Page 53 of Her Possessive Dominant Fake Husband

The car pulled up, the driver offering a distracted nod as I slid into the back seat. I breathed deeply, trying to steady myself.

Leave it behind, I thought. Leave him behind. It’s just the contract. Just the deal. You were never part of his plans, never more than a distraction.

But the memory of his warmth was relentless, weaving into my chest like hope. I tried to let logic take over, to barricade myself against the reckless way he made me feel.

This was for the best. It was better this way.

The driver asked if I’d had a good night. I hesitated, my heart too close to the surface, but finally nodded, forcing a smile.

How long could I lie to myself before the truth tore through my defenses? How long could I pretend before admitting that I didn’t want to give him up?

The car moved through the city, the buildings a blur, my thoughts a mess of longing and fear.

I caught my reflection in the window.

And there it was. That damn smile. Small. Barely there. But undeniable all the same.

Chapter Sixteen

Alexander

Nothing prepared me for the strangled feeling of Claire slipping away in the night. Had she really been there at all?

She was gone, but more than that, she was ghosted into every corner of my life. Her mark, an unbearable sweetness that made the empty rooms ache with something worse than pain.

Everything else faded. Work became a pointless ticking of the clock. Breathing, a joke that caught in my throat. She was done with me, and I didn't know how to fix it. No strategy, no plan. No idea how to make her want this, want me again. It had been a month since we shared that amazing night together.

I hadn’t been able to work, to think, to breathe without feeling Claire’s absence like an elephant on my chest. She was gone, and for once, I hadn’t been able to strategize my way out of failure. The perfect plan to make Allison jealous, the contract marriage that should have been easy, simple—it had blown up in my face, and Claire had paid the price.

Now, the only thing left was this suffocating silence. She was done. Finished with me. And I had no idea how to fix it..

Thirty days of unanswered calls, unanswered texts, unanswered everything. Claire had slipped from my life like Inever mattered to her at all. Except I did, and that was what tore me apart. The untouched money sitting in her account was proof enough of that. The transactions showed that every amount she had spent had been quietly credited back, little by little, over time.

She wasn’t looking for revenge. She wasn’t after my fortune. She was just gone. She was strong, more than I had ever given her credit for. I had underestimated her, and now I was losing her. But I was not going to let that happen. Not this time.

The silence had a pulse, a taunting, relentless beat that reminded me of my own weakness. A weakness I couldn’t afford, not with Allison still mocking me every damn week, acting as if my brother was some prize. How dare she?

And me? I couldn't even fake a marriage without falling apart. Claire had been my answer to this mess. She was supposed to make Allison suffer. She was supposed to be the perfect strategy. But the moment I saw her, looking so innocent, so genuine, everything shifted. I couldn’t pretend anymore, not with her.

That Friday night family dinner when she first appeared on my arm, sweet as sin, I saw it—Allison’s perfect smile cracking just a little. She knew. She knew Claire wasn’t like the others. The exes who came before, the ones who played my game. Claire? She didn’t play. She was real. Too real. I had planned to make everyone believe it, but it was me who fell for it because it was genuine.

Work crumbled around me. Emails left unread. Phone calls unanswered. I was losing it. I had pushed everyone away, always needing control. But Claire had done it for me this time. She took that control and walked away, leaving me with the emptiness I never knew I feared.

Until an email from an unknown sender. One line that changed everything. Something I could hold onto. Michael. Reaching out like I still mattered.

You love her.He wrote it like a fact, something he had known all along. How could he see what I couldn’t admit to myself? His words pierced through the facade I’d built, tearing down the walls I’d tried to build back up. He wasn’t asking me to confirm it. He wasn’t giving me room to deny it. Michael, that perceptive brother of hers, had seen right through me.

I sat there, staring at the screen, feeling the truth twist in my chest. I loved her. I loved her, and I’d let her go.

Michael’s simple, bold statement turned everything inside out. The perfect mask I wore, the strong front—shattered. All I could see was her, walking up the aisle toward me on our wedding day, then walking out of my life.

I read Michael’s words again. They forced me to see what was really there. What I’d refused to see. My own feelings. It scared me. And yet? It set me free.

Michael's email was an invitation. Did I have the guts to take it? Did I have any choice? Claire had moved on, or so she thought. She was finished, but I wasn’t. Not with her.

Michael knew something I didn’t. I would bet everything on it. He saw a way back, and for once, I let someone else take the lead. I had to. This wasn’t business. It wasn’t strategy. It was Claire. And I was not going to lose her—not now, not when I finally knew the truth.

I had always controlled the board, stayed ten steps ahead. But this? This was uncharted and out of my realm of expertise. And for the first time, that was okay with me. Because Michael was right. I had to take the risk. Reach out. Break the silence.

---