Reclaimed By My Ex-husband
Chapter 30: This marriage can’t be fixed.

Chapter 30: This marriage can’t be fixed.

"Happy?" Zara snapped, her voice trembling with rage. Whatever control she had left was shattered completely.

After five years of cold treatment, neglect, and a divorce proposal, he thought a few soft words would fix everything, that she’d suddenly forget the heartbreak. She hadn’t forgotten a thing— The cold dinners alone, the empty birthdays, his indifference, the cruel way he spoke to her.

She still remembered the words that crushed her spirit once. She had already lost everything once, including her life. But not this time. In this life, she was determined to stay away from him and protect her child at all costs.

"A few words won’t erase what you did. I’ve accepted the truth—this marriage can’t be fixed. So why drag it out? If it’s Zane you are worried about, I’ll talk to him. He’ll understand."

At the mention of Zane, Nathaniel flinched. He had seen how crushed Zane was when Zara couldn’t join them at the amusement park. Even though Nathaniel had tried his best to keep things light, Zane kept bringing her up—how much fun she would have had, how she would have laughed on the rollercoaster, what she would have said when he got ice cream on his nose.

It was obvious. Zane loved her deeply. She had become part of his world, his comfort.

The thought of tearing that away from him had shaken Nathaniel. It was that very fear, the undeniable bond between Zara and Zane, that made him reconsider everything. Maybe he had looked at this marriage as a burden. Maybe there was no love. But there was something real, something worth saving it for Zane’s sake.

"I told you before...Don’t talk to Zane about this. I mean it. He is too young to understand. Don’t put that weight on him."

Zara chuckled, her blood boiling over. She couldn’t wrap her head around Nathaniel’s sudden change. The same man who had once shoved divorce papers at her now wanted to talk about second chances.

"If you were that worried about Zane," she said coldly, "you should have thought twice before sending me the divorce papers in the first place."

Her voice was sharp, cutting. "What’s the point now? We have both been miserable in this marriage. Five years, and not once did we fall in love. What are we holding onto? There is no reason to carry the burden anymore."

She said that last part with intent, deliberately echoing his own words, the ones she had overheard that night when he told his mother he didn’t want to "carry the burden" any longer.

The moment the words left her mouth, Nathaniel’s head jerked toward her. He froze. For a second, he couldn’t speak. He wondered if she had heard his conversation with his mother.

He looked away, clearly thrown, trying to gather his scattered thoughts.

"We have spent five years living under the same roof, holding this marriage together, whether or not there was love," he began slowly. "I know I wasn’t the husband you deserved. I shut you out, gave you no time, and ignored your efforts. I told myself none of it mattered, that this marriage was empty."

He paused, voice tightening with sincerity. "I thought this marriage was meaningless and that we should end this. But I realized it was a wrong decision. Ending this would be the real mistake."

Zara stared at him, stunned. The man standing in front of her felt like a stranger, so different from the cold, indifferent husband who once avoided her, who didn’t flinch when she cried, who had once said he wouldn’t care even if she died.

’What changed him?’ she thought.

Then his voice broke through again, softer this time. "Let’s try," he said. "Let’s give ourselves a chance. Let’s try to make this work."

Zara sat frozen, her mind spinning. She couldn’t process what she was hearing. After years of silence, cold shoulders, now he was asking for a chance?

She wanted to scoff, to push him away. But her heart was betraying her, thudding too fast, fluttering with something dangerously close to hope.

Nathaniel stepped closer, his gaze locked onto hers. There was no coldness in his eyes this time, no detachment. Only sincerity.

"I know you are angry," he said gently. "And maybe you don’t trust me right now. But... can you give me a chance?"

He sat beside her on the edge of the bed and slowly reached for her hand.

"Let’s start over. Let’s try to understand each other. Maybe we’ll discover something new. Maybe we’ll even fall in love."

Zara’s breath caught. This wasn’t the man she remembered, the man who shattered her hopes, crushed her heart, and treated her like a stranger. And his eyes were no longer cold or distant like she had grown used to. They looked sincere, a flicker of hope crossing in them.

Her thoughts raced. Was he really serious? Could he change? Could she trust him?

"One year," he said. "Let’s give this marriage a year. Let’s travel together, make time for each other, and live like a loving couple. And if, after that, you still feel this isn’t right, I won’t stop you. I’ll let you go. No questions. No pressure. I promise."

The room fell quiet.

And all Zara could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat, thudding against her chest.

A storm of emotion churned inside her. For five long years, she had waited for this—just one moment of warmth, one flicker of tenderness in Nathaniel’s eyes. All she ever received in return was silence, cold shoulders, and a wall she could never break through.

Now here he was, suddenly saying he wanted to try, wanted to rebuild what they never really had.

And a small, aching part of her wanted to believe him, to bury all the pain, forget the betrayal, fall into his arms and pretend it could all be different. But the moment she even leaned toward that thought, her mind went back to the night from her past life.

The glare in Riya’s eyes, the venom in her voice, and Nathaniel’s voice, colder than ice, sharper than any blade.

She had died with that pain. And she hadn’t forgotten a second of it.

"No. Not a chance," she snapped, ripping her hand out of his grasp. "I don’t trust you."

Nathaniel’s eyes widened, his calm cracking. His frustration boiled to the surface. "What’s wrong with you?" he barked. "I’m trying. Can’t you see that? Why won’t you trust me?"

"Trust?" she echoed with a bitter scoff. "You say you want to make this work, but you are still stabbing me in the back."

He blinked, caught off guard. "What are you talking about?"

"You went behind my back and demanded fifty percent of my father’s company," she shot back, her voice rising with fury. "You know how much that business means to me and Nora. It’s not just a company—it’s our mother’s legacy. Her life’s work."

Her voice cracked from the raw weight of emotion.

"And you want to rip it away like it’s nothing," she seethed. "As long as I’m alive, I won’t let that happen. And trust? You won’t get my trust that easily."