Substitute Bride: Utterly Pampered by Her Billionaire Husband

Ethan’s wild, rough voice immediately came through by her ear, with a faint displeasure. "Celeste, why are you only picking up my call now?"

"My phone just died earlier, I only just turned it back on. Do you need something?"

Hearing her voice so icy, without a shred of warmth, Ethan froze. Lately her attitude toward him had softened a bit, sometimes she’d even show a shy, gentle side. But now she seemed to have reset back to that cold way she used to treat him.

Ethan paused, then softened his tone. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Was my tone a bit harsh just now? Then I’ll apologize. I called you tons of times on video and phone, you never picked up. Do you have any idea how worried I was? That’s why I sounded harsh," Ethan explained.

"Do you have anything else? If not, I’m hanging up. I’m taking Danielle out to play." Celeste shut him out from a thousand miles away.

Ethan pressed his thin lips together. These days he’d been deep in the mountains on a mission, thinking about her nonstop. When he saw the greeting text she’d taken the initiative to send, it was like someone kicked a fire into his chest, and he was dying to see her and release that fire.

But now, the way she was so cold felt like she’d dumped a basin of ice water over him, chilling him to the bone.

After a brief silence, Ethan said, "Nothing else."

"Then I’m hanging up." Celeste directly ended the call.

Willow watched this scene and could tell something must’ve happened in the past few days, but since Celeste didn’t want to talk, she wasn’t going to pry.

Just then Morgan drove up to pick Willow up. "Sis, let’s go."

"Okay, drive slow on the road." Celeste waved her hand.

As the car started and pulled away, Morgan glanced at his sister through the rearview mirror. "What’s up with my sister? Her face looks a bit pale."

Willow said, "Don’t worry, she’s not physically hurt. Whether her heart’s hurt, that I don’t know."

"What do you mean?"

"I think Sis might’ve fallen for Ethan."

Morgan gave Willow a look, and Willow nodded to him with certainty.

Morgan wasn’t particularly surprised. In fact, on the day of the wedding he’d already seen that Ethan was faking his amnesia on purpose, tricking his sister into marriage. Ethan had set up a tight web and trapped his sister inside it.

Morgan’s thin lips curved slightly. "That’s actually not a bad thing. Ethan’s done so many shitty things before, he can’t just get off scot‑free. We need to torture him properly. Love is the harshest grind; someone like Ethan has to have a person who’ll make him learn how to love."

Willow nodded, deeply in agreement.

...

Celeste took Danielle back to their room. Just then—"ding"—a WeChat message came in.

It was from Ethan.

He’d typed: Celeste, are you mad at me? Mad that I haven’t contacted you these past few days? I didn’t have signal up in the mountains.

Celeste didn’t reply.

Ethan sent another: Why are you angry? Can you just tell me straight? If I did something wrong, I can learn to fix it. Ignoring me like this is using cold violence on me, and I don’t like it.

Celeste still didn’t reply.

Very soon he sent a photo. He was holding a freshly picked wild rose.

A crimson rose, lush and dewy, still beaded with drops of water, held in his injured hand as he snapped the shot.

Ethan: Do you like it? I saw it in the mountains and picked it to give to you. Can you stop being mad? Can you not be so cold to me? It hurts.

Celeste gripped the phone in her hand, her lashes lowering.

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