The Billionaire CEO Betrays his Wife: He wants her back-Chapter 246: Drowning in pain

Mara lay curled on the floor where she had fallen, the room dark now except for the soft, flickering glow of her bedside lamp. Her fingers were still wrapped tightly around Rafae’s ring box, stained with his blood, pressed against her chest like it could somehow bring him back.

No one dared to knock. Her brothers waited outside her door in turns—silent sentries, unsure if their presence would help or shatter her further.

Inside, Mara was drowning.

She had cried until there were no tears left. Now her body only shook with quiet, shallow breaths. Her lips trembled, her skin cold, her heart hollow. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

She didn’t know what hurt more—knowing Rafael was gone, or knowing he died thinking about her. Planning the future. Carrying a ring.

That ring...

She opened the box again with trembling hands.

It was beautiful. Simple. Elegant. Everything she never dared to hope someone would choose for her. And he had chosen it. He had chosen her.

He was going to propose.

And now he never would.

Mara pressed the ring to her lips, her voice no more than a broken whisper. "You were coming back... You promised."

Her mind was full of ghosts.

Rafael was laughing in her kitchen, teasing her about how she burned toast and making her chocolate tea, Rafael holding Audrey like she was his own. Their mission to take Philip out, taking Lucy out, how he always stood by her, Rafael kissing her just hours ago, telling her to wait. That she’d love the surprise.

She had waited.

But he hadn’t come back.

"I can’t lose two best friends in a week."

Maria.

Rafael.

It was too much. Too cruel.

She sat up slowly, the ring still in her hand, and let her gaze drift toward the mirror. What she saw barely looked human. Her face was blotchy, eyes were swollen. Her lips were dry and cracked from crying. But it wasn’t the reflection that undid her—it was the emptiness in her own eyes.

She walked to her closet, pulled down the soft shirt Rafa had left once, the one she had never washed. It still smelled like him. She clutched it to her chest and collapsed onto the bed, sobbing again like a wounded animal.

When a soft knock came at her door hours later, she didn’t answer. But it opened anyway; they had a spare key.

Steve.

He didn’t say anything. Just stepped inside, saw the ring on the floor, the shirt in her arms, and his sister’s body crumpled under the weight of unspeakable grief.

He knelt beside her and gently pulled her into his arms.

Mara didn’t resist.

"I can’t do this again," she choked. "Steve, I can’t... I can’t bury him either."

Steve held her tighter. "You’re not alone. You don’t have to be strong. Not right now."

Mara sobbed into his chest, the only place that still felt safe.

The rest of the brothers appeared in the doorway—Stanley, Stefan, and Stanford. One by one, they stepped in, surrounding her again, just like they had when she was little and had nightmares. But this nightmare was real.

Stefan knelt and picked up the ring, brushing away the blood with his thumb. "He loved you," he whispered. "He really loved you."

Mara reached out, took the ring, and couldn’t bear to put it on her finger. She whispered the words she hadn’t said out loud yet.

"I was supposed to be his wife." The room went silent.

Not even her brothers could stop the ache of that truth. But they could hold her through it. Through the storm. Through the heartbreak. Through the long night ahead. And in that small, dimly lit room, Mara wept for the love she lost.

For the future that slipped through her hands. And for the man who had given his life, not just for strangers, but for her.

The days that followed Rafael’s death blurred into one another, soft and heavy like the haze after a storm. But Mara didn’t let the grief stop her. She wouldn’t allow anyone else to take charge of the arrangements. This...this final act of love was something only she could do.

Rafael had no family. No next of kin. No parents to claim him. Mara became his everything, just as he had been hers.

She handled every detail with trembling hands and a quiet, aching heart.

The venue. The casket. The flowers. The soft linen suit he’d once worn to dinner with her and the kids—the one she knew he felt confident in. Even the playlist of his favorite instrumental songs.

Every choice was personal. Every detail, sacred.

No one questioned her. The brothers helped where they could, standing quietly behind her as she moved through the motions of planning a farewell she never imagined she’d be responsible for. She should have been planning her dream wedding to the man who loves her more than life itself.

Two weeks later, the funeral came. And to Mara’s surprise, Rafael was not alone.

They came in droves. From all corners of the city and beyond.

People whose lives Rafael had touched in his quiet, humble way. Former colleagues, social workers, charity leaders, children he mentored, and patients he once sat beside in hospital wards. And most heartbreakingly, fifteen sets of parents, holding the hands of the very children whose lives he had saved that day.

The service was beautiful.

Soft music.

Tears and silence.

Stories told with cracked voices and full hearts.

Then, as the ceremony neared its close, an older man approached Mara quietly. His eyes were red, but there was a certain reverence in the way he looked at her, as if he already knew her through Rafael’s eyes.

He knelt slightly beside her seat and held out his hand. In it was a folded piece of cloth—a handkerchief stained with dried blood and ash.

"He was holding onto that ring box even in his last breath," the man said gently. "Clutching it like it was life itself. His last words were... ’I’m sorry, Stefania. I won’t be able to make it home."

Something in Mara broke again—deeper this time. Not loud. Just... shattered.

She covered her mouth, nodding through the tears as the man offered a soft touch to her shoulder and walked away.

It was over. He was gone. The life they were meant to start... buried with him.

After the burial, Mara barely made it up the stairs before collapsing into bed. The twins curled beside her. Baby Isabella rested on her chest, sleeping peacefully, unaware of the sorrow that had woven itself into their home.

Her brothers gently closed the door and left her to rest.

Ethan had been there that day, at a distance. In the back. Head low, dressed in black, hands shaking.

But he never approached Mara. He couldn’t. Not after seeing what Rafael meant to her. Not after realizing the kind of man Rafael truly was. Not after watching the world mourn a man who had done what few could—love Mara the right way and die protecting others.

Ethan quietly left before anyone could see the tears in his eyes.

And upstairs, in the stillness of her room, Mara lay in silence—her hand resting on her heart, her other hand holding the ring.

He hadn’t made it in time. But he had loved her with everything he had. And maybe, just maybe... that would always be enough.

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