The Wife he threw Away (Claire and Lucian) novel Chapter 153

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE CLAIRE’S POV

The hospital looked different in daylight.

Not calmer, but quieter in a way that somehow made everything feel much more grim.

The sharp panic from the previous night had dulled into exhaustion now, mixed with abandoned coffee cups and low conversations spoken in tired voices.

Associates from Sinclair & Co. were beginning to leave one by one, reluctantly returning to work and courtrooms and lives that could not be stopped simply because Margot Sinclair’s had.

I sat in the waiting area with my untouched coffee cooling between my hands, staring at the ICU doors. again like I was in a trance, waiting for a miracle to happen.

But nothing had changed.

Margot was still unconscious. Still critical, still unmoving behind glass and machines and sterile white walls.

Nathaniel sat beside me quietly. I would feel his shoulder brush against mine occasionally whenever someone walked past too closely.

Thankfully, he hadn’t pressured me to speak all night or even tried to force comfort where there wasn’t

any to give.

He had just stayed.

A few feet away, Professor Mason Grant stood speaking softly with one of the doctors. Although he too, was exhausted, there was something composed about him. The kind of composure that only existed because the alternative was falling apart completely.

And he couldn’t fall apart- not when he had two kids to keep going for.

His son stood near him, arms folded tightly across his chest, jaw tense in that painfully transparent way teenage boys tried to look strong.

Margot’s daughter was asleep against an older woman beside her, curled into herself beneath a hospital

blanket.

The sight made something tighten painfully in my chest.

Margot couldn’t die.

She just couldn’t.

Nathaniel noticed my stare and quietly slid a bottle of water toward me.

“You need to drink something.”

“I’m fine.”

1/7

CHACTCCIONE HUNDRED AND FETY THREE CLAIRE 5 POV

“You haven’t moved in hours, Claire.”

I didn’t answer.

Because if I spoke too much right now, I wasn’t entirely sure I would hold together properly.

A few minutes later, Mason finally walked toward us.

His face looked older than it had the night before.

“Any change?” I asked immediately.

He shook his head once.

“They’re keeping her stable.”

Stable.

The word felt cruelly insufficient.

I swallowed hard and looked back toward the ICU doors.

Mason followed my gaze quietly before speaking again.

“She’d hate this.”

I looked at him.

“She’d hate all of us sitting around looking miserable.”

A faint smile almost touched his face, but it disappeared quickly.

“And she’d be furious if she knew you stayed here all night.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“You are,” Nathaniel said gently beside me.

I frowned immediately.

Nathaniel held my gaze steadily.

“You need sleep.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re exhausted.”

“So are you.”

“Yes,” he said calmly. “Which is exactly why I know what it looks like.”

I looked away.

+25 Bonus

2/7

-25 Bone

Mason sighed softly before lowering himself into the chair across from was

“Claire”

His voice gentled slightly.

There’s nothing more you can do here tonight”

Morning now, technically.

But time inside hospitals barely felt reall

I tightened my grip around the coffee cup.

“She was working on something” Mason said after a moment. “Before this happened.”

That got my attention immediately.

“What do you mean?”

His expression shifted slightly, thoughtful now.

1 don’t know details.” A pause. “But I know my wife.”

He looked toward the ICU.

“She thought very highly of you.”

Something painful tightened in my throat.

“And whatever she was doing…” he continued quietly, “I know it involved protecting you somehow”

My chest constricted.

Nathaniel’s hand settled lightly against my back

Grounding

Warm

Mason stood slowly afterward, exhaustion finally catching up visibly in his posture.

“Go home, Claire”

I hesitated.

Then finally nodded once.

Reluctantly.

Before leaving, I walked toward the ICU viewing window one last time.

Margot lay completely still beneath the palle hospital lights

37

UNDRED AND FIFTY THREE CLAIRES POV

Machines breathed around her.

Monitors flickered steadily.

