From Deadbeat To Doting; Something Is Wrong With My Husband!-Chapter 21: Welcome Home, Mr. Colburn

A huge thank you to the following VIPs for the coin gifts! Your support keeps the "Goddess" feel spoilt!

This Chapter is dedicated to [Dion45 & Lara10]! Thanks to you, I didn’t cry today :3

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"Welcome back, Mrs. Colburn!"

The new housekeeper, Annie, practically vibrated with excitement as she swerved toward the door. She was a breath of fresh air~free-spirited and young, a rare recommendation from Rochelle that Brianna actually appreciated.

"Oh, Mr. Colburn! Welcome home!" Annie swerved again, with eyes wide with a mix of awe and fear.

Brianna didn’t have the energy to match the girl’s enthusiasm. She simply handed over her bag with a faint, weary smile. "Take this to my room, Annie."

Once the bag was out of her hands, Brianna kicked off her heels, smiling as the cold marble of the foyer bit into her soles. For a moment, she just watched the back of Lucian’s head. Over the last six months, she had learned to watch him like a hawk, measuring the tilt of his shoulders and the rhythm of his breath.

Just as they reached the base of the grand staircase, Thomas’s hand hovered near Lucian’s elbow as he moved closer. "Sir, let me assist you."

It was a simple gesture, but Thomas was not looking at his boss; he looked at Brianna. His eyes were cold and silently accusing her. A ’good’ wife would already be holding his arm, the look said. A ’good’ wife wouldn’t be standing three feet away like a stranger.

Brianna’s gaze remained as calm as an ancient well. Without a word, she averted her eyes, her expression carrying a hint of bone-chilling indifference. She had no intention of playing the role of the doting spouse for Thomas’s benefit.

Noticing the tension, Lucian brushed off. "I’m fine. I can manage the stairs myself."

It was only then Thomas looked away. "Of course, Sir."

Before Lucian took the first step, he paused, glancing back at his wife with a lingering unreadable look that made the hair on her arms stand up~before he began the steady climb upward.

The other two stood side by side watching the back of his head until he was out of sight.

Brianna finally turned to Thomas, her scowl deepening into a look of disgust. The way he leaned toward the stairs, his entire being vibrating with a desperate, dog-like loyalty, made her stomach turn.

If Lucian asked for it, Thomas would probably carry the man up the stairs in his own arms and consider it a holy honor.

She suppressed a shudder of genuine cringe and looked away.

"What a tragic stroke of luck," Thomas said without turning. "For a man like Mr. Colburn to be brought so low."

"Truly." Brianna replied dryly.

He finally turned to her then. His face was the same as it always was, a stone mask, but his eyes were searching. "You know, Mrs. Colburn, I realized I never properly asked you about the details of that day."

Brianna remained indifferent. "Why?"

Thomas paused, his brow twitching. "W-why?"

"Why bring up the past? The doctors have brought him back to life. The case is closed."

He scoffed, unable to comprehend why she spoke so calmly. "Closed for the doctors, perhaps. But it has never sat right with me. A man of Mr. Colburn’s scrupulousness... slipping in a bathtub? It is a clumsy narrative, don’t you think?"

"Accidents don’t care about precision, Thomas. That is why they’re called accidents."

"Accidents," he repeated as a small, chilling smile formed on his lips, then vanished just as fast as it came. "Let’s just say that is the story you’ve chosen to tell yourself. But I’ve decided to revisit the truth."

Looking up, his gaze swept around the corners of the house, onto the cameras.

"It is quite a coincidence, isn’t it? That the server room suffered a ’technical glitch’ that very day. Not a single frame of footage remains from the hour he fell."

A cold rush of adrenaline moved through Brianna’s chest. The footage was gone? She had not erased it. In the panic of the blood and the water, the cameras had been the last thing on her mind. If it was not her... was it Rochelle?

She kept her face in a frozen lake. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her drown.

His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper while he continued. "Mr. Colburn and I have... theories. And the pieces are beginning to fit together in a very interesting shape."

Leaning closer, he let his eyes rake over her black dress with a slow insulting deliberation.

"You look lovely in black, Mrs. Colburn. But don’t get too comfortable in it. No one in this house is dying anytime soon."

The threat was naked now. Brianna felt the bile rise in her throat, but she channeled it into an icy smile. She gestured toward the entrance.

"Thomas, has anyone shown you the new door?"

"No need," he waved off. "I’ll see myself out. We will be seeing much more of each other, I’m sure."

Once the door was shut, Brianna slid down with her back against the wall, letting out the breath she had been holding until her lungs ached. Her hands moved to her chest, feeling the frantic, uneven thud of her heart.

Thomas knows something.

The missing footage haunted her. If it wasn’t her, it had to be Rochelle. It had to be. But if Thomas started questioning the staff... What if he went after Rochelle? Or worse, Rosa?

She hadn’t heard from Rosa since the resignation letter, and the silence was starting to feel like a scream.

She closed her eyes, running a hand through her hair to steady her thoughts.

It wasn’t just Thomas. Lucian was acting... wrong. The ’amnesia’ story felt like a thin veil over something much darker.

He didn’t call her "Mrs. Barrenness." Not once. He called her "Wife." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Wife?

WIFE?!

The word felt like a brand. Brianna shook her head. He was a step ahead, playing a game she hadn’t even learned the rules to yet. She needed to up her game. She needed to find out what he and Thomas knew.