Regretting The Wife He Threw Away

Back at Skybreeze Retreat.

Briony opened the file the moment she walked in.

Stewart's research was thorough-painfully so.

Her mother's old case wasn't as simple as it seemed. There was a hidden layer, a secret that changed everything.

And at the center of it all... Neal.

Briony flipped through the documents, her hands trembling. All of this had only come to light in the past few months.

Lauren and Neal had known each other from the very beginning.

Neal had started out in business too, but his ambition got the better of him. Greed led him into smuggling and dirty money. Then, during a government crackdown, Neal killed a federal agent while trying to escape, and ended up at the top of the most-wanted list.

After Neal went on the run, Lauren discovered she was pregnant. Alone, she gave birth to Rosita. Not long after, desperate to survive, she started working in nightclubs.

That world introduced her to wealthy men-years spent as someone's kept woman, but most of them grew bored quickly, discarding Lauren with a severance check when the thrill wore off.

Lauren refused to accept that fate. She began hunting for a man who could give her real status.

That's when Neal reappeared, having learned that Lauren had borne his child. He wouldn't leave her alone.

already involved with Malcolm Kensington. To keep Neal

plan to push Julia Hudson out of the Kensington family and take her place as Mrs. Kensington. That way, their daughter

Malcolm for good. Everything the Kensington family

Neal together. Enraged, he stormed

and terrified, acted on pure instinct. She shoved Malcolm away- then, thrown off balance, she

to, she was told Malcolm had fallen from the balcony.

accidentally pushed

had uncovered new evidence: on the night of Malcolm's death, a housekeeper saw Lauren fleeing the

housekeeper, afraid of being implicated, had quit and

recently did Stewart's

this witness, there was no direct proof tying Lauren to the

real breakthrough hinged on

Because Neal wasn't dead.

his body. Stewart's people

recovery-comatose, hidden away.

ago, Neal

team brought Neal to Lauren's

her illness eating away at her, mind and body weakening