Flash Marriage to a Stunning CEO (Alistair and Richard)

Chapter 203

Chapter 203 A Terrifying Need for Control

Eloise felt torn.

If Alistair and Caroline could go too, there wouldn't be any dilemma at all.

Thankfully, there was still over a month before the peak of summer. She had time to think it through.

That night, only Alistair and Caroline returned home. After a warm shower and some whispered conversation in bed, Caroline fell asleep in his arms.

Alistair lay there, eyes open, adjusting to the darkness. He studied her sleeping face in the faint light and then gently pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Sleep well, my girl.

He had let too much slip through his fingers. But now, he was here to stay, and he wouldn't miss another moment.

While their evening at Ashbourne Manor had been filled with laughter and peace, elsewhere, Derek was carrying out a plan on Alistair's orders. Dressed neatly and trying his best to look presentable, Derek had agreed to meet a woman who'd invited him out.

Chapter 203 A Terrifying Need for Cont...

After all, beauty was a trap that never stopped working. Subtle or not, it always pulled people in..

For someone like Derek, who had been beaten down by life and left crawling in the gutter for over a decade, the illusion of validation was almost impossible to resist.

His pride had long since been worn thin. Now, with a woman throwing herself at him, his instincts screamed for the chance to feel like a man again. At least, that was what Paige, or rather, her enabler Theresa, was counting on.

Theresa had clawed her way up by using her looks. She believed in the power of seduction more than anything.

Around midnight, Alistair gently eased out from under Caroline's sleeping form and slipped into the bathroom without turning on the light. He hadn't turned it on at night since they started sleeping together. Caroline had always struggled with sleep, but since he'd been beside her, she slept deeply, often through the whole night.

He closed the door softly behind him. The glow from his phone lit his face in pale, sharp contrast.

Derek had checked into a motel that evening.

Just past midnight, a large wooden crate was quietly wheeled out of the motel's

back exit. Under the cover of darkness, it was loaded into a truck that immediately headed north.

By morning, Derek would have vanished without a trace.

Where did he go? No one could say.

Maybe he got drunk and drowned in a ditch. Maybe he fell off a cliff. Maybe something worse happened.

Maybe, after years of being beaten down and humiliated, Derek had finally reached the end of the line.

SIM card he'd used solely for contacting Derek, a disposable one purchased

walked out like nothing had

to sleep. Got to be well

Derek, the man who was supposed

sleeping peacefully

they'd smuggled out wasn't

some internal radar tuned to his presence, she immediately rolled over in her sleep and curled into

A Terrifying Need for

220 min left

his arms around her and gave her back a

nestled deeper into his chest, and then

and a

Obliterator, Alistair

have never imagined that Caroline's mother and the

clear. Gordon had caught his

had shattered

Alistair that even Gordon couldn't escape

destroyed by

personality had driven her husband to the edge

believe he had simply fallen out of love. What she

Grapici

her grip,

first, her grip only tightened around

speak out. After all, her younger brother was

right mind would want

appease her. It only

extreme.

those around her,

who later reverted to her maiden name,

not so easily manipulated.

It drove Paige mad.

with quiet firmness, told her

lived. From that moment on, Paige began

she didn't want advice on how to raise her daughter, or on what

thinks she can defy

A Temmying

Paige made her

Paige's machinations, Lillian was labeled a

and to leave everything

take Caroline with her.

Gordon refused.