The Genius Ex-Wife’s Revenge Portfolio novel Chapter 24

David couldn’t get Ella’s delicate, pretty face out of his mind. He had just kissed her. Her lips were soft, sweet, and left a lingering scent he couldn’t shake.

As Jessa leaned in to kiss him, David turned away.

Jessa pouted, missing his lips. “What are you doing? Why are you avoiding me?”

David honestly didn’t know what was going on with him. He liked Jessa. Kissing her should have felt completely normal. Two people who liked each other, that’s just what they do.

He didn’t even like Ella. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

But he had just kissed Ella. He could still feel the tingle she left behind. And with his clean-freak tendencies, moving from one girl to another without any space in between just felt wrong.

It actually made his skin crawl. The whole idea felt filthy.

A sudden knock sounded at the door. Aiden’s voice floated in from the hallway. “Sir, the antidote is here.”

Antidote?

Jessa froze for a second. She’d taken something, sure, but she didn’t expect David to actually find an antidote for her.

David gently took her hands off him and stood up.

Jessa, fuming, grabbed a pillow and hurled it at him, hitting him square in the face. “David, are you a real man or not?”

She’d practically thrown herself at him, gone so far as to drug herself just to set the mood, and he still refused to touch her.

The pillow slid off his face and landed on the carpet. David barely glanced at her, his face blank. “Get some rest.”

He walked out of the room without another word.

Jessa stared after him, speechless with anger.

She honestly thought she might explode.

…

David stood in his study, tall and silent by the floor-to-ceiling windows. Aiden came in a moment later. “Sir, Ms. Irvine has taken the antidote.”

David didn’t turn around. “Did you send the antidote to Bellemont Manor?”

“I did. But when my assistant got there, the room was empty. Your wife had already left.”

David turned, his brows drawn together. He pressed his lips into a thin line. “Where did Ella go?”

David stood there alone by the window. He reached up and unbuttoned his shirt collar. In the glass, he saw the reflection of his Adam’s apple, and right there was a faint, delicate bite mark.

Ella had left that mark.

His mind flashed back to Bellemont Manor. Ella had launched herself at him, biting his throat, then curling up in his arms like a kitten and kissing him everywhere.

David closed his eyes, frustrated. Ever since that night in the bathroom, he’d found himself thinking about her way too often.

It was just a fluke. A one-time thing.

His desire that night? Also just an accident.

He opened his eyes again, clear and icy.

…

The next day, Ella sat in a wicker chair in her apartment, reading quietly. Fiona stormed around the room, absolutely furious. “Seriously, what is wrong with that man? Is his brain made of cement? He ignores his own wife and runs off to take care of Jessa instead! And as for Jessa… yeah, there are plenty of home-wreckers out there, but one who actually drugs herself? She’s a whole new level of desperate!”

Fiona was genuinely livid. Last night, when she’d gone to pick up Ella, she found her sitting on the floor, hugging her knees. When Ella finally looked up, her face was streaked with tears. She looked just like a stray kitten someone had abandoned, with nowhere left to go.