The Day I Walked Away My Empire Began novel Chapter 318

She hated this baby. Hated that Steven had used every dirty trick to trap her with it.

But when she heard the words “you might never get pregnant again,” something deep inside her shook.

“You’re lying. I’m not having this baby. No matter what.”

Steven looked up at her, red veins spreading across his eyes like spiderwebs. Tears mixed with pure desperation streaked down his face. “I’m not lying. I just talked to the doctor. He was holding your test results and sighing. He said your body is still weak from the miscarriage you had before.”

“This pregnancy was already a miracle. If you force an abortion… you might never be a mom again.”

He leaned hard on the word “miscarriage,” betting she’d remember the child they lost years ago.

Lucie went even paler. Her whole chest ached, twisting up with pain.

If that was true, if she really couldn’t have another child…

She’d have to keep this one.

The Anderson family was down to its last branch. She was the only girl in her generation. If she didn’t have a baby, the family line would end with her.

So it didn’t even matter whose child was growing inside her. She had to give birth.

When Steven saw her wavering, his face turned heartbreakingly sad. “Even if it’s not for Cody, your grandfather wants you to have a baby. Someone to carry on the Anderson name.”

“I know I lied to you, and I hurt you so much. I’m really sorry. Nothing I do can ever make up for it.”

“But this… this is destiny.”

Lucie squeezed her eyes shut, her face full of pain. “Just stop. I need to think.”

Steven paused, then stood up quietly. “Okay. Take your time.”

“This is about two lives. You need to be sure. Don’t just erase them without thinking.”

His words stabbed straight into her heart.

Two lives.

Two real lives.

“I’ll go. You think about it,” Steven said, looking as if the world had ended. He shuffled toward the door, every step heavy with hopelessness.

She watched his hunched, lonely back. He looked so genuinely broken she knew she had to think this through.

But the second Steven stepped out into the hall, a huge grin broke out across his face. He practically floated down the corridor.

This was the best day he’d had since the divorce.

Cody’s leukemia had been a misdiagnosis.

And the second baby he’d been dreaming of showed up out of nowhere.

What could possibly top this?

He headed straight to pediatrics and found Cody’s doctor.

“Whoa…”

He counted the zeros again and again, just to be sure.

Back in the hospital room, Lucie’s mind was a mess. She had no idea what to do.

She couldn’t even imagine he’d set another trap for her.

It wasn’t that she was naïve or weak. Steven was just too ruthless, too smart. Their brains weren’t even in the same league.

Lucie’s IQ was 116, high by any standard.

But Steven’s was a staggering 156, forty points higher. He looked at her the way most people looked at a puppy.

Knock, knock, knock.

The door creaked open.

Steven stepped inside, wearing that same mask of grief and confusion.

“Steven, I haven’t made up my mind. Please leave.”

“The doctor said your blood sugar’s low. You’re really weak. You have to eat.”

He set down a few thermal containers on the table and started opening them up.

“Come on. Try to eat something, okay?”