Chapter 144: Failed Scheme, Protect the Child
"James, the heir to Ascend Global Group, and Bianca are just close family friends. Please stop speculating about their relationship."
Right after that, James posted on his personal account: "There's a girl I like."
A sharp-eyed netizen found his account, reposted the message, and asked who the girl was.
James didn’t respond, but he didn’t delete the repost either. It was clear he wanted to let everyone know.
Naturally, many netizens started digging to find out who had captured James's heart.
Emily wasn’t arrogant, but she had a gut feeling that the girl James was talking about was her.
What was he planning?
She couldn’t believe James would clear up the rumors about his relationship with Bianca.
Once James released this information, it meant the two families wouldn't be merging, and Bianca would certainly be upset.
Just as Emily predicted, Bianca's face turned extremely sour upon seeing the news.
She couldn’t even maintain her usual facade of being gentle and kind in front of James. She directly called him to confront him.
"James, do you hate me that much? You’d rather have me ridiculed by the entire internet than temporarily acknowledge our relationship or even pretend not to see it. You used to protect me the most! Have you forgotten the child in my womb? That’s your flesh and blood too!"
Bianca’s voice choked with emotion as she spoke.
Did she love James?
There was some love, perhaps not very deep.
But it was more of an obsession, an obsession with taking James away from Emily, and now that it had all fallen apart, how could she not be upset?
James heard her choking voice and softened his initially cold tone, "The child—if you want to keep it, then keep it. I’ll provide child support, or the Smith family can take care of it.
If you don’t want to keep it, I won’t stop you. I’ll give you a villa as compensation.
You know I love Emily. Our childhood feelings are hard for me to let go of. I didn’t mind your past conflicts with her, but from now on, you can’t bully her anymore."
This last part was a warning from James.
If Bianca hadn’t kept a shred of rationality, she would have mocked James right then. If he truly loved Emily, there wouldn’t be a child in her womb, nor would he distrust Emily.
She held back.
Her eyes flashed with a venomous look.
She wasn’t going to abort the child. As long as she had the child, her connection with James wouldn’t be severed. She’d have plenty of time to entangle with James.
She had bested Emily once, and she could do it again.
"James, no, I won’t abort the child. I’m sorry, I never told you that I love you! But I always knew you were Emily’s fiancé, so I never had any improper thoughts. I could only bury my feelings deep inside.
I thought that now you two had broken off the engagement, I could finally come to you. I didn’t expect you still loved Emily. I won’t be an obstacle to you two reconciling. I just ask, can you let me keep the child, as a token of my feelings? I’ll watch over the child and never love anyone else."
Bianca's words were full of genuine emotion.
It seemed as though her love for him was deeply ingrained.
James saw her humble plea, something Emily had never done. Bianca had always been excellent, proud, and pampered. His heart softened a bit.
"Alright, you can keep the child. But until Emily and I reconcile, I don’t want her to know about the baby. Do you understand?"
Bianca thought about her child having to stay hidden for a while, trembling with anger, but said, "James, you don’t trust me. Even if you didn’t remind me, I wouldn’t tell Emily. I wouldn’t let me and my child become a burden for you two."
"Glad you understand."
James didn’t explain his doubts about her, speaking coolly.
Bianca’s eyes flashed coldly. "James, you’re not great at pursuing girls, but I understand girls, and I understand Emily. Are you planning to win her back? How about I help you?"
James frowned.
He didn’t immediately respond.
He was hesitant.
Emily clearly didn’t like Bianca. If she found out, it might be harder to win her back.
But his methods hadn’t worked before, always backfiring.
"Let me think about it."
James didn’t agree right away. After thinking it over, he decided to give it a try.
Bianca saw him waver and knew she had a chance. To avoid making her intentions too obvious, she didn’t push further.
James hung up and called Jace, asking him for advice on pursuing girls.
——
Online, without the pressure of James and Bianca’s marriage, the criticism against Chase continued.
Those business partners, fearing a reversal, didn’t immediately announce their decision to terminate contracts. But by starting to contact new endorsers, it was clear they weren’t planning to continue working with Chase.
Chase had no choice but to turn to Eli for help.
He couldn’t bring himself to ask Bianca to publicly apologize to Emily online.
For Chase’s sake, Eli had to persuade Bianca, but first, he angrily called Kade.
Usually, Eli would try to please Kade, but this time, because James had cleared up the news and Eli was furious, he questioned, "Kade, aren’t you going to explain the Smith family’s actions online? We, the Johnson family, trusted you. We agreed on the engagement, and even if James didn’t want it, you should have informed us in advance. Even if we parted amicably, it shouldn’t have become public and embarrassed our family!"
"Eli, we as parents couldn’t do anything. James suddenly entered a rebellious phase and wouldn’t listen to us. We’re victims too, very helpless!"
Kade’s words were half-true.
James was stubborn and wouldn’t change his mind, that was true.
But that didn’t mean Kade couldn’t stop him, at least not publicly.
At this moment, Kade’s words didn’t reveal his stance.
He didn’t support James and Bianca’s engagement but hadn’t openly opposed it.
"What about the child? Is the Smith family not planning to keep it? Bianca had a doctor check, and it’s a boy. Too bad the child won’t be born safely."
Eli’s words sounded more like a threat.
Kade was furious.
His good upbringing kept him from shouting and screaming.
"This is James’s decision. He said he gave Bianca a choice. We don’t interfere in his major life decisions. Sorry, we can’t help."
Kade dodged the issue and hung up after a few words.
Eli knew then that there was no chance for Bianca and James’s engagement.
He had to plan for Chase.
After thinking it over, Eli called Bianca. "Bianca, apologize to Emily."