Buying My Forever Wife novel Chapter 229

Ivy stayed at the hospital with Gemma late into the evening.

Knowing she hadn't gone home the night before, and considering the monumental favor Alaric had done by moving Gemma into such a luxurious suite at Foster Medical Center.

She felt she owed it to him to go back and properly express her gratitude.

At ten o'clock, Ivy took a cab back to The Starlight Estate.

She assumed Elena had already put Stella to bed.

So, she quietly pushed open the heavy front door.

Mrs. Gable had clearly gone to sleep as well; the entire ground floor was submerged in darkness.

Not wanting to wake anyone, Ivy didn't flip the lights, relying on the faint glow of the streetlamps outside as she crept upstairs.

But the moment she reached the top of the stairs, she froze. Down the hall, illuminated by the soft baseboard lighting near the master bedroom, a man and a woman were locked in a frantic embrace.

The dim light cast enough of a glow for her to identify them instantly.

It was Alaric and Elena.

It was as if lightning had struck her right in the chest.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Convinced she was hallucinating, she pinched her arm hard enough to leave a mark.

But the painful sting confirmed reality. The figures in the hallway did not stop.

They only grew more aggressive, kissing feverishly as clothing began dropping to the floor.

Unable to witness another second of the betrayal, Ivy spun around and bolted down the stairs.

Bursting out of the front door, a suffocating wave of despair crashed over her. Tears blurred her vision, and her heart shattered into a million jagged pieces.

She simply could not process the horror she had just witnessed.

Keeping her head down, she sprinted blindly into the night.

Meanwhile, inside the estate.

Alaric was panting heavily, his skin burning.

His vision swam with dizzying heat, making it impossible to focus on the woman clinging to him.

But her scent was all wrong.

She didn't have Ivy's intoxicating fragrance.

Swaying unsteadily, he mustered every ounce of willpower and violently shoved the woman away.

"Elena... you drugged me?"

He dug his nails into his forearms, drawing blood to keep himself tethered to reality. He was a married man. He would absolutely not touch another woman.

He would rather suffer the agonizing consequences of the drug than betray his vows.

But the chemical fire raging in his veins was pure, undiluted torture.

Dragging himself to the walk-in closet, he pulled out a silk tie and viciously lashed his own wrist to the heavy bedpost, ensuring he wouldn't lose control and hunt down a release.

Out in the hall, Elena was completely consumed by the Vesper-X she had ingested.

Realizing the bedroom door wouldn't budge, her lust drove her out of the estate in a deranged frenzy.

Wandering the streets half-naked, she was easily dragged into an alley by a passing predator.

Ivy took a cab straight back to the hospital.

But she didn't go back to Gemma's room. She collapsed on a bench in the dark, isolated hospital garden, sobbing uncontrollably.

A lump formed in her throat, choking the life out of her.

She was entirely broken.

She had genuinely believed that because Alaric had brought her on his business trip, introduced her to his elite circle, and paid a fortune to save her sister.

And casually handed her hundreds of thousands of dollars—that she had actually meant something to him.