Rise Of The Wasted Shadow Wife

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

The sky hung gloomy over the city park. Gray clouds blocked out the afternoon sun, creating a dim, almost oppressive atmosphere. The leaves fell slowly, as if time refused to run. On one of the old benches overlooking the pond, two women sat in silence. They looked like two strangers, but behind their silence, there was a story that could not be told in a single conversation.

Laura wore a gray trench coat, with a round fur hat partially covering her face. Nadine, a graceful but tired woman, wore large sunglasses even though the sky offered no light.

There were no hugs. No warm greetings. Only the brown folder Nadine thrust between them was like a secret weapon in a war that had almost begun.

"I shouldn't be doing this," Nadine's voice finally came through, low and heavy, "but someone had to start it. And I can no longer be a spectator in my own life."

Laura opened the folder slowly, and what she saw was not just numbers but the skeleton of a big lie: Axel's personal tax returns, with the brutal irregularities that had been hidden behind his big name and clean reputation.

"There were unreported transfers to offshore accounts," Nadine said, "and records of personal expenses that he passed off as company operating costs, including the apartment where he kept his secret lover."

Laura squinted. "How long have you known?"

"Long enough," Nadine replied. "I'm just waiting for one thing."

"What's that?"

"Alessia coming back."

The silence thickened between them.

Laura looked at Nadine, her face no longer able to hide the truth.

"So you know."

"I've known since the first day I saw you come out of the 29th floor elevator," Nadine replied. "Those eyes... they haven't changed. You're the only woman who made Axel lose his way. And now, you're the only one who can break him."

Laura nodded slowly, but her eyes didn't shine triumphantly. Instead, she felt the weight of a truth that was no longer just about revenge, but about who she was and what was left after it was all over.

Axel waited in Laura's study, a black velvet box in his hands. His heart was uncertain. It had been weeks since he'd felt something he couldn't control, and during that time, Laura was the only thing that made him feel... alive.

When Laura walked in, she saw the box on his desk before Axel could speak.

"What's this?" she asked, her voice calm, but there was no note of alarm.

"A gift," Axel replied with a smile. "For someone who has changed my perspective, on work, on trust, on... feelings."

Laura didn't touch the box. She just stared at Axel, and for the first time, she let the cold penetrate deeper.

"I don't accept gifts from clients," she said firmly.

"Laura..." Axel stepped closer. "This isn't just a professional gift. It's... more than that."

"That's precisely the problem," she said, standing up. "I never leave room for feelings in work. And I hope you don't either."

Axel looked at her. There was frustration in his eyes. His eyes were red, and his face was no longer the calm demeanor of the big CEO the public knew him to be. In Laura's presence, he was just a man who had lost control.

"Why do you always keep your distance? Every time I try to get closer, you back away. You don't even look at me properly," he urged. "Am I scaring you?"

Laura looked directly into his now deep, piercing eyes.

"You don't scare me, Axel. You make me want to stop trusting humans."

Later that night, Laura returned to her apartment. Galen was drawing on the carpet, surrounded by colorful crayons. On the side table lay the latest issue of a business magazine, with Axel's face dominating the front page—a portrait of triumph wrapped in a confident smile.

"Mama," Galen called out, pointing to the magazine page, "who's this?"

Laura froze. Her face couldn't hide the shock.

"Why do you ask?"

"He looks like me... Look, his eyes are like mine," Galen said innocently. "He's an important person, isn't he?"

Laura knelt down beside him. Her hand stroked the boy's hair gently, but her eyes were filled with far bigger questions than anyone could answer.

"He's just... someone Mom knows at work."

"Is he nice?"

Laura didn't answer.

Just kissed Galen on the forehead and said, "Go to sleep, dear."

But Laura couldn't sleep that night. She just stared at the ceiling, thinking about the one question she had never prepared an answer for: What would happen if Galen found out who her father really was?

The next day, Laura began her investigation with the precision of a surgeon. She investigated a subsidiary company called PT Valora Dinamika, scrutinizing monthly reports, vendor payment details, and the flow of CSR funds.

She found what she was looking for and more. The company was being used as a backdoor to disguise illegal expenses, including the cost of bribing local officials and evading export taxes.

Laura saved the file in an encrypted folder named "AXEL - PHASE 2."

Meanwhile, Axel stood alone in his study. His eyes gazed up at the night sky of the French city, but his thoughts flew far away. There was a restlessness he couldn't understand.

Laura.

The woman came with the storm in silence. Her every move was neat, her every word calculated. And the closer Axel got, the more he felt like Laura wasn't who she thought she was.

He called in a private investigator that night.

"I want to know everything about a woman named Laura Smith," he said. "Life history. Family. Origins. Everything you can dig up."

"Something makes you suspicious?" the investigator asked.

Axel stared out the window, the night breeze tearing at the thin curtains.

"There's something in her eyes... that reminds me of someone. But I don't know who. And I can't let anyone from my past destroy everything I've built."

"Do you think she's part of the plan?"

Axel smiled faintly. Full of hurt. Full of fear.

"If she really is who I think she is... then I might have fallen in love with a ghost from the past that I killed with my own hands."

Elsewhere, Laura looked at Axel's picture on her laptop screen. Her hand was clutching a cup of tea that had gone cold. On her desk were now two piles: one of plans for destruction, the other of sheets she never threw away of photos of the past with Axel and the love that once was.