A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 578

It sounded like a reasonable excuse. In fact, it was a perfectly valid reason… if the child were healthy and well.

But now, with the child’s life hanging in the balance, it was no excuse at all.

Fairfax’s heart sank. Faced with Brinley’s unwavering refusal, the doubt in his mind swelled, growing larger and darker.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then asked coolly, “So we just let him die?”

Brinley froze.

He had said those words so lightly, but they landed on her with crushing weight. Her heart leaped into her throat. “No! We can’t let him die!”

“Then what do you suggest we do? Are you going to get Justin? Or should I? As you can see, I can’t get him to come!”

Brinley’s face stiffened at his frustrated tone.

Fairfax was laying the grim reality bare before her.

She sniffled, her voice choked with unshed tears.

“Who else knows Justin? It’s her, isn’t it?” he continued, the “her” clearly referring to Starla. “So right now, we do whatever she says.”

“She wants my son to live his entire life whispered about in shame,” Brinley protested.

“Then you choose,” Fairfax snapped, his voice sharp and brutal. “A life of whispers, or death.”

The words hit her like a physical blow. Brinley’s face went rigid, as if frozen by the frigid air.

“Maybe you don’t understand the situation,” Fairfax went on, his tone unforgiving. “You’re choosing between life and death for your child. Life, or death!”

So, no matter what, she could not agree to a paternity test. Doing so would shatter the last pretense she had, destroying her final foothold in the Yelchin family. The child would be ruined, and so would she.

But if she refused the test… what then? At least she could protect herself. But if the child died, would Felix let her off the hook? He had never revealed his full plan, but his words had made it clear that the child was central to it.

Brinley’s breath hitched, her eyes filling with the tears of a woman trapped. Before she could speak, Fairfax pressed her again.

“Do you want him to live, or to die?”

Brinley was silent.

Live, or die. What a cruel choice.

Starla’s heart was truly made of stone. She knew Justin. Why couldn’t she just bring him for a consultation, regardless of who the child’s father was? Why did she have to insist on a paternity test? What good would it do her to let the whole world know that the beloved daughter-in-law of the Yelchin family had given birth to twins who weren't even Faraday's?