Substitute Wife For The Blind CEO
Chapter 86: Rightful Place

Chapter 86: Rightful Place

As soon as Elizabeth left the house, slamming the front door with a level of finality that made the chandelier above the dining table tremble, Regina rose from the couch. Her perfectly manicured nails trembled slightly as she picked up her phone, her face set in stone.

She waited until the sound of the gate shutting reached her ears before dialing a number she hadn’t used in a long time. The line rang once... twice... then a click.

"You’ve reached me," a male voice said.

"It’s me," Regina said sharply, wasting no time. "I need you to find someone. My daughter, Ruby."

There was a pause on the other end. "Ruby? When last did you see her?"

"Three days ago," Regina snapped, her voice tight with irritation and urgency. "She’s not in the city anymore. I’m sure of it. Start at all the travel counters. Bus stations, airports, private transport companies... everything. She must’ve left Zeden."

The man on the other end didn’t ask questions. He’d worked with Regina long enough to know better. "Understood. I’ll report once I have something."

The call ended, leaving a heavy silence in its wake. free\we\bnov(e)(l).com

Regina stood there for a moment, the phone still clutched in her hand. The quiet of the living room felt suffocating. She slowly sank back into the armchair, her eyes fixated on a photo frame on the wall—a family portrait taken nearly a decade ago.

Her husband stood tall, smiling, with his arm wrapped around Ivy’s shoulder. Ivy had been just a teenager then, bright-eyed and full of promise. Regina sat beside them, and on the far end, Ruby stood stiffly, her smile hesitant, her hands clasped in front of her or that was what she wanted to see. Even in that moment, Ruby had always felt like the outsider. The one who didn’t quite fit. The one who ruined everything.

Regina swallowed the lump rising in her throat.

She needed to find Ruby. As soon as possible. Before either Stefan or Elizabeth did. She couldn’t allow them find her and chase her daughter out of her matrimonial home.

"I have to fix this," she whispered to herself, her voice cracking ever so slightly. "For Ivy. For our family."

She stared at the floor, her mind spiraling.

This was Ruby’s fault. All of it.

Her husband had died because of Ruby. If she hadn’t insisted on taking that dance lesson in another city... If she hadn’t begged her father to accompany her... If she hadn’t distracted him with that silly roadside accident on the way back home... he wouldn’t have been there at that exact moment. He wouldn’t have pulled over. He wouldn’t have been shot.

A robbery gone wrong, they had called it.

But to Regina, it had always been Ruby’s fault. She had been against Ruby taking any dance lesson because it wasn’t befitting of a girl in their social class but no. She wouldn’t listen and her husband had been in support.

She had tried to let it go because Ruby was her daughter after all. She’d tried to forgive. But every time she looked at Ivy, she saw the girl who had lost a father. And every time she looked at Ruby, she saw the girl who had taken him away.

And now... now Ruby had gone too far. She had taken Ivy’s place and didn’t want to return it. They all knew it was Ivy’s place—to be Stefan’s wife. She had only stepped in to help her sister so why wouldn’t she quietly leave and let her sister have what was rightfully hers? Ivy was meant to be living in that mansion, not her. Ivy was supposed to be wearing that diamond ring. Sleeping beside him. Being adored, protected, and secured, not her.

But no. Just because she’d stepped in and seen all the good things meant for her sister, she’d become greedy, wanting to keep them for herself. She wanted to steal another piece of the life that was meant for Ivy. Ruby was selfish and she wouldn’t let that happen, not under her watch.

Regina’s fingers clenched around the edge of the armrest.

She couldn’t allow this to go on.

"Ivy deserves that life," she muttered. "She was born for it. Groomed for it. She wouldn’t be able to live another life that wasn’t that." fre ewebno(v)e\l.(c)om

Her gaze flicked toward the grand staircase where Ivy had once dreamt aloud about the kind of wedding she wanted. About a husband who would love her unconditionally and treat her like a princess.

