The Wife He Paid to Leave

An old gold pocket watch is unwrapped on the workbench between two people.

He set it down and unwrapped the cloth like it was a sleeping animal.

A pocket watch. Gold case, worn smooth. Old, and heavy with it.

Cleve

Hargreaves. 1891. It stopped three weeks ago.

The Wife He Paid to Leave

Chapter 4 of 19

ChaptersChapter 4Synopsis
Text mode
Report a problem

Chapters

Chapter 1 free · 18 published · 1 to comeReading chapter 4
Restart chapter

Synopsis

I married Declan Pryce to save my watch shop. He married me to keep his family shares. I told myself the contract was enough. 'It was only a marriage on paper,' he says. Then his first love comes home, and he ends it with papers and a check. I take the papers. I leave the check. He sees my work in his own auction house. He hears Vivienne call me a copy of her. I don't beg. I don't break. Now he wants to know what was real. I need him to prove he can love the woman he paid to leave.