Buying My Forever Wife novel Chapter 119

Nothing happened?

Listening to the girl's absolute certainty, Alaric raked through his memories of the night.

He vividly remembered the visceral, mind-numbing ecstasy of sinking into her.

How could nothing have happened?

Could a dream really be that impossibly realistic?

Alaric absolutely refused to believe it had all been in his head.

But if she was dead set on denying it, refusing to let him take responsibility, what the hell was he supposed to do?

He studied her flushed cheeks, her downcast eyes, and the way her fingers were twisting nervously together—she was clearly radiating guilt.

And then there was the mark his daughter had pointed out on her neck.

The mansion was meticulously cleaned every single day; there was no way a random insect had bitten her.

Deciding to drop it for now, Alaric waved her off.

"Go back to Stella."

Ivy nodded and scrambled out of the room.

The second the door clicked shut, Alaric pulled out his phone and made a call.

About an hour later, Elena walked through the front doors of the mansion.

Ivy was sitting on the living room rug, drawing with Stella.

Seeing the woman walk in, Stella politely greeted her,

"Elena, are you here to fix Mommy? A nasty bug bit her on the neck. You need to look at it right now!"

Ivy froze in pure terror.

Realizing the doctor was genuinely here to examine her, she frantically shook her head.

"No, I'm completely fine, Dr. Sinclair. It's just a kid's overactive imagination."

Stella instantly threw a fit, her little face scrunching up in anger.

"Mommy, you're not behaving! Your neck got totally chewed up by a bug, why won't you let Elena fix it?"

Ivy was instantly rendered speechless, panic gripping her chest.

Stella had completely thrown Ivy's previous instructions about calling her 'sister' in front of outsiders out the window.

She yanked furiously at Ivy's sleeve, demanding,

"Mommy, take off your shirt right now and let Elena see!"

Ivy didn't dare upset the little girl who was essentially her meal ticket.

The only reason she was allowed to live at the estate was because Stella liked her.

Having completely run out of excuses, Ivy reluctantly got up, sat next to Elena, and slowly unbuttoned the top of her collar, exposing the dark, mottled bruises for the other woman to see.

The moment Elena laid eyes on them, the color violently drained from her face.

She gritted her teeth so hard her jaw ached.

She was an adult woman; she knew exactly what those marks were.

But she couldn't afford to break character. Feigning complete ignorance, she began applying a cooling ointment while asking casually,

"How did this happen?"

Sweating bullets, Ivy kept up the lie. "It was just a bug bite. I woke up with it this morning. I don't really know what kind of bug it was."