucian

move. She fought to keep it

ith his parents

choked. "La

eased. "His mother knows a

and curled ag

nd Lucian?"

dded. "They

other fussing over his long work hours. His father asking whether Seraphina had ever thought about joining th

Seraphin

ching her face. "Before

hudded. "You met th

w l

oo long to be comf

na just

hoed inside

trips, missed dinners, his tired excuses. While Seraphina

arms. "I didn't co

look. "Then you've got a

ian thought it'd ma

her fo

." Vivienne d

ed, bitter. "Ev

"You need to accept that

t they cut worse

then at the house, then at tha

ght, not last week. Maybe he'd been

nd pulled out an envelope. "I

dn't move. "

nvita

"The Cross family's winter

w furrowed. "Wh

nt to see it." Viv

he Cross Foundation Annual Winter Gala. She looked at the

ests.

tunned. "Why is

ost gentle-as if she pitied her. "Lucian's

couldn't f

raphina, you need to kn

steady herself. "Wh

r voice. "Lucian's

dn't cooled, and Vivienne was already w

thinking she belonged. Now she saw-the Cross

stopped her. "If you're so sure about Lucian,

t second, something unsure flashed ac

eared out." She added, "A

for the car, but Vivienne p

g was different in her eyes-not mocki

an's father was so int

d. "What are you

at her. "Ask Lucian why his father wante

"What does his father hav

. "Maybe that's the question you shoul

her word, Vi

She looked toward the stairs, at the wedding photograp

believed Lucian ch

tening thou

s father had pi

cian was just going along

Chapter End

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THE DAY MY HUSBAND CHOSE HER

ABBYO Romance

“For five years, Seraphina Vale believed she had everything a woman could ask for-a beautiful marriage, a powerful husband, and a love she thought would last forever. Then, on their fifth wedding anniversary, she walks into a private hotel suite carrying a surprise gift for Lucian Cross and finds him in bed with the woman his family has always wanted him to marry. Vivienne Laurent. What hurts more than the betrayal is Lucian's reaction. He doesn't deny it. He doesn't beg for forgiveness. Instead, he places divorce papers in front of Seraphina and calmly tells her that their marriage has been over for a long time. Heartbroken and humiliated, Seraphina walks away from the man she loved without knowing that her divorce is about to change everything. Hours after leaving Lucian, she is approached by a lawyer hired by her late mother, carrying a secret that has been buried for twenty-five years. Seraphina's mother was never the ordinary woman Seraphina believed her to be. She was Isolde Vale-the last heir of the mysterious Vale Dynasty, a family whose fortune vanished after a devastating betrayal twenty-five years ago. And Seraphina is the sole heir. The divorce has activated a trust deliberately designed to protect her inheritance from anyone who might marry her for money. Suddenly, the woman Lucian discarded has become the owner of an empire his family has spent decades secretly profiting from. But the inheritance comes with a terrifying discovery. The Cross family is connected to the disappearance of the Vale fortune. Worse, evidence suggests that Lucian's father knew exactly who Seraphina was before Lucian ever married her. Was her marriage to Lucian really love? Or was she unknowingly placed at the center of a twenty-five-year-old scheme? As Seraphina begins uncovering the truth, she returns to the world that once dismissed her-not as Lucian Cross's abandoned wife, but as the woman who now holds the power to destroy everything his family built. And Lucian soon realizes the greatest mistake of his life was not losing his wife. It was believing she would remain powerless after he chose another woman. But revenge becomes complicated when Seraphina discovers that Lucian's betrayal was only part of the truth-and that the man who broke her heart may have been manipulated by secrets he never knew existed. Now she must uncover who destroyed her family, why her mother hid her identity, and whether Lucian was ever truly her enemy. Because before Seraphina can decide whether she will forgive the man who betrayed her, she must first discover the truth about the marriage that was never supposed to be love.”