Buying My Forever Wife novel Chapter 176

At those words, Alaric's tone cooled significantly.

He carried Stella inside, speaking without looking back.

"I don't particularly enjoy having strangers in my house. But if you really wanted to bring them over, you should have just told me. I simply wouldn't have come home."

The translation was loud and clear: he didn't want them here.

Ivy wasn't stupid. She understood his boundaries perfectly.

She followed him through the foyer. "Don't worry. I know my place. I would never actually bring them here, so you never have to avoid your own home."

Ivy was hyper-aware of her reality. She and her family were from a small, struggling town with no social standing.

If her sisters found out she had married the wealthiest billionaire in the city—a man of untouchable prestige—they would definitely flaunt it.

They might even pester him for favors and financial bailouts.

To avoid creating an absolute nightmare, and to keep Alaric from looking down on her more than he already might, she would never expose him to her family.

Alaric cast a sidelong glance at her, asking:

"Do you think I'm being unreasonably cold?"

Ivy shook her head quickly. "Not at all. I completely understand."

He was a corporate titan with billions of dollars to his name. The media documented his every move.

If high society discovered he had married an uneducated girl from a broken, lower-class family...

He would become a laughingstock.

Ivy fully comprehended why her husband insisted on keeping their marriage a secret.

As a wife, she was a liability—someone who could never confidently stand by his side in public.

"Aside from making our marriage public, I can give you anything else you want."

Noticing the sudden dimming of her expression, Alaric added the assurance as he settled onto the living room sofa with Stella in his lap.

Ivy walked over and shook her head firmly.

"I don't need anything else. You've already given me more than enough. You have my word—unless you say otherwise, I will take the secret of our relationship to my grave."

Though, realistically, they probably wouldn't last a lifetime anyway.

She just needed a little more money. Once Gemma's medical bills were fully covered and Hazel graduated college and became financially independent...

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