Housewife Gone Wild

Chapter 223

Nearing the entrance, Jared’s low voice, carrying clearly in the quiet corridor, stopped me cold. “You’ve just suffered a loss, Tracy. Focus on heslye Hote isn’t the time to dive back into the fray.”

“You don’t need to return here. Your family’s business offers far better prospects for you. Amy might lack your technical expertise, but she navigates the political landscape effectively. There’s no problem.”

After a pause, he continued, “Any update on Mom and Yvonne’s flight schedule?”

“Thanks for looking after them,” Jared murmured, his voice softening slightly. “I’ll find a way to express my gratitude.”

Silently, I retreated, melting back into the corridor shadows. Only after Jared concluded his call and returned to his office did l’approach again.

Jared sat hunched over his desk, brow deeply jabbing an impatient finger at a stack of documents. At my entrance, his head snapped up.

“Meeting concluded?”

I approached his desk, my expression blank. The acrid

of cigarettes clung heavily to him–evidence of more than a brief smoke break.

glancing at the document, Jared scrawled his signature and thrust it back toward me. “Yvonne returns tomorrow afternoon. Dinner together

my own utterly devoid of warmth. “No. Enjoy

features, “I understand your

“The moment she expressed a preference for another mother,” I stated, my voice glacial, “my sense

into a scowl. “She’s a child, Victoria. Childish prattle! And

not,” I conceded, my tone deceptively mild. “But she starts school this year. She should grasp

detachment clearly horrified him. “She is your daughter,” he bit out, each word sharp. “Your blood flows in her veins. How can you be so

countered coldly. “Would that

motherhood so utterly,” he finally

a moment. Then, my voice emerged, colder than ice. “Failure? Divorce? Letting go? That isn’t failure, Jared. That’s excising a mistake.

this twisted perspective come from? Who filled your head with

at the loss of the woman he thought he owned. Losing his grip on me was clearly an intolerable wound to

this much: cutting your losses is infinitely wiser than clinging to the

rigid posture collapsing

me: my former self, the ultimate fool. Denied even the catharsis of rage, I had shrunk into the shadows, a spectral observer haunting the edges of