From His Fake Wife to Billionaire Heiress Chapter 50: Confrontation at Home

As Riley had anticipated, the only thing Lucas needed to do now was stay ahead of any potential fallout—return home, remove the last traces of evidence before Riley woke up again, got emotional, and decided to call the police.

Lucas arrived home and strode quickly into the living room.

There, Anthea was sitting on the rug with Jeremy, stacking building blocks.

Julian was on the nearby sofa, watching them with an amused smile.

Sophia sat beside Anthea, all smiles, handing over toys now and then, playing the part of the perfect daughter-in-law to a tee.

"What are you doing back so soon?" Anthea looked up, impatience clear in her tone. "What's wrong with Riley now? She's getting more high-maintenance every day. We keep her fed and clothed, and still she ends up in the hospital constantly. Such bad luck."

Lucas rubbed his forehead, frustration weighing on him.

"Riley passed out from severe bleeding. They took her to the hospital."

He paused, voice low. "Isolde said her uterus was too badly damaged. She likely won't be able to get pregnant in the future."

Anthea's hand, which had been helping Jeremy with a block, froze in midair.

"Lucas..." Sophia's heart dropped. She stood up without thinking. "How did it get that serious?"

Lucas moved toward her, his presence dark and threatening, like a storm rolling in.

"Sophia," he said, his voice cold and controlled, "you were the one who arranged those pills. I told you—repeatedly—not to include anything that could harm her. Did you just ignore me?"

"I didn't!" Sophia threw her hands up, tears already welling in her eyes. "Lucas, why would I do something like that? I only had someone replicate the formula of regular birth control pills. I don't know how this happened..."

This time, she wasn't lying.

She resented Riley deeply and wished she'd fall from her place as Lucas' wife.

But she wasn't foolish enough to tamper with something as delicate as medication.

Getting caught would mean admitting guilt—playing the villain and ruining everything with Lucas.

She'd only wanted to prevent a pregnancy, not cause something this catastrophic.

But to Lucas, her frantic denials just sounded hollow.

"You didn't? Then why did she hemorrhage badly enough to lose her fertility?"

"Enough!"

Seeing Lucas press harder, Anthea passed Jeremy to a maid nearby, rose to her feet, and stepped between them.

"Why are you grilling Sophia like this?" She shot Lucas an irritated glare. "And so what if Riley can't have children anymore? Maybe it's for the best. Saves us from her trying to scheme her way into having a son and threatening Jeremy's place.

"Now she can finally put those restless ideas aside. From here on, she can focus on what she should've been doing all along—looking after the household, supporting her husband, being a proper wife."

Anthea's words were cutting, completely unapologetic. Lucas felt a heaviness settle in his chest.

Julian, who'd stayed quiet until now, spoke up calmly once things had settled slightly.

"Your mother's right, Lucas. Weren't you secretly giving her birth control because you didn't want her pregnant anyway? Now the issue's resolved for good. Saves you the trouble down the line."

"Besides, Riley's no fool. Now that she can't have kids, if she wants to keep the Ashford name, she'll have to cling to you even tighter. Wouldn't surprise me if from now on, without us saying a word, she bends over backwards to be good to Jeremy—treat him like her own—just so you don't send her back to where she came from."

Not one of them showed concern for Riley's well-being or the slightest sympathy.

Hearing all their cold, self-justifying talk, Lucas' mind flashed, against his will, to Riley's face—pale as paper, lifeless on the hospital bed.

For the first time, he felt a pang of guilt for her.

"I only came back to let you know what happened," Lucas said, not wanting to argue further with his parents. His tone was cool, warning. "Don't say a word about any of this once she's home. Isolde said her emotions will be fragile for a while."

"Hmph, what, are we supposed to treat her like some kind of queen now?" Anthea muttered under her breath, unwilling to yield.

Lucas simply felt a tight, suffocating pressure in his chest.

Without another word, he headed straight upstairs to the bedroom.

Sophia stood watching him go.

She could tell his suspicions hadn't fully faded.

Quietly, she said to Anthea, "I'll go check on him," and followed silently behind.

The door to the master bedroom was slightly ajar.

Sophia crept closer, careful not to make a sound.

Inside, she saw Lucas go directly to the nightstand, pull open the drawer, and take out a familiar white pill bottle. He placed it into a clear plastic zip-top bag.

Behind him came soft, hurried footsteps—hesitant but urgent.

Lucas didn't need to turn to know it was Sophia.

Sure enough, she approached him with a wounded expression.

"Lucas... you still think this is somehow my fault, don't you? That something went wrong with the pills because of me?"