The Officer's Runaway Wife & Secret Son novel Chapter 568

A heavy silence fell over the tea room.

A dull ache throbbed in her lower abdomen, and Clara slowed her breathing, forcing herself to calm down.

"Are you done?"

Daniel set down his glass. "If you're done, then listen to my objective conclusion."

"Clara, your entire logic is built on an assumption. You're assuming you can perfectly fake this for months until he either dies or gets the transplant."

"But the reality is, you can't."

Clara fired back, "I can."

"Right now, you're not only dealing with morning sickness, but you're also anemic. Under your current level of extreme mental suppression and physical exhaustion, it won't even take two months. In two weeks, your body will break down entirely."

"Let's run through the possibilities. The most statistically likely outcome is that you suffer a miscarriage from severe stress and exhaustion. How are you going to hide it then? By the time you start hemorrhaging, Rhys will find out that his wife killed their baby trying to protect his feelings."

Daniel watched Clara's face drain of color, emphasizing every single syllable. "Clara, you know Rhys entirely too well. If that actually happens, do you really think he'll sit there peacefully waiting for a lung, or do you think he'll just end it all right there?"

Clara swayed in her seat.

Daniel had dragged the darkest, most terrifying corner of her mind out into the glaring sunlight.

"You think you're protecting him, but in reality, you are stripping away his right to know as a husband and a father. You've unilaterally handed down a death sentence, deciding that he can't handle it, so you've revoked his right to face this alongside you. Clara, how much did you hate Rhys when he pushed you away before? Right now, you are doing the exact same thing he did."

"I'm not..." Clara forced the words out of her dry throat.

She hadn't pushed him away.

"Then you..."

"Don't worry, I haven't told him yet. But let me make this clear: Rhys is not an idiot. The absolute maximum amount of time I can buy you is today. If I don't give him a logical explanation today, with his background, all it takes is finding one doctor or nurse to look up your name, and everything will come to light."

Daniel picked up his car keys from the table, his tone softening slightly.

"You can choose to keep bracing for impact until he digs up the truth himself, or until you collapse right in front of his hospital bed."

"Or, you can walk right up to his bed yourself and tell him: you are pregnant, and you need him to live. You need him to live—not just to make up for the past, but for the sake of this new life."

Daniel walked to the door, grabbed the handle, and gave her one last look.

"Clara, leave the choice to him. This is the exact 'honesty' you demanded from him when you two got back together. Don't let yourself turn into the kind of person you used to hate the most."