Chapter 134: A Second Pregnancy?
Damian stiffened, his excuses coming out in a jumble. "That was an accident... my mother, she lost her mind... I’ll hire the best lawyers, I’ll..."
"Enough."
Evelyn yanked her dress from his grip. The force sent Damian stumbling forward onto his hands.
"You make me sick, Damian."
Evelyn stepped back, her eyes filled with nothing but cold disgust. "There are two lives standing between us now. This 'penance' of yours is only because you realized you were tricked. Your ego can't handle being a fool. You’ve never loved anyone but yourself."
"That’s not true! I love you! Evelyn, we still have the child... I know the baby is gone, but we can have another..." Damian scrambled to grab her hand again.
"Shut up! You don't get to talk about children!"
Evelyn’s anger was about to explode when a phone rang. It was Damian’s, still in his pocket. The screen lit up in the dark room with a name that made her stomach turn: Sienna.
Damian froze. He instinctively reached to silence it, but as he saw the mockery in Evelyn’s eyes, his hand slipped. He accidentally hit the "Accept" and "Speakerphone" buttons.
The next second, Sienna’s voice—shaky but filled with a hidden excitement—echoed through the room.
"Damian! Where are you? Come to the hospital..."
"I... I think I’m pregnant."
"The doctor says it’s been a month. It’s your baby, Damian..."
Silence fell like a tomb. Damian looked as if he had been struck by lightning. He froze, the phone slipping from his fingers and clattering onto the floor. He looked up at Evelyn in terror, his mouth opening and closing, but no sound came out.
Evelyn looked at his panicked, desperate face and suddenly burst into laughter. The sound rang through the empty office, sharp and final.
This was his "starting over."
Damian stared at her, his mind clearly racing to calculate the dates. A flicker of doubt crossed his eyes, but it was gone in an instant, replaced by a surge of manic joy. It was a Green heir. Even though he had just been weeping over the loss of Evelyn's baby, the thought of his own genetic legacy being carried forward intoxicated him.
He forgot he was on his knees. He scrambled for the phone, his voice turning sickeningly sweet.
"Sienna? Are you serious? Don't be scared, honey. Where are you? Take care of yourself, don't strain the baby. I’ll send the best doctors immediately..."
The moment he hung up, his regret vanished. He used the desk to pull himself up, staggering slightly from excitement. He turned to Evelyn, his eyes still wet with tears, but a smug, delusional smile on his lips.
"Evelyn, did you hear that?" He stepped toward her, his arms open. "When God closes a door, he opens a window."
Evelyn stared at him as if he were a lunatic.
"I know you’re in pain over the loss," Damian said urgently. "But Sienna is pregnant. When she has the baby, I’ll bring it to you. You can raise it."
"She’s low-born; she isn't fit to raise a Green heir. But you are different. You are Mrs. Green. You would be the best mother in the world."
He spoke as if he were a genius who had solved a puzzle.
"Think of it as compensation for the one we lost, Evelyn. It’s a gift to you. You can have a healthy child, and we can be a family again..."
"Ugh—"
Evelyn couldn't take it anymore. A wave of nausea hit her so hard she doubled over, gagging. She looked up, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, and stared at his hypocritical face.
"You make me want to vomit, Damian."
Her voice shook with pure rage. "What do you think a child is? A product on a supermarket shelf? A toy you can just hand out?"
"That child is the result of your filth with a mistress, and you want me to raise it for you?"
Evelyn stepped toward him, forcing him back. "From your cheating and imprisonment to your mother’s murder plot and the Director’s death... your hands are covered in blood. And you call this 'compensation'?"
"Your compensation is worth less than trash in a dumpster!"
Damian’s face darkened. The sting of her words shattered his mask of devotion.
"What else do you want from me? I knelt for you!" he roared, his shame turning into anger. "Do you think I wanted this? I only networked with her for the sake of the company’s IPO! Sienna seduced me! My mother pressured me with the inheritance! I am a victim too!"
He waved his arms, shifting the blame to everyone but himself—as if he wasn't the man who had cheated and abused his pregnant wife.
"Everything I did was for this family! To give you a better life! Why can't you show even a little bit of understanding?"
Their shouting echoed in the small office. However, in his excitement, Damian hadn't realized that while he had pulled the phone away from his ear, he hadn't ended the call.
The screen was still lit. The timer was still ticking.
On the other side of the city, in an apartment, Sienna gripped her phone until her nails drew blood from her palms. She heard it all. Every word.
The man who had just promised to take care of her had, in the very next breath, offered her baby—her only leverage—to Evelyn like a common gift.