Buying My Forever Wife novel Chapter 20

Once he finished eating, Alaric abruptly pushed his chair back and dropped a parting warning.

"Your personal baggage is none of my concern. But from the moment you manipulated me into this marriage, you became a married woman. Keep your hands to yourself and remember your place."

Ivy froze entirely.

What on earth was he talking about?

She stared up at him in complete bewilderment.

But he simply shot her a look of utter disgust before turning on his heel and striding away.

So what did he mean by keeping her hands to herself?

Was he talking about what happened at the hospital?

Did Summer feed him some twisted lie?

Ivy opened her mouth to defend herself, but seeing him disappear upstairs without so much as a backward glance, she forcefully swallowed her words.

Then again, how could she even begin to explain the humiliating reality of her past without sounding pathetic?

Still, the sheer, unadulterated loathing in his eyes left a heavy, painful knot in her chest.

The next day at Metropolitan General.

Summer eagerly hijacked Ivy's duties, proudly carrying a tray of medication straight into Ethan's VIP suite.

The second Ethan saw his cousin strutting in, his face twisted in deep irritation.

"Who the hell sent you in here? Isn't Ivy supposed to be doing this?"

Though they were technically cousins, the two ran in completely different circles and rarely spoke outside of forced family galas.

They only ever saw each other at mandatory family gatherings.

Ethan already knew that Summer was the one who poached Patrick from Ivy, and he despised how she constantly weaponized the Foster family name to bully her way through life.

He had absolutely zero patience for her antics.

But Summer wasn't one to back down, immediately crossing her arms with an arrogant sneer.

"Don't act like I actually want to wait on you hand and foot. But consider this a warning: stay far away from a cheap slut like Ivy, unless you want to drag your reputation through the mud."

Her vicious words echoed loudly just as Ivy approached the open door with a fresh IV bag.

A sharp, humiliating sting lashed against Ivy's pride.

But what could she possibly do to Summer?

She was a nobody from the countryside who had fought tooth and nail just to secure a stable paycheck in this massive city.

And she was currently standing in a hospital owned entirely by Summer's family.

Summer shot one final, venomous glare at Ivy, grinding her teeth in pure rage before storming out of the suite.

Once she was finally gone, Ethan immediately turned to Ivy, desperate to do damage control.

"Seriously, block out her psychotic rambling."

Ivy just shook her head silently.

She quickly finished adjusting his IV line, desperate to just do her job and escape the suffocating room.

"Wait," Ethan called out before she could reach the door. "Why won't you bring me dinner anymore? You're ignoring all my transfers."

He knew for a fact that the girl was chronically desperate for cash.

Yet for the past two days, she hadn't touched a single dime he tried to send her.

He had also heard the furious hospital gossip—that her schedule was impossibly luxurious, clocking out at four in the afternoon with zero night shifts.

Who the hell possessed the kind of authority to mandate that kind of VIP treatment?

Ethan was genuinely terrified that Ivy had sold herself to some corrupt, high-ranking hospital executive.

Ivy looked at him, her expression completely detached as she explained,

"I'm not desperate for money right now. Plus, I have other commitments taking up my time. I can't look after you anymore. You'll have to find someone else to bring you food."