She looked smaller somehow.

That frightened me more than the blood had.

I stared at her for several long seconds before finally forcing myself to step away.

The drive back was quiet.

Nathaniel didn’t try to fill the silence.

Didn’t ask questions.

Didn’t tell me everything would magically be okay.

He simply drove with one hand resting lightly over mine the entire way home.

“She’s strong,” he said eventually.

I stared out the window.

“So was my mother.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

The silence afterward wasn’t uncomfortable.

Just heavy.

Nathaniel squeezed my hand once.

Nothing more.

And somehow that made it worse.

Because kindness had become dangerous to me.

I didn’t know what to do with it anymore.

When we got back to his apartment, exhaustion hit me all at once.

Nathaniel noticed immediately.

“Go shower,” he said softly. “I’ll handle everything else.”

“I can help.”

+25 Bonus

4/7

LE AND PETY THREE ADELIN

+25 Bonus

“You’re barely standing.”

“I’m standing.”

“Claire.”

Something in his tone made me stop arguing.

Not authority.

Care.

And somehow that was harder to resist.

By the time I came out of the shower and wandered towards the kitchen, wearing one of his shirts, the house smelled faintly of food and coffee.

Nathaniel looked up from the kitchen when he saw me.

And for a moment, he just stared.

Not hungrily.

Not possessively.

But I mattered.

Like seeing me there meant something to him.

My chest tightened unexpectedly.

I had gone for so long without being admired like that, I had almost forgotten what it felt like.

“You should eat something,” he said gently.

“I’m not hungry.” I countered.

“You still should.”

I sat beside him eventually, exhaustion settling over every part of me now.

The adrenaline had worn off fully now, so all that remained was fear.

“What if she doesn’t wake up?”

The question came out quieter than I intended.

Nathaniel looked at me for a long moment before answering.

“She will.”

“You don’t know that.”

5/7

1020

+25 Bonus

“No.” His voice softened. “But I know she’d fight like hell to stay.”

That almost made me laugh.

Almost.

Instead, my eyes burned suddenly.

I looked away immediately.

Nathaniel moved closer slowly… carefully, like he was giving me an opportunity to pull away.

But I didn’t.

When he wrapped his arms around me gently, it felt like something inside me had finally cracked.

It cracked just enough for the exhaustion and grief to finally reach the surface of my whole being.

“You don’t have to hold yourself together every second,” he murmured quietly into my hair.

I closed my eyes against his chest.

For a moment, I just let him hold me. With Nathaniel, there were no expectations. No pressure.

Just warmth-steady and safe. 1

When I kissed him this time, it wasn’t hesitant or uncertain.

I felt him still slightly in surprise before kissing me back carefully, like he still wasn’t entirely sure I would

let him.

But I did.

This time, I didn’t stop.

Because this time, I truly wanted him to stay.

The kiss deepened slowly, naturally, until everything else faded quietly into the background-the hospital, the uncertainty, the endless pressure pressing against my life from every which way.

Nathaniel touched me like I was something precious.

Not fragile, just important.

And when he led me toward the bedroom afterward, I let him.

Fully.

For the first time in a very long time, I stopped thinking.

Stopped analyzing.

Stopped bracing myself for pain before it arrived.

6/7

+25 Bonus

I just felt.

Afterward, exhaustion settled over me heavily.

Nathaniel lay beside me with one arm wrapped securely around my waist, his fingers moving slowly through my hair.

The room was darker now. More quiet.

Peaceful in a way that almost hurt.

My whole body felt heavy with sleep, but safe enough to finally surrender to it.

I smiled when I felt Nathaniel press a soft kiss against my forehead.

And just before sleep finally pulled me in completely, I heard him whisper quietly against my skin-

“I love you.”

And I knew he meant it.

Claire Ree

Author

Thanks for reading

1027

Comments

Support

Share

7/7

CORONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR LUCIAN’S POV

+25 Bonus