Chapter 171
As soon as the little boy set eyes on Thalassa, his face broke out with pure delight. “Mummy!”
“Sweetheart,” Thalassa croaked, moving toward the bed and pulling him into a tight embrace. She held him close until he wriggled in her arms.
“Mummy, let go!” he giggled.
Thalassa chuckled softly and loosened her hold, pressing a gentle kiss on his forehead. “I’m sorry, baby. Mummy’s just feeling a bit emotional today.” She wiped away a stray tear and glanced at Betty. “Why was he crying?”
Betty smiled warmly. “You know how he gets when he doesn’t see anyone after waking up.”
Thalassa sighed and met Betty’s gaze. “You don’t seem surprised.”
Betty scoffed lightly. “That Kris is the father of Alex?” Betty scoffed. “Oh come one. I knew it the moment I saw him on the CCTV. Even a blind person won’t fail to see how much the boy looks like his father. I assumed it was a lovers falling out thing and now he’s trying to make amends.”
“What surprised me,” she continued. “was when he didn’t even once ask about the boy. I had my suspicions but decided not to ask any questions. But this morning, it has become quite clear. He doesn’t know about the boy, does he?”
Thalassa shook her head. “No. He doesn’t.”
“You never told him?” Betty’s brow furrowed in disbelief.
Thalassa let out a bitter laugh. “Oh, I told him, alright. He called me a liar to my face and kicked me out of the house in the middle of the night.”
Betty’s eyes widened in shock. “He did that? But why?”
She looked genuinely shocked, as if she couldn’t believe Kris would do something like that. Thalassa scoffed.
She scoffed bitterly. “Because his mother convinced him I was lying. First, she orchestrated a plan to make him believe I cheated on him the night before our wedding. We were married for a year, and for every single day of that year, Kris dedicated himself to making me the most miserable I’ve ever been. The worst part? He never told me why. I had no idea what I’d done to deserve it.”
She paused, her voice thick with emotion. “I stayed, hoping that one day, things would change–that I’d get back the man I fell in love with. But that day never came. His mother had me framed for embezzlement, and I spent three days in jail. After that, Kris demanded a divorce.”
Thalassa recounted how she’d gone to the Miller mansion, desperate and broken, begging him not to divorce her. How she’d told him about her pregnancy, only for him to dismiss her, calling her a liar, before kicking her out into the street. How she was attacked that same night, too lost in her grief to defend herself.
“Kris’s mother did that to you?” Betty’s mouth dropped open. “She tried to have her own grandchild killed? How could she do that?”
“Believe me, Betty, that woman is capable of so much worse,” Thalassa muttered, recalling the damning report from her private investigator about Linda’s involvement in drugs and human trafficking. “When I woke up in the hospital, they told me I’d lost my pregnancy.”
Betty’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. You have Alex, so how could you have lost the baby? Was it a false miscarriage?”
1/2
+25 BONUS
Chapter 171
“Not exactly.” Thalassa swallowed hard, her voice lowering. “I *did* lose a child.” She paused, collecting herself. “When I moved to New York with the Mathews family, I was devastated, convinced I had miscarried. Then, months later, I noticed something–my stomach began to grow.”
A faint smile tugged at her lips as she remembered. “Actually, it was Granny who first noticed the bump. She asked if I was pregnant, but I told her no. I couldn’t believe it—I thought it was impossible. I assumed it was fibroids or something… until I went to the hospital.”
She pursed her lips. “Turns out, I was pregnant with twins. I only lost one. The doctors told me that since my pregnancy had only been a few weeks old when I was attacked, it was very easy for the tests to show total miscarriage as there’s a lot of uncertainty during that time with HCG levels. He explained a lot of medical terms I didn’t give a shit about. All I cared about was the life that was still growing inside me.”
Her voice trembled slightly as she continued, “They told me that judging by the severity of the attack I faced, it was a miracle that the other child survived, but they didn’t think it would make it out to the world since my pregnancy was too high–risk and might lead to lots of complications. Everyday, I feared that I was going to lose him, but he survived Betty. He survived.”
Thalassa leaned down, kissing Alex gently on the forehead. He was too absorbed in playing with his Batman and Superman toys to notice the weight of her words. Even if he did hear, what were the chances that he understood?
“That’s why I named him Alexander.” she said softly. “Because he’s nothing short of a warrior who fought to come into the world despite all the odds being against him. You don’t know how grateful I am that he fought to come to me.”
Tears welled in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. “But I’ve never been able to forget the other baby. He… or she… didn’t deserve to be taken from me like that. It could’ve been Alex’s brother…or sister. But that woman took them
from me.”
“Mummy, am I going to get a little sister?” Alex asked innocently, glancing up from his toys. “I want a sister, Mummy.”
Thalassa’s heart broke into a million pieces. The emotions were too much for her to contain. Not wanting Alex to see her breaking down, she quickly kissed him on the cheek and got up to her feet.
She rushed out of the room, and the moment the door closed behind her, brutal sobs overtook her. She covered her mouth, trying to stifle the heart–wrenching sounds.
A moment later, Betty appeared, pulling her into a comforting hug. “Oh, sweetheart. I’m so sorry you’ve been through all of this.”
Thalassa shook her head, her voice breaking. “He doesn’t know, Betty. He doesn’t know what he just asked me.”
Betty frowned in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“The doctors told me I might never be able to have another child,” Thalassa whispered, her voice laced with pain.
Chapter 172
“Oh my goodness, I don’t even know what to say. I can’t imagine how it must feel to be told that,” Betty whispered, her voice thick with sympathy.
