Rise Of The Wasted Shadow Wife

Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

Nadine stared into the large mirror in her room. Her hair was in a neat bun, her face perfectly made up by professional hands, but none of it made her feel beautiful. Underneath the luxurious gown and the diamond jewelry hanging around her neck, she felt naked, invisible, unconsidered, and lifeless.

She was Axel Anthony's legal wife. But only on paper.

A decade ago, Nadine married Axel in a lavish party that was broadcast by the media. Everyone envied her marrying a young, handsome, and successful man. But none of them knew that her first night wasn't filled with kisses or warm embraces but with the bedroom door closed from the outside and Axel sleeping in the study.

"It's not a priority right now," Axel said at the time. "I have a big project to take care of."

And from that night on, Nadine knew she was just a symbol. A package to perpetuate Axel's image before his shareholders and business colleagues. Their marriage was not a relationship between two people but a tacit agreement that she never agreed to.

Years passed. Nadine was a shadow in her own home. Axel was always busy. If he wasn't in a meeting, he was out of town. If he wasn't out of town, he came home late at night. Even when he came home, there were no hugs. No questions. No "I missed you." Just a business report, a formal dinner agenda, and a schedule of gallery visits as a pretend couple in harmony.

And what hurt the most was that Axel never let her be present in his life fully. No joint accounts, no authority in the family business, not even a spare key for his personal workspace.

"I just want you to be safe," Axel would say when Nadine asked why he couldn't join her at important business meetings.

"I don't want to be silent, Axel. I'm not a puppet," Nadine said one night.

Axel looked at her sharply. "You know your role. Just live it. Don't go beyond that."

From that night on, Nadine began to save. No longer tears, but evidence. She started taking notes. Recording. Duplicating files. Studying the contract. He became a shadow that didn't just stand still; it absorbed, stored, and waited for the moment to strike.

That year, about one years ago, Axel started coming home less often. He said he had a big project out of town. Nadine knew he was lying. Her instincts were never wrong. But she kept quiet. Waiting, watching.

Then one night, as she searched the internet for news about Axel's project, a photo of a beautiful woman in a pink dress appeared. By her side stood Axel, gazing at her with an expression he never gave Nadine, a warm gaze.

And her name is Alessia Samantha.

At first, Nadine only observed from afar. But the more she investigated, the more it became clear who Alessia was. An ordinary young woman, who suddenly became a second wife in secret. A shadow wife. And to add insult to injury, Axel is willing to love Alessia openly (albeit limitedly), something he never gave Nadine.

But when news of the marriage suddenly disappeared from the news, and Axel returned home with a calm face, Nadine knew something had happened. And a few months later, she noticed a divorce file with Alessia's name accidentally tucked away in a pile of documents left behind.

She picked it up quietly. Read it. Cried over it. Not out of envy, but out of pity. Alessia was treated just like her and even more cruelly.

Back to the present. Veritas & Co.'s courtroom is abuzz again. Laura Smith is leading her team in drafting the latest lawsuit. Meanwhile, outside the building, a man sits in a luxurious black car with the glass open slightly to hide his face from the crowd.

Axel Anthony.

He didn't know why he had come early to the courtroom this morning. Usually, he entered through the side door, straight into the waiting room, escorted by security like a no-brainer routine. But today was different. Something had been bothering him since last night that he couldn't explain.

The dream.

The voice.

In his restless sleep, Axel heard a female voice calling him softly but urgently. Alessia. But in his dreams, he couldn't find her face. Only shadows. Just echoes from the past that still lingered in his mind, unwilling to die even though they had been buried long ago.

She sat in her car, parked opposite the courthouse, hidden in the shade of an old tree. It was early morning, and the air was heavy. Axel lit a cigarette but didn't touch it. He just sat, eyes glued to the back door of the building.

And then it happened.

Laura came out.

She walked in casually, wearing a pale blue shirt and gray pants, her hair slicked back in a neat ponytail. She looked like she was about to cross the street to the restaurant where she was scheduled to meet a client, perhaps to discuss a case or just have breakfast.

Axel froze.

Not from shock, but because his body refused to believe what he was seeing. There was something in the way the woman moved. The way she swept the hair from her face, her posture, the look in her eyes when she turned her head momentarily toward the street.

It all felt too familiar.

Laura didn't see him. Axel's car was well hidden. But as the sunlight filtered through the gap in the trees and reflected off his windshield, Axel saw her face more clearly.

And his chest... thumped hard.

Alessia?

No, no, no. That was impossible. Alessia was gone. Divorced. Already a part of the past that she no longer wanted to touch.

But that face, the way it smiled faintly, and the eyes that scanned the surroundings with a controlled calmness could not be just a resemblance.

It was her.

But not the Alessia of old. Not the fragile woman she left behind. This woman was different. Upright. Strong. There was something in her movements that made Axel feel like a little person. She didn't bring sadness. She carried something else.

Axel stared blankly ahead, his breath caught.

And for the first time since all the chaos began, he felt afraid.

"No way..." he said softly.