Chapter 9
Lila’s tears flowed harder and faster.
Any other day, seeing her cry like this, Ethan would’ve pulled her close, murmuring comfort.
But now…
His gaze stayed fixed on the phone in his hand, hi expression knotted with pain and hesitation.
Lila’s chest burned with fury.
All at once, she hurled the phone at the wall with everything she had.
“You yelled at me, Ethan! I hate you!”
The phone hit the floor with a sharp crack, the glass splintering into a spiderweb of fractures.
Still not satisfied, Lila began pounding his chest with her fists.
Ethan didn’t dodge. He just stared at the wrecked phone on the floor.
Suddenly, he caught her wrist.
“Lila, enough. You’re not a child anymore. It’s time to grow up.”
Lila froze, her eyes wide.
Then she screamed, yanking her hand free and slapping him across the face.
“You liar! You swore I’d could always be your little princess–that I could throw tantrums for the rest of my
life!”
Ethan caught her wrist again and stood from the edge of the bed.
“But you’re pregnant now. It’s time you started learning how to be a mom.”
Without waiting for a reply, he picked up the broken phone and walked out.
Lila stood there stunned for a second.
Then she grabbed a pillow and flung it toward the door, crying hysterically as she leapt up to chase him.
“Ma’am, Mr. Campbell told us you’re to stay in the room and rest.”
His bodyguards stopped her at the door, gently but firmly pushing her back inside.
Chapter 9
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Lila screamed and sobbed as she trashed the hospital room, breaking tens of thousands of dollars‘ worth of medical equipment.
Ethan never came back.
Ethan sat in his car, tapping repeatedly at the shattered screen, but it wouldn’t respond at all.
Frustrated, he leaned back in his seat–Ashley Whitmore’s face appearing again and again in his mind.
Her smile. Her gentleness. And that final look–despair so raw it felt like it could crush his soul…
It was like an invisible net cinching tight around his chest.
Suffocating him.
He’d never felt anything like it–never felt this helpless before.
He shouldn’t have used Ashley to bait his uncle.
He should’ve protected her.
He needed to apologize.
After that, he’d give her a generous sum of money and see her off himself.
That way, she’d no longer haunt his emotions.
He slammed his foot on the gas and sped toward the villa.
But the closer he got, the more uneasy he felt.
His grip tightened on the wheel as anxiety twisted in his gut.
Finally, less than a mile away, the car refused to go any farther.
No matter how he tried, the engine stalled.
He climbed out, lit a cigarette, and–by chance–noticed the dried trail of blood on the pavement.
His fingers trembled.
He followed the faint stain, one step at a time, until he stood once more at the threshold of the villa.
She couldn’t be hurt.
She couldn’t have-
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The cigarette burned all the way down, singeing his fingers–yet the pain didn’t even register.
The villa was a mess.
Blood stained the floor near the sofa. Shreds of torn clothing lay scattered.
Ashley’s desperate cries echoed in his mind–her hands clinging to his pant leg.
“Please… help me…”
Something exploded in his head.
He remembered.
Every word. Every plea.
And that conversation with the nurse at the hospital…
“Help my baby…”
She’d really been pregnant.
The realization struck like lightning.
Shock. Disbelief.
And then… a surge of white–hot rage.
It had been a long time since he last touched her.
Whose child was it?
How dare she betray him?
How dare she carry another man’s child?
Why…
Why did he care so much about a woman like her?
Chapter 9
