Chapter 6
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The search and rescue team scoured the sea for a full 24 hours.
At last, the team captain approached Alaric, his voice weary.
“Mr. Alaric, we’ve combed the entire surrounding area. The sea breeze at night is frigid.”
He hesitated, then handed over an item.
It was my hairclip, one she always wore, now covered in wet sand.
“We found it lodged between the rocks,” the captain said softly.
“Judging by the tides, Madam likely didn’t survive past 10 p.m. last night.”
“You’re talking nonsense!” Alaric suddenly exploded. “Eleanor is an excellent swimmer. She’ll be fine, she has to be fine!”
His assistant cautiously reminded him, “Mr. Alaric, Madam hasn’t been able to swim since she sustained complications saving you that time.”
Those words hit Alaric like a hammer to the chest.
He stumbled back, eyes blank, as a memory surged forth. That rainy night, when she’d jumped into the river to save him. She developed a high fever that never quite healed and since then, she’d never gone near water again.
And yet he had personally thrown her into the sea.
A month passed.
The search at the coast was eventually called off.
Ruby continued to say she wasn’t feeling well and kept asking Alaric to take her to the hospital. He agreed at first, but after several visits with no clear diagnosis, he started to lose patience.
In those quiet moments, my calm, quiet face would resurface in his mind. He remembered her eyes, always filled with silent affection. He remembered their wedding night, when he lied and told her he was impotent. Her eyes had brimmed with pain and not for herself, but for him.
Now, he offered a large reward for any information on my whereabouts. But no trace of me was ever found.
The day Ruby gave birth, Alaric noticed a suspicious man loitering near the hospital hallway.
Just as he moved to confront him, the man vanished.
When the nurse placed the newborn in his arms, Alaric felt nothing. Not a flicker of joy. Not even curiosity.
All he could think about was how my fate remained unknown. His chest felt hollow, completely emptied.
At the baby’s welcoming party, Leah proudly paraded her grandson around the venue.
Cheated By My Husband Desired By a CEO
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A reporter suddenly asked, “Mr. Alaric Middleton, since your first wife has been missing for quite some time and Miss Ruby has now given birth to your heir, will you consider making her your legal wife?”
Alaric’s face darkened instantly.
His assistant quickly stepped in, “Sorry, we won’t be answering that question.”
After the event, Alaric sat alone on the sofa in the lounge, lost in thought.
Ruby walked in holding the crying baby and pouted, “Alaric, the baby won’t stop crying. Come help me soothe him.”
He rubbed his temples, a splitting headache forming.
Then Ruby lowered her voice and said, “Alaric, Eleanor’s been gone so long. Maybe she ran off with another man. You and I truly love each other, why don’t we…”
“Enough!” Alaric snapped, lifting his gaze. His eyes were blazing with fury.
“I’m tired. I just want some peace.”
In that moment, everything around him suddenly felt meaningless.
Ruby’s eyes welled with tears. She stormed out and slammed the door.
Alaric walked over to the floor–to–ceiling window.
Out in the garden, he caught a glimpse of Ruby clinging sweetly to the arm of a man he didn’t recognize.
It was the same man who’d been lurking around the hospital.
They were chatting and laughing intimately. His expression darkened immediately.
“Find out who that man is,” he ordered his assistant coldly.
The next day, Graham handed him a thick report.
“Mr. Alaric, the man is Miss Ruby ‘s distant cousin. He has a record of assault and served three years in prison. Locally, he’s known as a notorious thug.”
