WALTER'S POV
Aaron’s words kept echoing in my head, but I forced myself to laugh it off. “Rosine’s hearing back? Impossible,” I muttered under my breath as I guided Beatrix into the car. “If she could hear, she would’ve told me. She’s too obedient to hide something like that.”
Beatrix shifted closer, her perfume thick and sweet, filling the car. She leaned her head against my shoulder with a sigh. “Walter, only you make me feel safe.”
I glanced at her, my chest swelling with pride. Finally, finally she was mine again. “And you’ll stay safe with me. Everything I own, everything I built, soon it will all be yours.”
She smiled faintly, her fingers tracing patterns along my arm. “By the way, my divorce with Colt was already finalized.”
For a second I froze, then I broke into a grin. “Are you serious? Beatrix, that’s the best news I’ve heard all year. Congratulations, love.” I reached over, touching her stomach gently, reverently.
Her lips curved into a teasing smile. “You’re too excited. I’m just four weeks pregnant.”
I chuckled, still staring at her belly as if it was the crown of my empire. “I don’t care if it’s four weeks or four days. That child is ours. Rosine doesn’t matter. Why would she be mad? She’ll never know we have a baby. She’s deaf, and besides… I’ve only ever loved you. If only you never chose Colt, we would’ve been married long ago.”
Her eyes softened as she looked at me. She leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to my cheek. That small touch nearly undid me. I would give her the world. I already was.
After I dropped her at the Charles estate, I drove back to my villa, the night colder without her in the seat beside me. By the time I stepped inside, I was already impatient.
“Rosine!” I called out, loosening my tie. “Make me coffee. The strong one. Don’t water it down tonight.”
I sank onto the couch, waiting. Minutes passed. Finally the maid appeared with a tray. I picked up the cup, took a sip, and spat it back into the saucer with a curse.
“This isn’t Rosine’s coffee,” I snapped, slamming the cup down. “Do it again. And tell her to do it properly this time.”
The maid hesitated, her hands shaking. “Sir… Madam already left. She told me to give you this.”
She held out an envelope. My brows furrowed as I snatched it from her. The second I saw what was inside, the blood drained from my face.
Divorce papers. Signed.
For a long moment I just stared, unable to process it. My chest tightened, rage rising sharp and hot. “She wouldn’t dare,” I whispered, my hands trembling as I crumpled the paper in my fist. “She wouldn’t dare leave me.”
But the signature was real. The empty villa around me was real.
And for the first time in years, I felt something I never thought I would. Not control. Not pride. Fear.
Her number would not ring. No matter how many times I hit redial, it was like she had vanished from the world. Disconnected, blocked, wiped. I threw my phone on the desk, chest burning.
“She’s bluffing,” I muttered, and throw the damn paper, “She’ll crawl back! She loves me. She can’t live without me.”
But the silence after my own words mocked me. The room felt too big, too empty. My phone kept buzzing, and it wasn’t her. It was Beatrix. Again. Her name lit up the screen over and over until I wanted to smash it.
When I finally picked up, her voice came through sweet but demanding. “Walter, why didn’t you answer? I can’t sleep without hearing you.”
I rubbed my temple. “I’m busy, Beatrix. Don’t call me ten times in one hour. I’m not a damn teenager with free time.”
She pouted through the line, I could hear it. “You always sound annoyed. I just need you. You promised me everything.”
I forced my voice lower, softer, because I knew if I pushed too hard, she’d sulk again. “I’ll give you everything. Just don’t smother me. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The moment I ended the call, I felt no relief. Instead, irritation lingered. Her voice grated in my head. Always wanting, always pulling. And in that second, I thought of Rosine. Quiet. Obedient. Never asking for anything. She endured without a word, without a fight. And that thought unsettled me.
I poured myself a glass of whiskey, sat in the dark, staring at Beatrix’s framed photo on my desk. She was smiling in that picture, the one I loved before. I should’ve felt warmth. Pride. But staring at it now, all I felt was emptiness pressing down on me.
I shut my eyes and for no reason at all, Rosine’s face came back. Her soft laugh, the one she made when she still thought I cared. That sound, fragile, blind trust wrapped around it. Something twisted in my chest before I shoved it down with another drink.
By dawn, my shirt was unbuttoned, tie loose, and I was drowning in whiskey. I slammed the glass down and muttered, “She’s at her parents’ house. She has to be.”
But then Aaron’s words cut through the fog in my skull.
Rosine can hear now.
My heart pounded so loud I thought I was losing it. I grabbed my phone, called Aaron. He picked up groggy, annoyed, but I didn’t care.
“Send me the CCTV footage of the day Rosine visited you. Now.”
He sighed like he wanted to argue, but I growled low, “Do not test me, Aaron. Send it.”
A minute later, the file arrived. I opened it, hands shaking even though I tried to steady them.
There she was. My wife. Sitting across from him. Her lips moving. Talking. Laughing lightly.
She was speaking. She wasn’t deaf anymore.
And she never told me.
My chest locked up. I leaned back in my chair, eyes glued to the screen. All those years I thought she depended on me, helpless without me…
For the first time in my life, I couldn’t tell if I was more furious… or terrified.
Fuck!
