Brettley let out a sigh and lifted his hand to wipe away her tears gently. “Don’t take her words into heart.”
However, Fiona did not seem to hear this. Instead, she started sobbing even harder and lunged into Brettley’s embrace, wrapping her arms around his taut waist.
“Brettley, do you think I’ll die early, like what Ms. Bethan said?”
Brettley sighed and gently patted her head. “You won’t. Didn’t the doctor tell you this already? You still have one year to live.”
As soon as she heard this, Fiona could not help but bite down on her lip.
It turned out that Brettley still remembered that she had only one year to live.
She had to get pregnant with his child before she died… Otherwise, if everything got exposed before then, she would not have any chance to salvage everything!
As soon as she thought of this, Fiona bit down on her lip and laid her head against Brettley’s chest.
“Brettley, do you think Neil has been reborn? Why don’t we have a child together, so you can feel like Neil has rebirthed himself in the form of our child?”
Brettley could not fight the frown on his face when he heard Fiona’s words.
He lowered his head to stare at her with a hint of solemnity in his scrutinizing gaze. “Fiona, you know your condition better than anyone else; even losing control of your emotions would make you have difficulty breathing and get hospitalized. S*xual intercourse requires even more physical exertion than fighting. I don’t think your body will be able to handle that at all.”
Fiona bit down on her lip and clung to Brettley’s shirt tightly. “Brettley, you haven’t even tried it yet. How do you know I won’t be able to handle it?”
She lowered her head, and a hint of shyness flashed across her face. “What if… What if I can take it?”
It had been almost a month since she and Brettley got together, but he never attempted anything else apart from hugging her. They had not even kissed yet, much less slept together.
The irony was, Fiona was not content with Brettley’s hugs. She wanted so much more from him.
She wanted, more than anything, to use intercourse as a means of keeping Brettley by her side, but this man did not give her any chance to do so. Instead, he constantly used her health as an excuse to reject her advances.
“Why don’t we try it for once?”
“No.”
Brettley curled his lips into a smirk and gently tucked Fiona’s hair behind her ear. “I wouldn’t want you to end up in the hospital in the middle of the night due to that. I like things just the way they are now.”
Fiona bit down on her lip. Tears started to well up in her eyes.
She lifted her head to stare at Brettley and asked, “
Brettley, do you hate me? Do you not want to have a child with me?”
Brettley let go of her and gave her a bitter smile. Then, he squatted down and placed the fruits and snacks that Bethan had brought in front of Neil’s tombstone.
“I killed two of my children–I don’t deserve to be a father again. It doesn’t matter if it’s you or other women; I don’t wish for anyone to bear my children ever again. Besides…”
He lifted his head and raised his hand to gently stroke Neil’s photo on the tombstone. “I don’t want to talk about having another child with you, right in front of my dead son’s grave.”
With that, he stood up and gazed at Fiona impassively. “After all, you wouldn’t want me to talk about having children with another woman in front of your grave a year from now, would you?”
Fiona froze. She opened her mouth as if she were about to say something, but nothing came out.
“Don’t forget what you promised me. You joined Bethan’s team to enter the competition with her, and you promised me you wouldn’t cause any trouble.”
Fiona bit down on her lip and nodded. “I know.”
She could not believe that, even at this point, Brettley was still fixated on Bethan and her children!
Fiona clenched her fists.
She would make herself Brettley’s priority, no matter what!
When Bethan reached Morrison Group Tower, Shannon was already waiting in her office, ready to apologize.
“I’m sorry, Director Bethan… I caused you so much trouble.”
Bethan patted Shannon’s shoulder reassuringly. “Just remember to be careful next time. You saw it yourself how I don’t have much of a say in front of Brettley, so if this happens again next time, I won’t be able to help you anymore.”
Shannon nodded in reply. Then, after a moment, she suddenly remembered something and turned around to glance at Bethan. “By the way, Director Bethan, do you remember Cynthal Peterson, President Morrison’s ex- fiancée of five years who used to be a celebrity?”
Bethan, who was busy tidying up her office, stiffened when she heard this.
Bethan raised her head stiffly to gaze at Shannon. “
Yes, I remember.”
