Chapter 17
Once Adrian got in the car, he frowned, feeling like something was off.
The car was dead silent, and something else was missing too.
He wracked his brain trying to figure it out–that familiar jasmine smell that always chilled him out was completely gone.
“What happened to the usual car scent?” he snapped at the driver.
The driver caught his eye in the mirror and said real carefully: “Mr. Kane, your wife used to make that stuff herself. She said it would help you relax. But these days… she hasn’t been making any more.”
Adrian went totally still as these random memories just slammed into him-
Coming home dead tired from work, and Ivy always had this light waiting in the front hall with warm honey water sitting on the table.
When his stomach was killing him, she’d make this porridge with some kind of special ingredient that was creamy but not gross–sweet.
When it rained, she’d sneak these tiny jasmine pouches into his jacket pockets, saying they’d keep the nasty weather from getting to him…
All those little things he’d never really paid attention to now felt like tiny knives just cutting right into his chest.
At the Wells mansion, you could cut the tension with a knife.
Ivy jabbed at her injuries, absolutely livid: “That MORON wore my face and STILL got treated like shit! She’s completely worthless! This is a goddamn insult!”
ル
Her mom wrapped her up tight, all protective: “Baby, don’t get yourself worked up. We’re gonna destroy them for this!”
“Destroy them?” Ivy barked out this vicious laugh. “Are you kidding me? Our family’s broke compared to what we used to be, and we just pissed away thirty million on that loser. How the FUCK are we supposed to go up against the Kanes?”
Her parents‘ faces went dead white hearing that. Ivy was absolutely right–the Wells family had been circling the drain for years. They just put on a good show, but against the Kanes? They were fucked.
Right then, the butler rushed in saying Adrian and Elena had shown up together.
Her parents shot each other this look and came charging out, both of them laser–focused on Elena.
“THIS is the little WHORE who fucked with my daughter?”
Ivy’s mom shrieked, stabbing her finger at Elena. “And you brought this BITCH to our house to rub it in our faces? Think we’re all DEAD around here?!”
She was ready to straight–up attack.
Adrian threw his hand up to block her, his voice brutal: “I’m here to get some answers.”
Her dad let out this nasty snort but still moved aside–he couldn’t afford to screw with the Kane empire: “Fine. Get inside.”
In the study, you could practically taste the hostility.
Adrian didn’t waste time with bullshit: “Where’s the REAL Ivy Wells?”
Both parents looked shocked.
HIT
AL
After this panicked look between them, her dad tried to fake being calm: “What the HELL are you talking about, Adrian? The woman at your house is
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3 Years as Your Backup Wife, 1 Text to Crash Your World: ‘Guess Which Twin Left?‘
Chapter 17
our daughter!”
“Oh really?” Adrian laughed, but it was cold as ice. He ripped the folder out of his jacket and threw it down hard on the desk. “That marriage switcheroo from three years back–thought you could bury that secret FOREVER?”
Her mom’s hands were visibly shaking and she started to argue when the study door got kicked wide open-
“I AM Ivy fucking Wells! You got a problem with that?”
This icy voice sliced right through the room. Adrian spun around and there was “Ivy” in the doorway, waving an ID card with “IVY WELLS” stamped all over it.
Adrian stared at that ID card, his face twisted up tight.
The photo was a perfect match for the woman standing there, but his gut was telling him this whole thing was bullshit.
“If Mr. Kane wants to question my identity, knock yourself out investigating.” She said it like she couldn’t care less, then started walking away.
Adrian snatched her wrist, his voice all rough and threatening: “Who the hell ARE you?”
She met his eyes with this blank, cold stare: “What’s it matter? You never gave two shits about ‘Ivy Wells‘ anyway.”
That hit him like a punch to the chest. His hand dropped and she just walked out like he didn’t exist.
Later that night, his assistant rang him up.
“Boss, I got the whole story.” His assistant sounded stressed. “The Wells really do have twin daughters.
Three years back, the one who actually married you was the younger twin–Riley Wells. The older one, Ivy, bailed to Europe, so they made Riley fill in. But somehow the real Ivy just came back…”
Adrian gripped his phone so tight he thought it might crack.
So that’s what happened.
The woman who cooked for him, waited up for him, took all his crap without complaining–that wasn’t ever Ivy.
That was Riley.
He jumped up, his eyes going dark: “Round up some people and drag those Wells parents over here. Right fucking now!”
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