Regina had spent years building those dreams with her. Nurturing them. Creating connections. Closing deals. And finally, they had landed the perfect match—Stefan Winters. Wealthy. Established. Loyal.

But Ruby had messed everything up. Again. Just because she’d stepped in for six months.

A humorless laugh escaped Regina’s lips. "She doesn’t even realize what she’s done, does she?"

She stood up abruptly, her energy buzzing with determination.

This was her opportunity. Not just to fix the present... but to correct the past.

Ruby running away was the best thing that could’ve happened.

Now, all she had to do was find her. Get her to convince Stefan it was Ivy. Or convince her to never show her face in Zeden anymore. Regina knew how to manipulate. She knew which strings to pull.

And Ivy?

Ivy would return. Beautiful, fragile Ivy would step back into the life that was rightfully hers. No one would question it. Not with Regina orchestrating it all from behind the scenes.

"She owes us," Regina whispered, walking slowly toward the large window that overlooked the front lawn. The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky in gold and soft orange.

Ruby had a debt to repay.

For her father. For Ivy. For all the pain she had caused.

Regina’s jaw tightened. "This is my chance to help the family. And I won’t fail them again."

She turned away from the window with renewed purpose. There was too much at stake to allow sentiment to cloud her judgment now. If Ruby wanted to disappear, so be it.

But Regina had always been good at finding what didn’t want to be found.

And this time... she wouldn’t stop until Ruby was out of their lives for good.

Once Ruby was out, Stefan would have no choice but to go back to the love of his life—Ivy. She thought with a smirk.

Away from there, Stefan sat alone in the backseat of his parked car, just outside the sleek glass building that bore his company’s name.

From the outside, he looked composed—now dressed in one of his usual tailored suits, sunglasses concealing puffy eyes from lack of sleep, posture relaxed as he leaned back in the leather seat. But inside, his mind was anything but calm.

His fingers drummed anxiously on the armrest as he thought.

He had confronted all the people he needed to confront and now he needed to find his real wife and unborn child.

He’d asked every possible question. Called everyone he could think of. But Ruby was gone—without a trace.

The house felt empty without her presence, and the silence left behind was maddening. Thinking about the house, he hoped Ivy would be gone by the time he returned there in the evening because he didn’t want to look at that face again.

Seeing Ivy was going to remind him of Ruby’s tear streaked face that day at the hospital and how hurt she’d looked. Those hazel eyes that bore pain... seeing Ivy was going to remind him of it all and he didn’t want that. Why did they even had to have one face?

Thinking about that day, the ache in his chest only grew heavier.

She had just vanished.

And the worst part was... he hadn’t even seen her face properly. He didn’t even know what her smile looked like, maybe it’d be like Ivy’s but he still wanted to see it. The real Ruby.

The woman who had been by his side for months, pretending to be someone else, but still managing to care for him, touch his heart, and leave a mark that no one else ever had. She hadn’t even known him, yet had loved him so selflessly.

They weren’t close one bit but she’d cared, protected and defended him like they’d always been lovers. Yet, the one he thought loved him had left him without a second thought.

He clenched his jaw. He needed to find her.

But how?

He’d been running through the names of investigation agencies for hours, but nothing felt right. He didn’t want just anyone handling this.

He needed someone skilled—discreet. Someone who could track her without alerting her. She’d left for a reason. She didn’t want to be found. And yet... he couldn’t stop. He needed to make things right and have her return to her rightful place.

"Ruby..." he whispered under his breath.

A part of him still couldn’t believe it. That all along, it hadn’t been Ivy beside him. It had been her. Ruby. And somehow, everything made sense now. Her warmth. Her hesitation. Her care.

His thoughts were interrupted by the vibration of his phone in his coat pocket.

He quickly pulled it out and answered, voice taut with anticipation when he saw who it was.

"Ethan?"

"I found something," his best friend said without preamble.

Stefan’s heart skipped a beat and he sat up straighter. "What is it? What did you find?"