Chapter 253: Vindictive Wife
"Look who we have here!" a sharp, familiar voice rang out behind them, prompting both women to turn and find Chloe, Tess, and Maya approaching.
Tess smiled. "Ah, it’s so good to see you two."
Jade scoffed. "I wish I could say the same about you three."
Tess’s smile faltered. "I see you’re still clinging to Aliana, Jade. I suppose some things never change."
Jade didn’t even bother hiding her boredom as a small yawn escaped her. "And I see you three are still travelling in a pack. What’s the matter, Tess? Do you still need two extra brains just to form one coherent thought?"
A quiet snort escaped Aliana before she quickly looked away to hide her smile.
The three women immediately narrowed their eyes at her.
Chloe was the first to recover. "We heard you got married, Aliana. I’d congratulate you on your fairy-tale wedding, but..." She glanced past Aliana with a knowing smile. "It seems something else has managed to catch your husband’s attention."
Maya let out a sympathetic sigh. "Ah, it happens to the best of us, you know? After all, men in high society never seem to keep their eyes fixed on just one woman."
Aliana’s expression remained perfectly calm, though her eyes turned noticeably colder.
Slowly, she raised an elegant brow. "How fascinating. I didn’t realise gossip had become a substitute for eyesight."
Tess smiled victoriously, "Why don’t you have a look for yourself?"
Right on cue, Aliana’s eyes snapped toward the cabana and her gaze widened in shock as she caught the tail end of the scene unfolding...
Gwen was lying across Gavriel’s lap, her hands resting on his shoulders, while Gavriel remained seated with one hand supporting her by the shoulder. Gwen’s face was flushed red as she said something apologetically before quickly getting off him.
Yet instead of shrinking away in shame, Gwen acted as though nothing had happened. She casually sauntered over to the edge of the pool, stopping directly in front of Gavriel with her back to him. With agonising slowness, she unfastened her cover-up, letting the fabric drop to reveal a daring white bikini. Bending over with deliberate intent to give him a full view of her rear, she glided seamlessly into the water.
Both Jade and Aliana stood speechless, watching the sheer audacity of the spectacle.
Jade knew how damning it looked to anyone watching from a distance.
As Gwen surfaced, she cast a lingering glance back over her shoulder before swimming away.
Jade’s eyes narrowed as she realised her initial assessment of the woman had been right. Something was terribly off about Gwen.
Her eyes snapped to Aliana beside her, who had gone dangerously quiet, and Jade knew that look in her eyes.
It was the telltale sign that she was about to explode.
Wanting to stop a catastrophe, Jade leaned close and whispered, "Ali, don’t listen to them. I’m sure there is a rational explanation for what just happened."
But Aliana remained silent, her eyes never once left Gavriel.
From where she stood, she couldn’t detect the slightest reaction towards Gwen on his face apart from a faint frown.
If anything, his gaze remained fixed on the woman intently, which only fuelled the ugly knot twisting inside her chest. After what felt like an eternity, he finally moved his eyes away from Gwen and looked at Aliana.
The moment their gazes met, she saw his eyes widen ever so slightly when he saw...the icy frost that had settled in her eyes.
Gavriel immediately stood up and began to walk straight over to her.
But he abruptly halted when Aliana flashed him an extremely cold, dazzling smile... the exact smile she reserved when she was up to no good.
Slowly, Aliana turned her head toward the three snickering women beside her.
She tilted her chin, her voice dripping with sweet venom.
"Is that what you call enjoyment? How sad. But I suppose I cannot expect women of your standing to tell the difference between a man being entertained and a man being repulsed. Tell me, are your own husbands missing tonight, or have you simply gotten used to them looking anywhere but at you?"
"Y-You! What did you just say?" Tess demanded, her voice trembling with barely restrained anger.
"Too bad I don’t like repeating myself." Aliana casually swept her hair over her shoulder before adding, "I’m tired of wasting my breath on the three of you."
She turned to Jade. "I’m going for a swim."
Jade parted her lips slightly, and Aliana took two steps away from the three women, leaving them standing completely dumbfounded, before she stopped to offer them a chilling smirk over her shoulder. "Do mind where you step, though. Slippery surfaces can be so unforgiving to people who don’t know how to keep their balance."
With that, she sashayed away as if she hadn’t just ripped them to shreds with her cutting words.
Jade watched as Aliana walked over to stand right beside Cedric, who had stripped down to go for a dip himself.
Her eyes instinctively darted across the space to find Gavriel, only to see his eyes narrow dangerously at his wife as Aliana casually chatted with Cedric before the latter flashed her a smile and jumped into the pool.
"This isn’t going to end well," Jade muttered under her breath.
"Expect a storm," a smooth voice chimed in from beside her.
Jade turned her head to find Cillian coming to stand at her side, his eyes tracking from Gavriel over to Aliana.
She followed his gaze just in time to see Aliana reach behind her neck and untie the soft bow holding her cover-up in place. With one fluid, tantalising motion, she let the navy-blue dress slip off her shoulders, allowing the delicate fabric to pool at her feet.
Jade mentally braced herself as the gaze of nearly every man was instantly drawn toward Aliana’s divine figure.
Well, almost every man since Cillian had conveniently chosen that exact second to tilt his head back, intently studying the dark sky above as it began to swell with heavy, bruised storm clouds.
"What are you looking at?" Jade asked skeptically.
"The storm. I’d prefer to stay alive rather than become collateral damage when Gavriel snaps." Cillian murmured, and Jade could only sigh.
Meanwhile, Aliana felt a chaotic, volatile rage burning beneath her skin. She knew her temper was pushing her powers to the brink, and if she didn’t submerge herself in cold water immediately, she wouldn’t be able to stop her power from reacting.
Yet as stubborn and strong-headed as she was, her vindictive streak ran just as deep.
So, she deliberately did the exact thing Gavriel had explicitly warned her against.
She didn’t just showcase her killer navy-blue swimsuit to the entire crowd. She turned her head, fixing her cold, light grey eyes directly onto Gavriel, making sure he was watching her every move before she gracefully dived into the pool.
And the second her body broke the surface of the water, it felt as though hell itself had descended upon the earth.