Thalassa didn’t need her to say anything more. She burrowed deeper into the older woman’s embrace, crying much harder than she’d cried in such a long time, until her sobs subsided.
“Nobody deserves to go through something so cruel. Trust me, that woman won’t get away with her crimes forever,” Betty murmured, her voice firm. “Karma will take care of her.”
“Karma?” Thalassa let out a bitter chuckle as she pulled back from the hug. “I don’t need karma to deal with her, Bertha. I’ll bring justice for the child I lost myself.”
“That’s why you returned to Baltimore and only visit Alex every two weeks,” Betty deduced, her perceptive gaze fixed on Thalassa. “You’ve been trying to get justice.”
Thalassa nodded, silence falling between them for a few seconds before Betty hesitated, then asked, “Does Kris know his mother had you attacked the day you got divorced?”
Thalassa’s jaw clenched. “He refuses to believe it. In his eyes, his mother can do no wrong.‘
“Did you have or show him any proof?” Betty pressed gently.
“No.” Thalassa admitted, looking away, her voice tight with frustration.
“And when do you plan to tell him about Alex?”
When Thalassa stiffened, Betty’s expression shifted in shock. “You’re not planning to tell him?”
Thalassa’s nostrils flared in anger. “Why should I? He didn’t want him. If he cared, he wouldn’t have thrown me out when I told him I was pregnant. I went through this pregnancy alone. Tell me, Betty, why does he deserve a place in my son’s life when he was never there for him?”
Betty bit her lip, torn. She wasn’t sure if she was overstepping her boundaries, but she decided to speak anyway.
“Forgive me, Thalassa, but if I’m correctly understanding everything you’ve told me, then Kris was just as much a victim of his mother as you were,” she said softly. “When he came here yesterday, I saw how desperately he wanted to make amends.”
“Amends?” Thalassa scoffed bitterly. “Did you miss the part where he made me suffer for our entire marriage?”
“What about the time before that?” Betty asked, her voice gentle but firm. “You said he completely changed after the wedding, which makes me think things were different before…etter”
Thalassa’s heart clenched painfully at the memories of her relationship with Kris before their marriage. He’d been the perfect man. The most caring, loving person who always went out of his way to make her smile. He had even stood up to his mother for her when she disapproved of their relationship, going against his entire family until they finally ‘accepted‘ her.
She quickly shook her head, forcing the memories away as she looked back at Betty. “The fact that he made me happy once doesn’t change the suffering that came after.”
A look of pity crossed Betty’s face. “And yet, you still love him.”
Thalassa wanted to deny it, but her throat tightened, the words unable to form. She was so tired of pretending, and Betty was too perceptive to lie to.
“So what, Betty?” She whispered, a bitter smile tugging at her lips. “What if I still love him? I can never be happy
1/3
+25 BONUS
Chapter 172
with him because every time I look at him, I’ll be reminded of everything his mother did to me–and how he did nothing to protect me.”
Betty didn’t push any further, sensing the depth of Thalassa’s pain. Thalassa sighed heavily. “I’m going back to Baltimore tonight.”
Betty frowned in surprise. “But you’ve only been here two days. I thought you planned on staying another day.”
Thalassa nodded grimly. “That was the plan. But Kris is going to keep coming back as long as I’m here, and I can’t risk it. I need to return to Baltimore to end this once and for all.”
“Yes… oh God, yes… just like that… oh God, Henry, I’m gonna cum!”
Karen screamed as her orgasm hit her, body trembling. A few seconds later, Henry followed, grunting her name as he spilled inside her.
“I won’t even ask you to rate how good I fucked you. I can see it was a solid ten out of ten,” Henry chuckled, as they were catching their breath.
“Fuck yes, it was,” Karen sighed blissfully, rolling on top of him to kiss him deeply. Henry was about to flip her over and continue when the doorbell rang.
Karen stiffened. “Are you expecting someone?”
“No,” Henry replied, frowning.
“That better not be one of your whores,” Karen warned, glaring at him. Henry chuckled in amusement.
“Stay here. I’ll check,” he said, slipping on his trousers but remaining bare–chested as he walked out of the bedroom and went to the door.
When he opened it, his eyes widened in surprise. “Mrs. Miller?”
“Hello, Henry,” Linda greeted with a sweet but, there was something about the smile that made him uneasy. May I come in?”
Without waiting for permission, she brushed past him into the apartment.
(6
Henry frowned, following her. “Is there something you need me to do for you?” he questioned, his eyes darting to his bedroom door.
Karen had better not come out. Otherwise, they were fucked
Linda turned to him, her eyes cold. “Yes. Tell Karen to come out of the bedroom.”
Henry’s heart skipped a beat. “Karen? Why would Karen be here?”
“Oh, please.” Linda scoffed. “If you two want to play games, fine. But I’m not in the mood.”
Without warning, she stormed toward the bedroom.
“Mrs. Miller, you can’t just barge into my apartment like this!” Henry protested, grabbing her arm, but she shook hím off.
Inside the bedroom, Karen heard the commotion and quickly jumped out of bed, frantically looking around for a place to hide. But before she could move, the door flew open, and Linda stormed in.
“I knew it!” Linda hissed. “You traitorous bitch. You’ve been cheating on my son this whole time!”
2/3
Chapter 172
A
Karen’s eyes widened, her heart pounding inside her chest as she took in the rage on Linda’s face.
“Mrs. Miller, it’s not what-”
“Shut up!”
A hot slap landed on her cheek, silencing her.
