[BL] A Marriage Ruled by Family, Saved by Desire-Chapter 56: The Truth That Broke Him

~Alistair’s POV~

Alex paused, his fork hovering in mid-air as he stared at me, his eyes searching mine for any sign that I was joking or being cruel.

"You’re staying?" he murmured, his voice cracking. "Alis, yesterday you said... You said you couldn’t stand the smell of this house. You said it smelled like betrayal."

I didn’t want him to keep digging, and I certainly wasn’t ready to tell him I’d spent the morning laughing at his mother’s misfortune. I needed to keep the upper hand. I narrowed my eyes slightly and made a show of pushing my chair back.

"It sounds like you want me gone, Alex," I said, my voice dropping into a cold, dramatic tone. "Fine. I’ll stand up right now and go pack my things. I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome."

"Baby, what do you mean you’ve overstayed your welcome? This is your home."

I didn’t answer him. I simply pushed my chair back and began to stand.

But Alex was already out of his seat before I could fully rise. In a heartbeat he was beside me, his hands hovering near my shoulders as if he wanted to stop me but was afraid to touch me.

Panic was written all over his face.

"No! Baby, no—I was wrong," he stammered, his face turning pale. "I was just surprised... I didn’t think..." His voice faltered.

He drew in a shaky breath and closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again.

"Fine," he said quietly. "Forget I said anything. Just... don’t go."

He stepped closer, the faint scent of cologne lingering between us as he stopped in front of me. His eyes searched my face as he looked down at me.

"Do you... do you forgive me already?" he asked softly, his voice full of hope.

I looked at him, letting the silence stretch out just long enough to make him nervous. I wasn’t going to let him off that easily. Not after the way he’d accused me on the roof.

"No way," I said, crossing my arms. "Don’t get ahead of yourself, Alex. I haven’t forgiven you. I just think staying in my husband’s house is better than running away from the situation. If I leave, the people who want us apart win, and I’m not going to let anyone win or break my home."

A small, relieved smile broke across Alex’s face. "That’s my baby," he murmured. I felt a smile tugging at my own lips, but I quickly looked away so he wouldn’t see it. I wasn’t ready to let him off the hook just yet.

Throughout the day, the atmosphere in the house felt heavy and tense. Alex’s mother looked like a shadow of herself, moving quietly through the halls with a distant expression. Alex, on the other hand, was a bundle of nerves. Every time he stepped into the living room, he would return moments later, leaning close to whisper, "Baby... is something going on?"

"Why do you keep asking that?" I asked him.

He explained that he had tried talking to his mother, but she insisted she was fine. Still, something about her seemed off. She looked troubled.

He hesitated before adding quietly, "She could barely even look me in the eye."

Of course, she couldn’t, I thought. Guilt was written all over her face.

I simply kept reassuring him that everything would be fine, even as I held onto the quiet knowledge of the truth she was trying so hard to hide.

Finally, after a tense dinner, his mother asked us both to stay. I started to rise from my chair to head upstairs, but she stopped me.

"Alistair, please... stay."

We sat at the dining table in heavy silence. Alex kept glancing anxiously at his mother until she finally gathered the courage to speak. She drew in a deep breath, her voice trembling as she began to unravel the story about Singapore.

"I planned it all," she confessed, her voice barely above a whisper. "The night of Sarah’s birthday... I was the one who arranged for her to end up in your room, Alex."

Alex’s eyes widened. "You... what?"

"Listen," she said quickly. "I did it because I thought it was what was best for you. I wanted you to have an heir. I believed that if I pushed you together, nature would take its course."

Alex stared at her in shock, as if her confession had knocked the breath out of him.

"I didn’t realize Sarah was only playing along because she saw how desperate I was," she continued, a tear slipping down her cheek. "But last night... I caught her. I overheard her on the phone with the real father of the child she’s carrying."

Through her tears, she finally explained everything.

