All Chapters of The Wife Swap: Chapter 61 - Chapter 66

Ashley’s POVAs we pulled into the driveway, the familiar outline of the house loomed ahead, its shadow stretching long across the fading light. The car engine shut off, and the silence that followed felt like a weight pressing down on my chest. I swallowed, trying to push it down, but the lump in my throat stayed stubbornly lodged.I didn't want to be alone tonight.But asking Andreas to stay with me until I fell asleep was not an option. Infact it felt like stepping too far into dangerous territory. He wasn’t my comfort. He was Ashton’s husband, even if it had been an arrangement. I couldn’t forget his reaction when he discovered the truth about the swap, his words stinging like knives and cutting deep.Yet now, in this moment, the idea of walking into upstairs—into Ashton’s room, her space after having t try to come to terms with the revelation that she might be dead—made the ground beneath me feel unstable.The air inside the car was thick with tension, but neither of us spoke. I

Ashley’s POVI kept scrolling mindlessly, my finger moving on autopilot as I cycled through the endless clips. Nothing was registering anymore—just faces, bodies, the blur of people going about their lives.I was just about to accept that perhaps Ashton hadn’t come to the airport after all, then, I froze.My breath caught in my throat as I stared at the screen, my heart pounding in my ears. There she was—Ashton. Her face. Clear as day, staring directly into the camera. My body went cold, and for a second, I couldn’t move, couldn’t even blink.It was her.I wanted to scream, to cry, to reach through the screen and grab her, pull her back into my world. But my body refused to cooperate. I just stared, unblinking, as if the act of looking away would erase her from existence.She was here. She had been at the airport.Which meant...My chest tightened, squeezing so hard I thought I might suffocate. If she didn’t board the flight, maybe she was still out there somewhere. But if she did...

Ashley’s POVSitting across from Andreas in the crowded café, I had thought the chatter of strangers and the clinking of cups would diffuse some of the awkwardness that had lingered between us after the gym. But there we were, in a public space, and the tension hadn’t dissipated. If anything, it felt more pronounced, like an invisible cord stretched taut between us.I reached for the menu at the same time as Andreas, our hands brushing, and I jerked mine back as though his touch had burned me. A nervous chuckle escaped before I could stop it. "You can, um, order for us if you want," I said, trying to sound casual, but my voice came out thin, almost breathless. I quickly glanced around, hoping the room's noise would swallow up the weird energy buzzing between us.He didn’t meet my eyes, just nodded stiffly. "Sure," he murmured, barely looking at the menu as he gestured for the waiter.I bit my lip, feeling my cheeks flush for reasons I couldn’t explain. Maybe I was imagining this. Mayb