THE WIFE HE COULDN’T KEEP

Chapter 11

Joshua Sterling hadn't slept in three days.

He'd been obsessing over the evidence. The photographs. The phone records. The timeline. He'd spent hours staring at them, trying to find something he'd missed. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Stella's face. The night he threw her out. The tears streaming down her cheeks. The desperation in her voice.

"I'm carrying your child, Joshua. Please. Just take a DNA test."

He'd told her she was ordinary. He'd told her she was nothing. And she'd been carrying his children.

His investigator, David, had been working around the clock. Joshua had called him every day. Every hour. He couldn't stop. He needed answers. He needed to know who had destroyed his marriage.

But David had nothing. Dead ends. Blocked trails. Years of silence.

Joshua was losing hope.

***

On the fourth day, his phone buzzed.

Sir, I have something. A lead. Not confirmation yet. But I found a connection.

Joshua's heart pounded. He grabbed his phone. His hands were shaking.

What kind of connection?

The person who doctored the evidence used a private forensic lab. I traced the payment to a shell company. The trail is complicated. I need more time to follow it.

Joshua's hands tightened on the phone. How much more time?

A few days. Maybe a week. These things take time. The shell company is registered offshore. It's going to take work to trace it back to an individual.

Joshua set down his phone. His jaw was tight. His hands were shaking.

He'd been waiting for weeks. Weeks of obsessing. Weeks of guilt. Weeks of watching Stella move on with another man.

And now he had to wait longer.

He poured himself a whiskey. Too early. He didn't care.

He stared at his reflection in the window. Haggard. Broken. Desperate. The man staring back at him was a stranger.

He'd been so blind. So arrogant. He'd believed lies over the woman he loved.

And now she was with someone else.

Joshua looked at his phone. He wanted to call her. Hear her voice. Tell her he was sorry.

But he couldn't. She'd blocked him. She didn't want to hear from him.

So he waited.

***

The days blurred together.

Joshua stopped going to the office. He stopped answering calls. He stopped eating. He stopped sleeping. He just sat in his penthouse, staring at the evidence, waiting for news.

His investigator called every day with updates. Dead ends. Blocked trails. Nothing concrete.

"Sir, I'm following a lead. But it's slow. The shell company is heavily protected. Whoever set it up knew what they were doing."

Joshua's voice was cold. "Find them. No matter what it takes."

"I'm trying, sir."

Joshua ended the call. He poured another whiskey.

He thought about Stella. About her smile. Her laugh. The way she used to look at him like he was her whole world.

He'd destroyed that. He'd taken her love and thrown it away.

And now she was happy. With someone else.

Someone who made her smile. Someone who made her feel seen. Someone who was everything Joshua had never been.

He didn't know if he could ever forgive himself.