On the night of Sarah’s birthday, she had already slept with her boyfriend in secret. None of them knew the man was even in the same hotel that night. While Alex’s mother had arranged for Sarah to end up in Alex’s room, believing it would help her son finally have an heir, Sarah had her own plan all along.

Her mother had forbidden her from being with the man she loved, refusing to accept their relationship. So Sarah came up with a scheme. She secretly met her boyfriend that same night and slept with him, hoping to become pregnant with his child.

Her plan was simple: once she was pregnant and the baby began to show, she would reveal the truth, that the child was not Alex’s, and that her boyfriend was the real father. At that point, she believed her mother would have no choice but to accept the man she had always rejected.

In the end, everyone had been playing their own game. Alex’s mother thought she was securing an heir for the family, while Sarah was using the situation to force her own future.

"She lied to me," his mother choked out. "She told me you touched her when she knew you hadn’t. She played us all."

Alex shot to his feet so suddenly that his chair screeched against the floor.

"You did all that, Mom?" he shouted, staring at her in disbelief. "Tell me this is a lie!"

I flinched. I had never heard him speak to her like that before.

"You almost destroyed my home because of your selfishness," he went on, his voice shaking with anger. "How could you do something like this? You made Alistair believe I betrayed him. All for what? A grandchild?"

I sat there, frozen, but what shocked me most was hearing him call me Alistair in front of her. Usually, he was so careful to maintain the formal ’my husband’ or ’Alis’ in her presence, but the raw pain had stripped away his filters.

"I couldn’t even prove my innocence because Alistair didn’t trust me!" he said, his voice breaking with emotion. "You made me look like a cheating husband—a liar."

He ran a hand through his hair, breathing hard.

"He believed you, Mom. And now you just want to apologize? What about everything I’ve been through these past few weeks? My mental health... I was losing my mind. I was trying so hard to stay calm, trying not to hurt anyone while my whole world was falling apart."

He slammed his hand against the table.

"I listened to you. I trusted you," he said, his voice tight with anger. "Alistair did the same. But did anyone ever think about me?"

He shook his head, his jaw clenched.

"You never once considered my feelings. You almost ruined my home, Mom—and I’m not going to forgive you for this."

Without another word, Alex turned and stormed out of the room. It was the first time I had ever seen him openly defy her.

"Alex, wait!" I called, pushing back my chair and hurrying after him, leaving his mother behind in the dining room. She buried her face in her hands, her sobs echoing softly as she kept repeating, "I’m sorry... I’m so sorry."

When I reached our room, the door was already flung open. Alex was pacing like a caged animal, his hands clutching his head as he let out a guttural scream of pure agony. "Why? Why? Why!"

I froze in the doorway, my heart pounding. I had seen Alex angry and sad before, but never like this.

He sank to the floor, his knees hitting the hardwood with a dull thud. Burying his face in his hands, he broke into violent sobs, his entire body shaking.

And in that moment, I understood.

It wasn’t just his mother’s betrayal that had shattered him. We had always known she was capable of manipulation. What was truly breaking him was me.

When the world turned against him, the one person who should have been his refuge had become his judge.

He wasn’t just grieving what his mother had done. He was grieving the loss of my trust, how I had looked at him like a cheating husband when all he had ever done was stay loyal and treat me well. And because of one mistake, I had made him feel like he meant nothing.

I dropped to my knees, crawling toward him with a desperate need to fix what I had helped break. "Alex..." I reached out, my fingers trembling as I tried to touch his shoulder.

"Don’t touch me!" He snapped, recoiling as if my skin were made of fire.

I flinched, my hand hovering in mid-air. I didn’t know what to say. Every apology felt too small, every explanation felt like an excuse. Before I could find the words, Alex looked up at me, his eyes red and hollow, filled with a cold determination that sent a chill through me.

"Pack your things," he said, his voice dropping to a flat, dead whisper.

"Alex, please—"

"Pack them," he repeated, standing up and stumbling toward the wardrobe. He didn’t look at me. "We’re leaving this house tonight. I’m taking you to your parents’ house. I’m dropping you off."

My heart stopped. "You’re...