Substitute Wife For The Blind CEO

Chapter 84: Unbelievable!

He didn’t sleep that night. Not even for a second. Just lay there in the heavy dark, waiting for the sun to rise like it might bring her back. f|ree(w)ebn\o.vel.com

But morning came cold and hollow.

By six-thirty, Stefan was showered and dressed in black slacks and a charcoal sweater—he’d picked up before leaving— simple but clean. His face in the mirror looked unfamiliar—haunted. He hadn’t shaved. His eyes were bloodshot, jaw tight. But he didn’t care.

He wasn’t going for a reunion.

He was going to face the woman who’d orchestrated the beginning of this collapse.

His mother. Elizabeth Winters.

The woman who had smiled and said she loved him while helping replace his bride with another. The woman who had knowingly allowed Ruby to carry the burden, thinking she was protecting him. The same woman who had welcomed Ivy back like a prodigal daughter while the real woman who had held Stefan’s heart walked out the door with tears in her eyes and a life growing inside her.

He slammed the door of the hotel room behind him without hesitation and once he got into his car, he drove off.

The streets of Zeden blurred around him, and he barely felt the weight of the steering wheel beneath his hands. His thoughts were on fire. His heart was a drum of fury.

You don’t get to call it love if it’s built on silence and betrayal. How could his mother ever do something like that? He didn’t need to think much since he’d be getting the answers straight from her any moment. He told himself as he focused on the road and soon he arrived at his mother’s place.

As he pulled into the driveway of his family’s estate, the gates opened without resistance. Familiar. Automatic.

But he wasn’t the same son returning home.

He was a man on the edge.

Elizabeth was in the sitting room when he walked in, a book in her lap, glasses perched on her nose. She looked up at the sound of his footsteps and blinked.

"Stefan," she said, surprised. "You left the office early yesterday. I was—"

He held up a hand, stopping her cold.

"Don’t," he said sharply. "Not a word. Not yet."

her delicate features. "What do you mean? What’s

the door behind him and turned to face her, his voice low but thick with restrained rage. "Why did you do

clouding her features even more. "Do

pretend with me, not now. You knew the truth about Ivy. You knew she left. You knew Ruby was standing in her place on our wedding day. Infact you put

find out? Who told him? How could he have found out so soon? What had Ivy done? Had he confronted her yet? What was she to say to him now? Should she deny it or

mouth to speak but she didn’t know what to say, whether to come clean

thing or if letting Ivy back thinking she was the real person

supposed to marry? And after she stayed, why did you

sides. "I— I

in love with someone under false

down. "I was

of what exactly?" he half yelled and she

I thought she could keep things together. I didn’t expect you to fall for her or for her to fall for you. I thought I could let her stay beside you until I

of all this. She loved and nurtured me with everything in her. She loved me wholly without conditions or expectations. And you

hurt you, son. I

her," he said, voice like stone. "Because if I don’t—if

forward, face inches from

hell won’t just break loose, Mother.

Elizabeth frozen in place, her face pale with guilt and fear, and a silence that felt far

remained frozen where Stefan had left her,

loved and nurtured me with everything in her... And you let her

wasn’t just his rage that clung to her—it was the

She hadn’t known.

hadn’t seen it. Hadn’t guessed. Her

Why didn’t

Did she leave because of the baby? Did Ivy know and keep it from her? Or worse... did Regina know? Where was she now? Regina had talked about

either of those women had known and kept

in regret. No. That wasn’t who she was. She had lost control once—letting emotions blind her, letting Ivy back into

this. She

extent of the deception. She needed to hear it from the very source of the