Buying My Forever Wife novel Chapter 297

Halfway up the mountain, the terrible road conditions caused Alaric's car to break down completely.

Because he was deep in the mountains, his phone had zero signal.

He had no choice but to start walking to find help.

After a few miles, he spotted a group of men emerging from the woods, arguing nervously amongst themselves.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now? The Sawyer girl just jumped into the river. Are we going to be charged with murder?"

"It has nothing to do with us! We were just hired to bring her back."

"Honestly, her mother is a monster. Selling her younger daughter wasn't enough, so she sold the older one too. What kind of mother does something like that?"

Alaric's instincts flared instantly at the mention of the Sawyer family. He marched right up to them.

"What did you just say?"

The men jumped, startled by the sudden appearance of a stranger, and immediately moved toward their motorcycles to bolt.

Needing to extract the truth, Alaric smoothly shifted tactics.

"Excuse me, gentlemen. I'm sorry to interrupt, but my car is stuck down the road. If you could help me push it out, I'll pay you $500 each."

Hearing the offer of $500, the men exchanged greedy looks and hesitated.

They noted his expensive, tailored clothing—this guy was clearly a wealthy city slicker.

The easy cash was too tempting to walk away from. They quickly agreed.

"Sure thing, boss. Lead the way."

As Alaric guided them back down the dirt road, he casually probed for information.

"It's my lucky day running into you guys, otherwise I'd be sleeping in my car tonight. What brings you all the way out here anyway?"

The men were still on edge and avoided the question.

One of them muttered nervously to his friend, "Shouldn't we go tell the Sawyers? If she's actually dead, then we..."

"You go tell them if you want! I'm here to make some cash for my family."

In the end, greed won out, and none of them left to report the incident.

And when they confirmed that Ivy had thrown herself into the river to escape them, his composure snapped entirely. He lunged forward, grabbing the nearest man by the collar.

"Where did she jump?! Tell me right now!"

The men froze in terror, staring wide-eyed at the sudden murderous rage radiating from the wealthy stranger.

"W-what's your relationship with her?"

Alaric's mind was consumed by absolute panic for Ivy's safety, his handsome features twisting into a mask of pure agony and dread.

"Tell me exactly where she jumped. Then go find her. Whoever brings Ivy back to me without a single scratch, I will pay you $100,000 each!"

Hearing the promise of $100,000 per person, the men's eyes nearly bulged out of their skulls.

Blinded by the unimaginable sum, they scrambled to lead Alaric to the exact cliff where Ivy had thrown herself off.

The moment Alaric reached the edge of the precipice, his legs gave out, sending him crashing to his knees on the hard dirt.

A devastating numbness swept through him; he couldn't have stood up even if he tried.