After the Last Tear: Rising from the Ashes of a Broken Marriage By Cassila K

Chapter 1

The third year of their marriage, Elaine Faerwyn gazed at the woman sitting across from her and released a soft.

This was the ninety-ninth mistress of Alistair Chase's that she had handled-and unquestionably the most difficult of the lot.

No matter how substantial the settlement Elaine offered, this woman remained immovable, stubbornly insisting on staying by Alistair's side.

Elaine took a deliberate sip of her espresso, the bitter liquid matching her mood perfectly as her lips curved into a self-deprecating smile. "You really should name your price," she said, setting down the porcelain cup with a soft clink against the saucer. "He's a wanderer who's never found his star. Surely you can see that in him? I'm his wife, yet my primary function seems to be disposing of lovers he's grown bored with as you see now."

Despite Elaine's candid counsel, Vivian Turner showed not the slightest glimmer of comprehension. Instead, she tilted her chin upward with unmistakable defiance, her manicured hand sliding provocatively over her stomach with a smugness that made Elaine's skin crawl.

"I'm different," Vivian declared, eyes flashing with triumph. "You simply lack what it takes to hold his interest. Alistair loves me. He made sex with me day and day, can't bear to look away from my face, and his has practically memorized all my preferences."

"Besides," she added with calculated timing, "I just found out I'm carrying his baby..."

A child?

Elaine's gaze fixed on the woman's still-flat abdomen, her mind momentarily short-circuiting.

He had promised that he would never father a child to humiliate her publicly or privately.Alistair, you couldn't even keep the only pathetically small promise you made to me.

Her painted lips parted to respond, but before she could articulate the acid rising in her throat, the villa's doors swung open with theatrical timing.

still illuminated with an active call, his deep, whiskey-smooth voice

the tell-tale signs, he'd already marked his

women in his living room, then quickly recalibrated, slipping into his signature devil-may-care expression. Leaning against a nearby table with casual dominance,

I'm pregnant, don't cast me aside,

the desperation of a gambler placing

he faltered visibly. For a moment, the carefully crafted mask of indifference

approached Vivian, his hand brushing over her stomach. Something cold and calculating flickered across his

child, we'll maintain our arrangement. Go home for now," he instructed, his tone

the answer she'd gambled for, Vivian finally relented, leaving the Chase mansion with undisguised triumph radiating from her

with a decisive click, her voice laced with a bitterness she no

with pretense one of his few redeeming qualities. As he walked toward his state-of-the-art bathroom, loosening his tie, he answered flatly"She resembles Sophia the most. I want

cuffs with practiced efficiency. "Once the baby is born, I'll send her packing with an NDA. Your position as Mrs. Chase- and all the privileges that accompany it—will remain

his words confirmed he had no genuine feelings for Vivian, a sharp

of that name-Sophia

up together in the same place.But his heart belonged only to Sophia, his golden-haired first love, taken tragically young in

Sophia's death, Alistair transformed from devoted romantic to Manhattan's most notorious

way through New York's elite dating pool. Every eligible socialite except Elaine. She remained the only untouched name on the

Chase family board pressured Alistair to marry and project stability to nervous investors. Seeking a solution to both problems, he would leverage his

She agreed.

but in return, he would ensure her position as Mrs. Chase remained unassailable. Most importantly, he would never father a