Hitched & Hitched Again: A Comedy of Marital Mayhem novel Chapter 1654

Janelle said unhappily to Sophus and Sophie, "Your daughter is really something else, scheming against our Huber family!" Richard's face was cold as he announced, "The Huber family is severing all business ties with the Suttons, effective immediately. The Hubers will pay any penalty fees for breach of contract in full. As of today, our families will no longer be in business together, ever!" Sophus was horrified. "!!!" The businessmen who had come with Sophus all had mixed expressions. Seeing that the Suttons had not only failed to cozy up to the Hubers but had actually offended them, they started making sarcastic remarks. "The Suttons sure know how to raise a daughter! Good thing this all came out, or the Hubers would have been really screwed over." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!" Sophus's face was beet red with fury and embarrassment. He slapped Beatrix across the face a few more times, roaring, "We're going home!" Beatrix bit her lip and got off the bed, following the Suttons out with her head down. Keaton was standing in the hallway, his brow furrowed. When Beatrix saw him, she stopped, her face filled with resentment. "Are you satisfied? Is this what you meant when you promised to take care of me?" Keaton was silent. "..." Winona followed them out, looking from Beatrix to Keaton. "?" Beatrix glared venomously at Winona, squeezing the words out through her teeth. "You’re going to rot for this! I’ll see you in hell, Winona! Mark my words!" With that final venomous threat, she threw one last look at Keaton and said to Winona with a cold smirk, "If you dare to kill me, he’ll make you pay for what you’ve done to me! But if I’m the one who ends you? He wouldn’t have the heart to touch a hair on my head." Beatrix walked away with a cold smirk, looking like she'd won. Winona's brow furrowed tightly. "..." She instinctively glanced at Keaton. He was frowning, watching Beatrix leave, clearly in a bad mood. Winona had a faint feeling that he wasn't in a bad mood because Beatrix had cursed and threatened her. It was because Beatrix had been hurt... Soon, everyone else had left. Janelle pulled Winona back into the adjacent hospital room. "Winona, how did you know the baby in Beatrix's belly was that Tate Joubert's?" Winona, who had been watching Keaton's expression, took a moment to respond. "I know one of the seniors from Beatrix’s research program." "When I asked her about Beatrix, I found out about Tate Joubert." "So I did some digging on Tate Joubert and found out he'd been inquiring about in-vitro fertilization. That's when I started to suspect the baby was his, but I wasn't sure." "This morning, after Dr. Benjamin took the fetal sample, I got a copy and had someone run a paternity test between Tate Joubert and the fetus. I didn't expect them to actually be father and son." Janelle was confused. "In-vitro fertilization?" Winona explained, "She used IVF to manipulate the timeline of the pregnancy." "She had the embryo implanted on the same day she slept with Keaton, so the Huber family would be more convinced the baby was his." "Beatrix is smart. Before she set Keaton up for 'raping' her last time, she had already made preparations at a clinic." "If Keaton had married her after they slept together, she would have quietly terminated the pregnancy." "If Keaton still refused to marry her, she would use this baby to keep pressuring him. Once they had been legally married, she would have an abortion immediately." "Her only goal was to marry Keaton and become Mrs. Huber!" Janelle frowned. "That girl is unbelievable. Whoever marries her is in for a world of trouble! What a waste of a good education!" Richard said, "A degree doesn't determine someone's character. There are plenty of C-students with solid values, and tons of geniuses who are morally corrupt." Winona added, "Tate Joubert is a true genius, a good and brilliant person. He's won several international awards, but his family is very poor." "I arranged for him to propose publicly tonight, first, to take Beatrix down a peg, and second, to let him see her true colors." "Only by completely breaking his heart could he finally give up on Beatrix and rise from the ashes." "It would be a shame for such a talented person to be ruined by love." Richard and Janelle nodded in agreement. "You saved that kid, in a way." Winona snuck another peek at Keaton... Keaton stood leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets, staring at the floor with a frown, his mood sour.