He Gave Me Hearing, Then Taught Me What Silence Really Means novel Chapter 247

Juniper hailed a cab and left without looking back.

Beatrice staggered backward, though she didn't faint. She just completely lost all her strength.

Her throat burned so intensely that it made her physically sick. The agonizing pain forced her to dry heave.

Inside the cab, Juniper stared out the window at the passing scenery, tears streaming silently down her face.

She couldn't believe she had just said something so cruel to her own mother. A dull ache of guilt gnawed at her chest.

For a child to tell their mother she never should have given birth to them—it was the sharpest, most unforgiving blade to a parent's heart.

Juniper clamped a hand over her mouth, as if doing so could force the overwhelming agony back down her throat.

When she finally arrived home, she felt entirely drained.

Collapsing onto the sofa, she was too exhausted to do anything.

She didn't want to think about the past few years, and soon enough, she drifted into a restless sleep.

She dreamt of Blackwood Institute, the psychiatric ward she absolutely refused to talk about. She dreamt of the steel-barred windows, the orderly who couldn't keep his hands to himself, her desperate struggles, and her harrowing, hopeless screams.

She dreamt of falling to her knees in front of someone, begging frantically, hitting her head against the floor until it bled, just praying he would take her away.

But where to?

Where was she supposed to go?

She needed to find Nelson. She was still fiercely resentful, still refusing to believe she had merely been a plaything to him.

She slammed her head against the ground until her skull throbbed. The person in front of her finally seemed to take pity on her and sighed. "Get up. I'll take you to him."

She felt incredibly confused. She never expected this person would actually be willing to help her.

Who was it?

She couldn't even remember how she had managed to escape in the end.

Brooks's voice kept catching on the phone, pausing heavily after every few words.

He had been so incredibly excited for the baby's arrival. Over the past few days back home, because of the child, he had even begun to compromise. He had been on the verge of forgiving Nadine. It was just a pair of legs, after all. Maybe Nadine was right—he was just a failure who could never earn fifty thousand dollars in his entire life. Now that they had the money, they could put the past behind them and raise the child together.

Nadine had agreed to it perfectly to his face. But the second Brooks let his guard down, she ran straight to her parents' house, hired a divorce attorney, and dropped the ultimate bombshell about the baby's true paternity.

Brooks broke down sobbing on the phone again. "Do you remember that guy who used to come over to our house? Nadine always claimed he was a distant cousin. Turns out, he's her fucking lover! And I waited on him hand and foot like an absolute idiot. Those two bastards have been sleeping together right under my nose for years. I hate her so much! I hate her!"

Juniper wasn't the least bit surprised. Nadine thrived on male attention, reveling in men fawning over her. She failed to realize that the kind of attention from men in those circles was entirely meaningless and freely given to anyone.

But Nadine was obsessed with it, meaning she was never going to maintain any boundaries.

Still, Juniper had underestimated just how utterly shameless the woman could be. To actually fabricate a fake identity for her lover, brazenly bring him into the Lane household, and have Brooks wait on him hand and foot.

For Brooks, it was a fate worse than death.

A man who had been a cowardly failure for over thirty years was now permanently disabled, raising a child that wasn't his, and serving tea to his wife's lover.