I Walked Away And He Lost His Mind (Zephyra) novel Chapter 173

I froze, genuinely shocked. Steven had always been all talk and no action, especially when it came to something as undignified and classless as snatching someone’s phone. He would have scorned such behavior.

Now, he did it more smoothly than I ever could.

My eyes widened, and I reached for it. “Give me back my phone!”

But his arm shot out, wrapping around my waist, and he pulled me into his lap. I tumbled onto his thighs, my face slamming into his chest. I could hear the steady, powerful beat of his heart. As I fell, I instinctively threw my hands onto his shoulders for balance, making us look like a couple caught in a clandestine moment. I was furious.

“Steven!”

With one hand, Steven held me firmly against him, my waist locked in his grip, while his other hand used my finger to unlock my phone. He stared down at the screen, his face impassive. I was trapped, unable to push him away. I could only press one hand against his shoulder while the other frantically tried to grab my phone back.

“Steven, are you a child? What’s the point of unblocking yourself? I’ll just block you again the second I get my phone back. Give it to me!”

It wasn't just about him having his number back. I was terrified he would see my messages with Noah and find out that someone had agreed to take my divorce case. If that happened, my plan would be over before it even began.

Steven’s grip on my finger tightened, and his voice was suddenly hoarse and sharp. “Zephyra, stop moving!”

At first, I ignored him, but then I felt something hard pressing against me from beneath. I froze and looked up at him.

His handsome face was tense, and his dark eyes were like spilled ink, deep and swirling with a hint of desire as they bore into me. On the light-colored sofa, my vibrant red dress was a splash of fire against his long black coat. We were a tangled, disheveled mess, the air crackling with a dangerous, unspoken tension.

The atmosphere in the room turned scorching hot in an instant.

I was stunned. Why was he… why was he reacting to me like this, just as he had in the last two years of our past life? Or had he always been a pervert, and I’d just never noticed because I had kept my distance from him in the early years of our marriage?

I bit my lip and held out my hand. “Give me back my phone. And let me go.”

“Unblock me.”

The indifference in Steven’s eyes instantly vanished, replaced by a storm cloud. I could feel the palpable wave of his displeasure. He was struggling to control himself, his voice raspy and low.

“How far did it go? Did you sleep with him?”

To be honest, Steven’s anger scared me. But this was also the perfect opportunity to push him toward a divorce. He was a notorious neat freak. I wasn’t sure how he tolerated Verna’s past with Jacob—probably because he was so in love with her—but he would never allow me to be with another man. In his words, I was a woman registered under his name. If I cheated on him, it was a direct blow to his ego, a stain on his family’s honor.

I smiled at him, my voice sweet and cloying. “We did spend the night together. And I have to say, the thrill of an affair is quite something.”

“I’m thinking, for every day you refuse to divorce me, I’ll give you a new reason to wear a green hat. I’ll keep going until you’re drowning in them. Who knows, maybe before long, you’ll even get to be a father—”

**Preview: Mr. Lancaster is about to lose it.**

***