Shannon pursed her lips and said, “I have a college friend who’s working as a reporter now, and he’s always camped out in front of airports. When I was talking to him this morning, he told me that he had seen Cynthal at the airport. She’s returned to Banyan City.
“Initially, I thought maybe he had mistaken someone else as Cynthal, but he told me that because she used to be a celebrity, he’d recognize her anywhere. He even sent me a photo to prove he was right.”
With that, Shannon pulled out her phone to show Bethan the photo. “Look.”
Bethan furrowed her brows and glanced at the photo on Shannon’s phone.
It was indeed Cynthal. It had been a few months since she last saw Cynthal, so the first thing she noticed was how much weight Cynthal had lost. She also looked much more beautiful than before.
Cynthal wore a red trench coat and smiled at the photographer, but for some reason, Bethan found her smile somewhat eerie and spine-chilling.
She pursed her lips and shifted her gaze away from the photo. “It’s her, alright.”
“I ‘m surprised that she’s back now.”
Shannon shot Bethan a wary look. “Do you…think she’s come back to steal President Morrison from Fiona? She used to be his fiancée, after all. Even though they’ve broken off their engagement, they were still together for five years.
“Meanwhile, Fiona and President Morrison have only known each other for a short time, but they seem to be a very sweet couple…”
Bethan narrowed her eyes and mulled over this for a moment, then chuckled. “I’m curious as to who will win if they really do get in a fight over him.”
With that, she exhaled and continued tidying her things. “I don’t have time for this, though.”
She handed Shannon a name list and ordered, “Help me summon all these people here. I want to get ready for the jewelry design contest soon.”
Shannon suppressed her urge to continue gossiping and took the name list from Bethan. Then, she turned around and left the room to round up the people Bethan wanted.
The participants of this competition were assigned in teams, and Morrison Group had registered ten people on their team. Not including herself and Fiona, who had nothing to contribute to the team, Bethan could still recruit eight more people as teammates.
She finalized the theme of their design pieces with the group and assigned everyone to their respective roles.
This took up her entire morning. When she finally wrapped up her meeting, it was already lunchtime.
Everyone had their respective tasks to complete, except for Fiona.
“What about me?”
Seeing that the rest of her colleagues were leaving one by one, clutching their documents, Fiona placed one hand on the desk and asked, gazing at Bethan, “Director Bethan, what am I supposed to do?”
Bethan gave her a gentle smile. “You can just be the helper and make everyone’s coffee.”
Then, she seemed to remember something and added, “Although I do hope that after you finish making the coffee, don’t go around the office holding them like before, Ms. Blake. I wouldn’t want Mr. Morrison to fire my employees if you get frightened and spill the coffee again.”
It was obvious that Bethan was talking about what happened on Fiona’s first day of work. She had spilled a steaming hot cup of coffee on Arianna, scalding her and, at the same time, causing her to almost lose her job.
Fiona smirked when she heard this. “You hold quite a grudge, Ms. Bethan.”
She tidied up the documents on the desk and stood up, glancing at Bethan impassively. “Don’t worry, Ms. Bethan, I won’t do anything to trouble you anymore. “
With that, she inched closer to Bethan and whispered in a low voice that only the two of them could hear, “After all, what I want the most is to see you finish your job and get out of here with your two children.”
She then let out a small sigh and added, “I ‘ll only be able to get pregnant with Brettley’s children after you and your children leave. Otherwise, he refuses to touch me.
“He’s a responsible man… He doesn’t want to get me pregnant before you leave Banyan City, so you’d better take your work seriously and get out of here as soon as possible, Bethan. Don’t linger any longer than you should, lest you spoil our fun.”
Bethan curled her lips into a smirk.
She moved closer to Fiona and taunted lowly with contempt, “What makes you think he’ll protect you and take care of your child after you give birth?”
Fiona narrowed her eyes. “Of course he will.”
Bethan scoffed. “Do you want me to help you count the number of women he made this promise to? Do you want to know what happened to all of them in the end? How naive.”
With that, she turned around and was about to leave the room when Fiona’s disdainful voice rang out behind her, “You’re the naive one. Do you know why Brettley doesn’t care about and doesn’t even like your children?”
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