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Chapter 125: Unspoken goodbyes
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The Wife Swap Chapter 126: Whispers of the past
Ashley’s POVI didn’t even realize when I drifted off, but the shrill sound of my alarm snapped me awake. My phone screen flashed, reminding me of today—my friendship anniversary with Liv. A small smile tugged at the corners of my lips. The one constant in my life, even through all this madness, had been Liv. I quickly typed out a message, "Happy friendship anniversary, babes. Do you have time? Should we meet for lunch?" and hit send.Sitting up, I felt an odd sense of urgency, like today was different. Maybe it was because it might be my last day here—my last day pretending to be someone I wasn’t, and my last day in this mansion that was both beautiful and suffocating. I headed to the bathroom, deciding to take extra care getting ready. My reflection stared back at me, and for a moment, I hardly recognized the woman in the mirror. I looked very different from the woman that had first come into the mansion; timid, unsure and worried about her eccentric sister. I looked different, but
The Wife Swap Chapter 127: The phone call
Ashley’s POVI hadn’t lasted up to fifteen minutes with Liv at the restaurant she had picked for our friendship anniversary before Liv sniffed out that something was wrong. The restaurant was bustling with laughter and chatter, the air filled with the comforting aroma of food, but all I could focus on was the weight of the novel pressing against my side through my bag.“Okay, spill,” Liv said, leaning in closer, her hazel eyes narrowing with concern. “What’s wrong?”I tried to muster a smile, but it felt forced, like trying to put together a puzzle with missing pieces. “I’m fine, Liv. Just… a little tired.”Her brow arched skeptically. “Tired? You look like you just walked through a ghost town. You’re avoiding eye contact, and your hands are shaking. What’s really going on? I know you said you wanted to hang out, but we can just head back to my place and order in if being outside is too much for you right now.”I sighed, knowing I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer. I reached into m
The Wife Swap Chapter 128: Cryptic messages
Ashley’s POVJust as my hand hovered over the phone, ready to answer, the call ended abruptly. My heart thudded in my chest, the silence in its wake even louder. I glanced up at Liv, and she was already staring back at me, her eyes wide and calculating. I could almost see the gears turning in her head, mirroring my own frantic thoughts.Maybe this wasn’t just a prank. Maybe it wasn’t just a harmless delivery or a mistake. The phone call—the timing—something about it was off. And now, the weight of that realization hung between us like a thick fog.“What are you thinking?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, but I didn’t really need to ask. Liv was thinking the same thing I was.“This is getting weird,” Liv said, leaning back in her chair, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “It’s not just the book anymore, Ash. You said you got a call earlier, right after the package came, and now this? There’s no way it’s a coincidence.”I swallowed hard, nodding. My throat felt tight, like
The Wife Swap Chapter 129: Charm and Grace
Ashley’s POVI blinked, confusion washing over me. “Wait—Andreas is coming too?”“Yes. It’ll be the three of us,” Alfred replied, his voice crisp, like he was laying out a simple, irrefutable fact. Before I could respond or ask more questions, he added, “I’ll send the details shortly. Don’t worry.”And then, before I could even open my mouth to reply, the call ended. The abruptness of it left me staring at the phone, feeling a growing pit of dread in my stomach.Don’t worry? That was exactly what I was doing. The way he’d said that Andreas would be joining us, combined with his insistence that I didn’t need to inform him—it just didn’t sit right with me. What was this really about?I slowly lowered the phone, meeting Liv’s questioning gaze. “What happened?” she asked, leaning forward, her concern palpable.I shook my head, feeling a bit dizzy from the conversation. “Alfred wants to have dinner with me. With Andreas too.”Liv’s brow furrowed, her lips pressing into a thin line. “That d
The Wife Swap Chapter 130: Cat out of the bag
Ashley’s POVLiv, bless her, had stayed with me the whole afternoon. She knew I was a wreck after Alfred’s call—who wouldn’t be? He had that way of making every word feel like a trap, every silence like a loaded gun. So, to keep my mind off things, Liv had taken me to her office, dug up a pile of old notebooks, dust settling on their covers, each filled with story ideas I had long abandoned with her and promised to look through before since everything got flipped upside down.“Look at these!” she said, flipping open one with a faded cover. “These used to be your world, Ash. Let’s dive in. It’ll be good for you.”I wanted to tell her it was pointless. Those stories had been abandoned for a reason—how could I care about characters and plot twists when my own life felt like one big lie? But she insisted, and I didn’t have the heart to refuse. So, we sat there, flipping through pages and laughing over half-baked ideas. Liv’s presence was calming, and for a few hours, I almost forgot about
The Wife Swap Chapter 131: More shock
Ashley’s POVAlfred’s smile widened, a flash of teeth that made my stomach twist. “Oh, I’ve had my suspicions for a while,” he said smoothly, as if this was all some kind of game. “Little things—mannerisms, the way you speak. Your sister has certain habits that you...lack.”I wanted to argue, to tell him he was wrong, but I knew it was pointless. Instead, I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice steady. “Andreas didn’t tell you?”He chuckled, shaking his head. “He did. A few hours ago and if he hadn’t, I might have never figured out what I thought was so different about my daughter in law that I couldn’t seem to place.”I sat there, stunned, my mind racing. I’d been so careful—or at least, I’d thought I had been. All those little details, the things I’d tried so hard to get right, and he’d still suspected, which meant that it was only a matter of time before he figured it out with or without Andreas’ confession. I wondered what exactly Andreas had told him. Did he tell him all of it?
The Wife Swap Chapter 132: Some kind of business deal
Ashley’s POVBefore I could even fully process what Alfred had just implied—that he wouldn’t have objected if I’d been the one Andreas brought home instead of Ashton—Andreas’s hand found mine. His touch was warm and grounding, but there was a tense urgency to it. He pulled me up from the chair, positioning himself subtly between me and Alfred, like he was forming a shield. “Father, we’ve already discussed this. I told you I’ll handle things. I have it under control,” Andreas said, his tone calm yet edged with an unspoken warning.But Alfred merely raised an eyebrow, a faint smile tugging at his lips. He looked more amused than anything, as though toying with us both. “Really, Andreas? From where I stand, it appears you’re barely holding on by a thread.”He let the words hang in the air before continuing. “I’ve had enough time to consider everything you told me this morning, and I’ve come to a decision,” he said, his gaze flicking to me, evaluating as though I were a part of his own ma
The Wife Swap Chapter 133: A shocking discovery
Ashley’s POVI felt my legs begin to tremble, and I forced myself to stand tall, even as my heart pounded wildly in my chest. I wanted to lash out, to tell him he was a heartless monster, but there was no point. He wouldn’t hear it. All he saw was the bottom line—the damage control, the facade that needed to be maintained.“And what about me?” I asked, my voice raw with emotion. “What about what this is doing to me? To Andreas? To all of us?”Alfred’s gaze shifted, almost as if he were considering my words. But then he shrugged, a gesture so dismissive it made my blood boil. “You’ve handled it so far,” he said simply. “And if it means protecting what we’ve built, then yes, I expect you to continue. If you walk away now, everything crumbles—don’t you see that?”“No,” Andreas said, his voice shaking with fury, “what I see is a man so obsessed with control that he’s willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of a lie.”The room went deathly quiet, and I felt Andreas’s hand go rigid in mi
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