𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑊𝐼𝐹𝐸 𝐻𝐸 𝑇𝐻𝑅𝐸𝑊 𝐴𝑊𝐴𝑌

Chapter 7 The Woman He Saw on the Front Page

VICTOR POV

The newspaper hit the floor before Victor could stop himself from throwing it.

His assistant Vanessa stood near the door, very still, watching him with wide eyes.

On the front page, in full color, was a photo of Evelyn. She wore a deep blue dress that moved like water. Her hair was pinned back with a single silver clip. She was laughing at something someone off camera had said, and the joy on her face was the kind that could not be faked.

The headline read: "The Return of a Queen. Evelyn Williams Is Back and the Fashion World Cannot Stop Talking."

"How long has this been in every shop in the city?" Victor asked.

"Since this morning, sir," Vanessa said. "The story is on every news channel too. They are saying the Williams Empire stock went up fourteen percent on the announcement alone."

"Fourteen percent," Victor repeated slowly.

"Yes, sir."

He picked the newspaper back up and stared at the photo. Grace stood beside Evelyn in one smaller picture, her small hand tucked into her mother's. They were both smiling. His daughter looked more at ease in that one photo than in any memory he had of her at home.

He turned the page and stopped breathing.

Benjamin was in the second photo. He stood close to Evelyn, one hand resting on her shoulder, his head tilted toward hers like he was about to say something. They looked comfortable together. Familiar. The kind of familiar that only came from years of knowing someone.

"Who is Benjamin, exactly?" Victor asked, keeping his voice flat.

Vanessa hesitated. "He is the head chef at Williams Estate. Emmanuel Williams hired him several years ago. Before that, he and Evelyn Williams were childhood friends. Apparently he has known her since they were children."

Victor set the paper down carefully on his desk. "Find out everything about him. His background, his finances, his connection to the Williams family. Everything."

"Yes, sir."

After Vanessa left, Victor walked to the window. Below, the city moved the way it always did. Cars. People. Buildings. But today it all looked different somehow, like the world had shifted two inches to the left overnight and he was the only one who noticed.

His wife was front-page news.

His wife, the woman he had ignored for ten years, was now being called a queen in every major publication in the country.

He had not known. That was the part that stayed with him like a stone in his shoe. He had lived under the same roof with her for a decade, eaten meals she cooked, watched her move quietly through their house, and he had never once asked who she was before he married her.

He had assumed she was grateful. He had assumed she needed him more than he needed her.

The phone on his desk rang. He answered it.

"Victor." His mother Sylvia's voice was sharp on the other end. "Have you seen the morning papers?"

"Yes."

"Why did you not tell me your wife was Evelyn Williams?"

"Because I did not know, Mother."

A long pause. "You did not know."

"No."

Another pause, longer this time. "How does a man spend ten years with a woman and not know she is worth billions?"

Victor had no answer for that, so he said nothing.

"The Hendersons called this morning," Sylvia continued. "And the Clarks. And three other families who have been dropping us socially since the news broke. They are not dropping us, Victor. They are hoping to get an invitation to the Williams Estate now that Evelyn is back."

"Good for them."

"Do not be sarcastic with me." Her voice tightened. "This changes things. She is not the nobody I thought she was. She is worth more than our entire family put together. If you let that divorce go through, we lose everything."

"You were the one who called her worthless," Victor said. "For ten years."

"I did not know who she was."

"It should not have mattered who she was." His own words surprised him. He stood straighter. "You treated another person like garbage because you thought she was beneath you. Finding out she is wealthy does not make that better."

Sylvia went very quiet.

"I will call you later, Mother," Victor said, and hung up.

He sat back down at his desk and opened the newspaper again. His eyes found Evelyn's face in the photo. She was looking straight at the camera, calm and sure of herself, like someone who had remembered a secret she had kept for a very long time.

He thought about the note she left.

You had ten years to love me. You chose not to.

His phone buzzed. A text from his private investigator.

Found the contract clause you asked about. Evelyn cannot leave the marriage cleanly until the two-month mark. After that, the contract expires and she takes full legal standing. She has 49 days left.

Victor stared at the message.

Forty-nine days.

She had come this far in the first seven days. What was she going to do with the remaining forty-nine?

A second message came through seconds later.

One more thing. Someone leaked information to the press about Amanda Chen. A journalist called our office asking about a foreign marriage certificate. You should prepare.

Victor put the phone face down on the desk and pressed both palms flat against the wood.

Amanda had threatened to burn his world down. It seemed she had already lit the match.

He needed to act before the fire reached him. He needed to find Evelyn and talk to her directly, contract or no contract, attorneys or no attorneys.

He needed to look her in the eyes and say the words he had never said in ten years of marriage.

But as he reached for his car keys, his door burst open.

Vanessa stood there, pale and breathing hard.

"Sir," she said. "Samuel is not at school. The driver just called. Your son never arrived this morning."

The keys dropped from Victor's hand.