The Ex-Wife He Can’t Have novel Chapter 39

Connor hung his head in shame.

"Because of that one sentence, Mom waited outside in the cold all night. Mrs. Zeller refused to open the gate, and the next day, I got a fever."

"Mom..." Connor mumbled guiltily.

"The next morning, when you were getting in the car for school, I saw you. I knew you were lying."

"Connor, it's incredibly easy to get caught in a lie. And the more you lie, the faster your happiness will slip away, because the only people you can deceive are the ones who love you. That one lie kept me waiting in the cold all night, solely because you are my son. If you meant nothing to me, I wouldn't have cared."

"So because you lied, Mom is going to punish you."

Jillian finished her piece.

Connor's eyes were already brimming with tears.

In the past, seeing him cry would have broken her heart.

But now, she realized she couldn't keep spoiling him. There were hard truths he simply had to learn.

"Connor, you were never a liar before. Who taught you to do that?"

Connor looked up at Killian, his eyes silently begging for permission to speak.

Killian's gaze remained dead and unreadable.

"Sylvia..." Connor whispered.

"Who?" Jillian asked sharply.

"Connor, eat your food," Killian interjected suddenly.

Looking like he had just been handed a royal pardon, Connor grabbed his fork and started stuffing his face.

Jillian's expression instantly frosted over.

They had both heard it clearly. It was Sylvia.

But it made no difference. Killian would never blame her. He would protect her no matter what she did.

After lunch, Nate arrived to take Connor back to kindergarten.

Jillian prepared to leave as well.

She was still holding the bag of herbal supplements.

"So, Killian, we have an understanding, right? This whole pregnancy thing is just a show to get your grandmother off your back?" Jillian asked.

Killian was scrolling through his phone. He didn't even bother looking up.

"So?"

"Nothing."

Jillian had just wanted verbal confirmation.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Jillian forced a smile. "Just had lunch with Connor."

Noticing Daniel was about to leave, she added, "I also ran into Sylvia."

"Oh?"

"She's the new director for Project Zephyr."

Daniel looked genuinely stunned. "Sylvia just finished her Ph.D. last year. Does she even have enough industry experience to manage a project of that scale?"

Jillian chuckled.

That wasn't for them to worry about.

If Killian was willing to burn billions of dollars to prop her up, who were they to judge?

"Actually," Daniel started hesitantly, "I've heard some rumors that Sylvia's Stanford degree was practically bought and paid for."

Jillian easily believed it. And not just because they were romantic rivals. Back when they were still friends, Sylvia had copied her homework and lecture notes countless times.

Even back then, Jillian could tell Sylvia severely struggled with engineering concepts.

Compared to the average student, sure, she was bright enough.

But at a place like St. Jude's University, surrounded by genuine prodigies, she barely scraped by.

Still, her wealthy background had given her an undeniable halo. Clueless onlookers revered her as the beautiful, intellectual darling of St. Jude's, and she was constantly praised on campus forums and social media.