“What?
The baby is actually a Blackwell child?”
Nina Blackwell’s heart, already cold as dead ash, was scorched all over again by a brutal wave of heat.
She stared straight into Ethan Blackwell’s eyes, her voice shaking as she asked, “Is it true?”
While she had been running herself ragged at Platinum Palace for him, while she had been desperately pulling strings to find the best specialists to treat his father’s stroke, he had been sleeping with her enemy’s daughter in the Blackwell family mansion.
And they had even gotten pregnant behind her back?
The air went dead silent.
Ethan’s breathing turned fast and heavy, tight like something was choking him.
He didn’t even dare meet Nina’s clear, piercing eyes.
The shattered look in them cut into his heart inch by inch, cruel and slow.
“Nina, this matter…”
He tried to explain, tried to say something, anything, but then he suddenly noticed Tiffany Ashford leaning against Stella Blackwell’s shoulder, crying so hard she was barely holding it in.
In an instant, those awful scenes flashed through his mind.
After that, the rest of the words got stuck in his throat.
He couldn’t force them out no matter what.
Nina’s heart burned to dust in the agony of waiting.
Even so, she still stubbornly wanted one answer from Ethan himself.
“I’m asking you one last time.
Is it true?”
She locked onto his constantly evasive gaze and pressed on with all the strength she had left.
“Yes, or no?”
But Ethan’s lips seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.
He had only just managed to part them when Vera Blackwell cut in, harsh and overbearing.
“Why even ask?
Of course the child Tiffany is carrying is my real grandson!
This is the Blackwell family’s eldest great-grandson.”
The second the topic turned to children, all her anger toward Nina came rushing up.
“You useless thing.
You’ve been married to Ethan for three years and still can’t give him a child.”
“I went everywhere looking for top doctors, got you so many herbal medicines, and I personally watched you drink every single bowl.
And your stomach still had zero movement.”
Seriously, where do you get the nerve?”
She threw every word back at Nina exactly the way Nina had mocked Tiffany just moments ago.
She had watched Tiffany grow up since she was little.
Looks, family background, ability—she had it all.
If the old master hadn’t played matchmaker back then and messed everything up, Tiffany would have become her daughter-in-law a long time ago.
Now fate had finally thrown them a bone—Tiffany was carrying Ethan’s child.
No matter what, Vera was going to protect this future daughter-in-law and make sure her son, his woman, and that child could live together like a proper happy family.
“Mom, what did you just say?
You forced Nina to drink herbal medicine?
How could you do that?”
A flicker of guilt slid across Ethan’s chest.
They had been married for three years, and he had never touched Nina.
How was she supposed to get pregnant on her own?
Hearing her son question her, Vera didn’t feel the slightest bit wrong.
If anything, she sounded even more self-righteous.
“She married you.
Having children is part of her duty.
Your grandfather kept pushing for it before he died.
Everything I did was for her own good, wasn’t it?”
As she spoke, she shot Nina a vicious glare.
“Who knew she’d be this useless?
Bowl after bowl of medicine, and she still couldn’t get pregnant!”
Yeah.
Nina couldn’t get pregnant—
But the truth was, her husband had never even shared a bed with her.
Still, she had never complained to anyone, never once spilled out her pain.
She swallowed every bit of malice, every ounce of pressure, all by herself.
She was afraid that if Grandpa Blackwell found out, he’d get furious, force Ethan, pressure him into doing that with her.
So she chose to be misunderstood.
Chose to drink those bitter, disgusting concoctions, then wait until Vera left before jamming her fingers down her throat and throwing them all back up.
How had she ended up with acute appendicitis?
Did Ethan really know nothing?
And after sacrificing everything, what did she get in return?
He had gotten the enemy’s daughter pregnant.
“Heh…” Nina suddenly let out a bleak, broken laugh.
It landed like a whip crack across Ethan’s heart.
He instinctively reached out, wanting to steady her.
These past few years, he had buried himself completely in politics, so focused on climbing that he hadn’t even noticed how much she had suffered for him.
“What are you laughing at?” Vera shot her a hard look.
Somehow, this Nina always knew exactly how to get under her skin.
“Everyone who works in the Platinum Palace has to go through a full physical every year.
There’s nothing wrong with my body.” Nina stepped aside and avoided Ethan’s outstretched hand.
She was done covering for this trash man.
“What exactly are you trying to say?” Vera’s impatience spiked.
“It means I’m not the problem.
Your son is.” As Nina said it, her gaze deliberately dropped lower on Ethan’s body.
“You—you’re talking nonsense!” Vera was so mad her face nearly twisted.
Her son was the president of a whole country.
How could he possibly be unable to have children?
This had to be Nina running her mouth again with that poisonous tongue of hers.
But Nina only let out a cold laugh and dropped a bomb so vicious it felt like she wanted to blow everyone in the room to pieces.
“Your son can barely even perform in bed.
In three years, he hasn’t succeeded once.
Instead of blaming me, maybe you should check whose child your precious daughter-in-law is actually carrying.”