The Wife He Never Knew I Became novel · Chapter 15 of 32
Chapter 15: The Empty Chair
I sat down at the table by the kitchen doors and put my napkin in my lap.
Eight strangers sat around me, the foundation's smallest donors.
A retired dentist on my left told me about his boat.
A woman across from me in green velvet admired my bangle.
"Old jade," she said. "You can always tell. It's got a crack."
"It's stronger where it broke," I said.
She smiled.
Up at the head table, Holden sat at the centre with his hands folded on the white cloth.
Two seats further down, a second chair stood empty too, with DANIEL ZHANG on its card.
Vanessa sat between them in her silver dress, smiling at the room.
At eight the lights dimmed, and Margaret went up to the podium.
She thanked the hotel. She thanked the donors.
She talked for five minutes about her late husband, who had built Zhang Group "from one apartment block and a promise."
Then she turned toward the head table and softened her whole face.
"And tonight," she said, "we are honoured beyond words."
The room went quiet.
"Our guest of honour is a woman this city has heard of and never met. A woman of great privacy and greater heart."
She laid her hand on her chest.
"Mrs. Rutherford wrote to me in her own hand," Margaret said. "One mother to another. She will be joining us shortly, and I hope every one of you will make her feel as welcome as she has made me feel."
She raised her glass toward the empty chair.
"To Mrs. Holden Rutherford."
Two hundred people stood up and raised their glasses to a folded swan napkin.
I stood up with them.
I lifted my water glass and drank to myself, at the back of the room, beside the kitchen doors.
The dentist on my left said, "I heard she's Swiss."
Keep reading free with an account. Start The Wife He Never Knew I Became from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 14 · All chapters · Chapter 16 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend