Marriage Lies and a Dangerous Obsession novel Chapter 47

Chapter 47

When lan caught sight of Andrea and Clint right in front of him, his eyes narrowed with shock. “Why are you here?” he snapped.

Startled, he accidentally knocked Clint over.

The boy tumbled to the ground and immediately started wailing. Clint’s cries instantly got on lan’s nerves, and he stormed straight into the living room, head spinning.

Andrea hadn’t expected Ian to totally freak out like that.

She awkwardly scooped Clint up, feeling hurt, her eyes already red with tears. “Ian, please don’t do this,‘ she said in a shaky voice.

Ian forced himself to calm down, running a hand through his hair. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to push Clint,” he explained, trying to sound sincere.

Andrea quickly tried to change the subject. “You’ve been on a plane for hours. You must be exhausted. Go wash up and grab something to eat, okay? We can deal with whatever it is tomorrow.”

Ian’s face darkened. “Tell me. Where is she?” he demanded, his voice low and tense.

Chloe was always so proud. Even if she had no choice but to accept the situation, she’d never agree to live peacefully under the same roof with Andrea. And it was impossible for her to let Andrea and Clint set foot here.

Andrea knew there was no hiding it now. “Ian, please don’t be upset. Ms. Irvine was the one who asked me and Clint to move in. She’s not here at the moment.”

Before Andrea could finish, Ian interrupted, his tone ice–cold, “Please refer to her as Mrs. Hamilton.”

Andrea blinked back her resentment and explained softly, “Sorry, Ian. She told me to call her that.”

Andrea paused, and then went on, “A few days back, she phoned me and asked me to move in with Clint. She said she’d divorce you and we could start our own family. She even asked me to renovate the place so the three of us could live here together.”

Ian stood in the living room, reeling as if he’d been punched.

He thought, ‘So she didn’t fix the place to come back home. It was all just to bring Andrea and Clint here and corner me. She’s forcing me to choose.’

Andrea saw how upset lan looked and nudged Clint discreetly.

Clint nervously glanced at Andrea, and then tiptoed over to lan.

He stretched out his arms, looking up at lan for a hug. “Dad, Ms. Irvine is awesome. She even set up a room for me, with a sailboat model and Transformers toys.”

Chapter 47

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“Dad?” lan blinked in disbelief. “Ms. Irvine?”

For a second, he couldn’t process what he was hearing. His mind was in chaos. He felt completely off–kilter.

He pushed Clint away again with a stormy look. “Clint, I’m not your dad.”

Clint flinched and stepped back, his voice shaking. “Mr. Hamilton, but Mom said

you…”

Before Clint could finish, Andrea quickly covered his mouth and pulled him close, flustered.

lan gave Andrea a cold, scrutinizing glare. “Andrea, I’ve made it clear. I will never be Clint’s father.”

Andrea hung her head, guilt gnawing at her. “I’m sorry, Ian. Clint just needs some fatherly love. Please don’t hold it against him. I promise that I won’t let him call you Dad again.”

Andrea thought, secretly relieved, ‘Good thing I had Clint try it first. If I’d said it myself, Ian would’ve gone way beyond just scolding me.’

Ian didn’t say a word. He just stormed upstairs.

He pushed open the door to the second–floor music room. Just as he feared, it had been completely remodeled into a kid’s bedroom.

Ian slumped against the wall and shut his eyes, feeling utterly spent and defeated.

He stayed exactly where he was as footsteps sounded at the door. “What happened to the two violins that were in this room?” Ian asked, his voice hoarse and distant.

Andrea hesitated in the doorway, afraid to step inside. “Mrs. Hamilton set them on fire,” she replied in a low voice.

Ian’s eyes

flew open,

shock clouding his face. “She burned them?” he blurted, barely able to process it.

Andrea nodded. “It wasn’t just the violins. Mrs. Hamilton burned a ton of stuff that day, downstairs in the garden.”

Before she could finish, Ian was already bolting down the hallway.

Andrea followed slowly, holding Clint’s hand, as they made their way to the garden.

After setting fire to everything, Chloe left the garden in shambles, refusing to clean up. She did it all on purpose, so when Jan came back, he’d see the mess and finally give up once and for all.

Ian stood in the middle of the ruins. When his eyes fell on the charred, barely recognizable violin, a chill of emptiness seized his chest. He almost forgot to breathe.

That violin was the gift he had given Chloe for her eighteenth birthday party.

He remembered that night vividly. Chloe descended the stairs, wearing a white evening gown and a sparkling diamond tiara, her makeup perfect, on Frank’s arm. She was breathtaking.

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Chapter 47

And when she saw him, her radiant smile outshone any spotlight.

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She let go of Frank’s hand and ran up to him, pouting sweetly and tugging at his sleeve. “Ian, where’s my gift?” she asked, her voice bubbling with excitement.

When Chloe saw the violin he’d gotten her, she clung to his arm, acting all spoiled, her eyes shining with delight. “I’ll only play the violin for you from now on,” she whispered, her voice so sweet.

It wasn’t until much later that lan realized Chloe had secretly switched her major. She gave up the violin she’d practiced for over ten years, just so she could study medicine and help him with his insomnia.

She always treated that violin like a treasure, keeping it safe in the music room.

But in the end, without even hesitating, she just burned it, as if it meant nothing at all.

lan felt like all his strength had been drained from him in an instant.

Totally powerless, he collapsed beside the ruins.

It was as if Chloe’s fire had been set inside his chest, charring his heart to blackness.

Refusing to give up, Ian dug through the ruins, searching for anything left behind.

All he found was a teddy bear missing a leg, a music box with just its base, and a pile of barely recognizable, scorched wedding photo frames.

Anything that had ever connected them, before or after the wedding, Chloe had burned it all to ashes.

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