Chapter 251

Chapter 251

Kian's head snapped up, shock flooding his eyes. He stared at Elena in disbelief, unable to fathom how she could say something like that so casually.

But Elena's next words shocked him even more.

She took a sip of water and lifted her gaze to meet his, her eyes completely emotionless.

"I can have another child with you."

Her tone was as flat as if she were discussing the weather—no sentiment, no warmth, just the cold, decisive calm of someone negotiating a deal. Like she was proposing the most ordinary business arrangement.

"Once the baby's born, custody goes to the Lancaster family. I won't fight you for it. I won't use the child to cling to you later. If Chloe wants, she can even be the mother."

Right now, Elena had only one thought consuming her mind: save Nora.

She knew Kian well enough to know he wouldn't mistreat his own child. The baby would have a good life with him.

Elena paused, then stated her only condition: "I have one requirement. Use the newborn's umbilical cord blood to save Nora."

She fixed her gaze on him, waiting for his answer.

The private room fell deathly silent. Even their breathing sounded loud.

Kian stared at her, his expression impossibly complicated—shock, heartache, and a flicker of barely suppressed anger all warring in his eyes.

He'd imagined countless scenarios for their reunion. He'd pictured her hating him, avoiding him, resenting him.

Never once had he imagined she would stand before him and treat having his child like a price-tagged transaction.

His chest ached with both pain and fury.

Pain, because what kind of desperation had driven her to set aside all dignity and say something so self-degrading?

Fury, because was this really what she thought of him? That he was the kind of man who needed a transactional bargain to save his own daughter?

Kian clenched his fists until his knuckles went white. He looked at Elena's indifferent face, his throat working visibly.

"I don't agree."

His voice was heavy, his brow furrowed tight.

"If Nora is my biological daughter, treating her illness is my responsibility. It's what I should do."

Elena arched an eyebrow, as if she'd heard something amusing.

She lifted her water glass and took another sip, the liquid sliding down her throat and washing away the ridiculous flutter in her chest.

"Treatment—this is the only option. I asked Dr. White before I came back."

For the past five years, Kian had assumed Dr. White was abroad treating Elena's condition.

He'd even granted him extra leave, hoping Dr. White could properly care for Elena's health.

What he hadn't expected was Dr. White's duplicity—never once mentioning Nora to his face.

Kian looked at Elena, his gaze serious.

He paused, then brought up Chloe himself:

"I never planned to marry Chloe. It has nothing to do with whether she can have children. The truth is, I don't love her."

"But I put her through a lot. Keeping her close, giving her dignity and a comfortable life—that's repayment. Nothing more."

"Repayment?"

Elena looked at him like she'd just heard the world's biggest joke. She let out a cold laugh, her eyes turning icy.

"Mr. Lancaster, you're so honorable, aren't you?"

"Marrying me was repayment. Keeping Chloe around is also repayment. How many people do you owe favors to? Must be a line around the block."

Back when she married Kian, everyone said she'd lucked out. Only she knew the truth—that marriage had been a one-woman show from start to finish.

He'd married her only because she'd saved him and ruined her hand in the process.

Now he was using 'repayment' to explain Chloe's presence. What a tired excuse. It made her sick.

Kian felt his throat tighten at her words.

He took a deep breath, forcing down the surge of emotion, and looked into her eyes with absolute seriousness:

"Elena, I'm not an irresponsible person. Nora is my daughter. I won't let anything happen to her."

"Since we have a child together, we should give her a complete family. I was wrong before—I didn't cherish what I had. From now on, let's take care of Nora together. Okay?"

Elena froze completely.

The glass in her hand stopped mid-air, her eyes filled with shock, as if she were seeing this man for the first time.

A complete family?

What was he saying?

A few seconds later, realization seemed to dawn. A faint, mocking smile curved her lips. She leaned forward deliberately and asked:

"Kian, after all this beating around the bush, are you saying you want to remarry me?"

She'd expected him to deny it, to claim it was 'for the child's sake.'

But Kian met her eyes without flinching, nodding slowly and seriously, his voice low and certain:

"Yes. I want to remarry you."

The air went silent.

Elena stared at him for three seconds, then suddenly burst out laughing. She laughed harder and harder until tears formed in her eyes.

Her shoulders shook with laughter, as if she'd just heard the most absurd joke in the world.

"Kian, stop messing with me, okay?"

She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"Five years ago when we shared a bed, you couldn't even be bothered to look at me. Now I show up with a child begging you to save her life, and you tell me you want to remarry? What, do you think I'm more pitiful now, so it's triggering your protective instincts? Or is it that since there's already a kid involved, settling for me doesn't seem like such a bad deal?"

Her laughter faded. Her expression turned cold, her tone distant and dismissive:

"Look, Mr. Lancaster, save the emotional manipulation. Just give me a straight answer about whether you'll save Nora or not. Don't waste my time with this nonsense."

She didn't believe him.

Not for a second.

A heart that had died once couldn't be revived by some flimsy promise to 'remarry.'

Kian watched the defensiveness and mockery written all over her face, his chest aching with a dense, spreading pain.

He knew five years of hurt and neglect couldn't be erased with a single sentence.

Just as the standoff stretched between them, Elena's phone on the table suddenly buzzed frantically, Zoe's name flashing across the screen.

Elena's heart lurched with a terrible sense of foreboding. She immediately answered:

"Zoe, what's wrong?"

Zoe's voice came through the line, choked with tears and incoherent with panic:

"Elena! I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! Nora… Nora's been taken!"

"Chloe showed up with two men—I couldn't stop them! She just grabbed Nora, threw her in the car, and drove off!"

"What did you say?"

Elena's mind went blank with a deafening buzz.

She shot to her feet so fast that her vision went black and she swayed, nearly collapsing.

Kian moved quickly, reaching out to steady her arm, but Elena violently shook him off.

She lifted her head, eyes red-rimmed as she glared at him with a gaze sharp as ice, filled with bone-deep hatred and fury. Her voice trembled, but every word was bitten out with vicious clarity:

"Kian! Did you arrange this?"

"You negotiate with me one minute, then have Chloe snatch my child the next—what a perfect performance you two put on together!"