Too Late, Mr. Cooper: Your Bride Ran with Your Baby novel Chapter 4

But Liliana had never cared. In fact, she had reveled in it.

They were childhood sweethearts. She had always believed she was different.-

“Ugh…”

Another wave of nausea hit her. Liliana clutched her stomach, wiping her mouth. As she shakily pushed herself upright, a passing nurse’s casual comment sent a jolt through her.

“Throwing up like that… are you pregnant?”

Pregnant?

Liliana’s mind raced back to a month ago, to the night she’d impulsively drugged Linton out of frustration, a night that had dissolved into a chaotic blur.

Disturbed by the nightmares that followed, she had forgotten to take the morning-after pill. The image from her dream—dying alone on the delivery table—flashed before her eyes with terrifying clarity. If she was pregnant, did that mean the dream was real? If she insisted on marrying Linton, would he grow to despise her, abandon her during childbirth to be with Isabella?

Liliana’s eyes burned. She couldn't warm his heart. A decade of devotion had gone up in smoke. Her chest tightened, and a sharp, twisting pain shot through her heart. No, she refused to die a miserable death alone on a cold operating table! The engagement had to end. She would make sure of it.

As Liliana was leaving the hospital, she got a call from Camilla. She and Linton had a house, a pre-wedding gift from old Mr. Cooper. Camilla was the housekeeper Liliana had hired to look after it.

It felt like a lightning strike right next to her ear. Liliana swayed, a bitter, mocking smile twisting her lips as her eyes filled with tears.

Linton had never cared about that house, had never even asked about it. He knew how much she looked forward to it, how much effort she had poured into it. He knew how important it was to her. And yet, without her permission, he had let Isabella’s child move in, letting him run wild and destroy the home she had so carefully built.

The image of Isabella at the hospital, wearing the Tranquil Jade Amulet, flashed in her mind.

On the other end of the line, Camilla’s urgent voice broke through her thoughts. “Miss Hart, shouldn’t you come back? We can’t just let the boy keep this up. He’s already broken several pieces of your custom furniture!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Liliana said, her voice surprisingly firm as she fought back the tears. She took a deep breath. “Let him. I don’t want the house anymore anyway.”