Chapter 47: Nash Is the Father?
Caroline broke down completely, unable to accept the truth.
“Why you? Why does it have to be you!” she cried out, crouching down and clutching her head in despair. “Do you even realize how much you’ve hurt me? You’ve destroyed me completely!”
Nash, filled with sorrow, reached out to comfort her, but before his hand could touch her, she shoved it away harshly.
“Don’t touch me. You make me feel… disgusted.” Caroline’s teary eyes glared at him, and finally, the tears she had held back began to fall. She wiped them away fiercely, biting her lip so hard it left deep marks. She stumbled to her feet shakily.
“Nash, I could accept you leaving without a word for the sake of your future, going along with the Newton family’s marriage arrangements. I could even accept that we would never have anything to do with each other again. But I cannot accept that it was you that night!” Her voice dripped with bitterness. “You used the excuse of a transaction to take what you wanted from me, satisfying your selfish desires. And now, you pretend to tell me the truth as if you were doing me a favor? What a joke.”
“If it wasn’t me, someone else would have bought you,” Nash said.
“Stop explaining,” Caroline interrupted icily. “I will never forgive you. Never.”
Clenching her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, she turned and walked away without looking back, heading toward the bus stop with stiff determination.
“Caroline…”
“Don’t follow me!”
Nash halted in his tracks, watching helplessly as she disappeared from view. He hadn’t anticipated such an extreme reaction.
“But I was the one who saved you,” Nash muttered to himself, his usually composed face etched with pain. “I bought you to keep you safe and stayed away to preserve your dignity. And yet, you hate me this much.” He couldn’t understand what he had done wrong. If he could go back, he’d still make the same choice.
Caroline sat on the bus, staring out at the passing scenery with a heart devoid of emotion. She didn’t dare let herself cry. If David noticed her swollen eyes, it would spell trouble. She had been living so cautiously, and yet fate had chosen to mock her so cruelly.
Her hands rested protectively over her stomach. Inside her was a new life, the only person in the world tied to her by blood. And the father of this child was Nash. What cruel irony.
Images of that night flashed through her mind, and Caroline felt a wave of disgust with herself. She had resisted. She had said no. But Nash had forced himself on her anyway.
When she finally arrived at the Ellison residence, the sky had already turned dark.
“Madam,” the butler said, approaching her. “Mr. Ellison has asked you to go to his study when you return.”
Chapter 47: Nash Is the Father? (Continued)
David was seated behind his desk, the top buttons of his shirt undone, exposing his muscular chest.
“You called for me?” Caroline asked.
He tilted his head slightly. “Yes.”
“What for?”
“Do I need a reason to call you?”
Caroline almost retorted with, “That’s ridiculous!” but held her tongue.
David narrowed his eyes. “So you only pay attention to what I say when it suits you? Is that how this works? During the day, when I had called out to you, you fled as fast as you could. But now, when summoned to the study, you come willingly.”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
David slammed his hand down on the desk. “Oh, I think you dare a lot!”
