Substitute Wife For The Blind CEO
Chapter 78: No Longer Blind

Chapter 78: No Longer Blind

The guilt hit him like a wave. He hadn’t just hurt Ruby. He had crushed her. Turned his back on her after everything she had done for him. And now... now she was gone. Disappeared without a word. Carrying what was possibly his child.

Stefan stared at the floor, jaw clenched, as the realization set in deeper.

"I should’ve known," he muttered. "I should’ve seen it. The way she talked... the way she moved. It was never Ivy."

"I’m sorry, Mr. Winters," Doctor Sylvia said gently. "I don’t know what you’re talking about but I do know you have to stop blaming yourself and go fix it. Whatever it is."

He sat in silence for a long while, letting the weight of everything settle over him. The lies. The mistakes. The things left unsaid. Then slowly, he looked back up.

"I need to find her," he said. "No matter what it takes. I have to fix this. You’re right."

Doctor Sylvia nodded, standing as he rose to his feet. "That’s a good start."

"I’ll find her," Stefan said again, this time with more strength in his voice. "She didn’t deserve what I did. I was too busy chasing a ghost to realize the real thing was right there with me the whole time."

And with that, he turned and left the room, the scan now back in his pocket—but this time, it meant more than a piece of paper.

It was a sign. A second chance. And he wasn’t going to waste it again.

Stefan stepped out of the clinic with a heavy chest and a storm brewing in his heart.

The sun was high, people walking past him were smiling, talking, going about their day like everything was normal. But nothing felt normal to him anymore.

His footsteps were slow, like his body was moving but his mind was stuck—still at Doctor Sylvia’s office, replaying every word she said.

"Maybe she’s waiting to tell you the truth first."

"She said she’d tell you after revealing her biggest secret."

Maybe it wasn’t replying in the exact words or wording she’d said it, he knew those words were there and they haunted him.

His hands tightened around the steering wheel as he got into the car. Martin, who’d been waiting just outside, looked over with concern.

"You alright, sir?" Martin asked gently. Though Stefan hadn’t looked sick this morning or when he was taking him to the clinic, but seeing him now, he looked sick to him.

Stefan nodded once, eyes blank. "I’m fine."

Martin gave him a sideways glance but didn’t push further. He knew better. Stefan had a tone he used when he didn’t want to talk, and this was that tone.

Stefan picked up his phone and dialed Noami.

"Yes, sir?" her voice came through, clear and professional.

"Cancel everything for the rest of today," he said, already starting the car.

"All your appointments?"

"Yes. All of them." He said and hung up without waiting for her reply.

Martin looked startled as the car pulled out of the parking space. "Where are we going, sir?"

"Home," Stefan said quietly, eyes focused on the road ahead, but his mind a thousand miles away.

The ride home was silent. Martin didn’t dare ask questions, and Stefan didn’t offer any answers. He was busy going back in time. Back to the moment he first noticed the warmth in "Ivy’s" voice. Back to how different she had seemed. Softer. Kinder. More real. He’d thought it was a better version of his Ivy but now he knew better. That person was never Ivy. It was Ruby.

She had been the one beside him. She had been the one holding his hand when he couldn’t even see her face. That was why she’d said she loved him. Maybe they’d done some sort of plan but then she’d fallen for him in the process—even he has fallen for her. He’d choose her over and over again if he’d known what he knew now.

He shook his head, anger, pain and guilt gnawing in his inside. She’d love him and cared for him and what had he done?

He had pushed her away. He had told her to leave.

His throat tightened at the memory. Her voice had trembled that day. She had asked him to listen. To let her explain. And what had he done? Chosen Ivy—blindly, stupidly, cruelly. He’d been a fool.

As soon as he got home, he went upstairs and sat on the edge of the bed. The same bed she used to help him into. The same bed she used to place his hand on just so he’d know where the pillows even though he could actually find it himself. His fingers brushed the edge of the sheets.

"She said she wanted to tell you after revealing her biggest secret..." fre\e(w)ebn ov.e l\. co.m

He couldn’t keep thinking about all of it. He needed to do something and he needed to do it now. He wouldn’t wait until it was too late. He had to start making everything better now.

He knew where he had to start and right now, he wouldn’t spare an effort. He was starting.

Thinking that, he pulled out his phone and dialed the number Ivy had given him when she came back with her claims of losing her phone.

He waited as it rang once then twice before Ivy picked up.

"Stefan?" she said quickly, almost as if she’d been expecting him to call. "Hi! Are you okay? I—"

"Come home," he said, voice flat.

Hearing his cold voice, Ivy frowned as she glanced at Eliana. Why was he sounding cold to her? Did something happen? She mused in confusion.

"What? Why?" Ivy sounded cautious. "Is something wrong?"

"I need to talk to you."

"About what?" she asked, trying to keep her tone light. "Is it serious?"

Was that why he was sounding so cold abd serious? Just because he needed to talk? Thinking about it, this wasn’t the only time he’d sounded this way.

He’d also sounded this way when he wanted to propose to her. Did he buy something huge for her? Perhaps a car? To appreciate her maybe. She thought with a smile gracing her face as she waited to hear what Stefan had to say.

"Yes," he said flatly, resisting the urge to yell at her. He needed her to think all is well.

There was a pause. "Can’t you just tell me over the phone, please? I’m in the spa, remember?"

"No, I can’t," he said firmly. "You need to be here. Now."

"Stefan, you’re making me nervous," Ivy tried to laugh, but it sounded forced. "Just give me a hint. What’s this about?"

"I said come home, Ivy," he repeated. "Immediately," he said and with that, he hung up.

He leaned back slowly, phone still in hand, and stared up at the ceiling. Everything felt like it was closing in. The air in the room was heavy, like it knew what was coming.

He didn’t even know what he wanted to say to Ivy—seeing how she could easily play him. What had happened to her before their wedding? Was she even Ivy?

No, she was Ivy. If that wasn’t her, his mother and Regina wouldn’t support her. She really was Ivy. He thought, but the woman he had loved for months wasn’t.

That was Ruby and she was gone. He needed to find her but where and how?

Stefan rubbed a hand down his face, exhausted and angry with himself. How had he not seen it? Ruby had a softer tone, a gentler laugh. She listened when he spoke. She touched him like he mattered.

Ivy never did that. Ivy was always rushing, always distant, even when she pretended to care.

But Ruby... Ruby had looked at him—no, touched him—like he was the center of her world.

He thought about that night—when they first kissed. The way she had trembled in his arms. The warmth of her lips. The way she’d clung to him like it meant something.

Oh, God and he threw her away. He had told her to leave when all she wanted was to tell him the truth.

His hands dropped to his lap, fingers curling into fists. How do I fix this? he asked himself, but there was no answer. Not yet.

He stood up and began pacing the room.

"I need to find her," he muttered under his breath.

But first, he needed to deal with the woman pretending to be innocent. The one who let this whole thing happen while watching from the shadows. Ivy.

She was on her way now, and Stefan was no longer the confused man sitting in darkness. Now, he could see.

And he wasn’t just seeing the world again—he was seeing the truth. He sat back down and waited. But this time, he wasn’t waiting blindly. This time, he was ready.

When he finished with her, he was going to confront his mom and hear whatever stupid reasons she could have to have conspired with someone that could bring harm to her only son.