Suddenly There Are Three (Bailey and Artemis) novel Chapter 651

Chapter 651 The Last Straw

Waverly's question was so straightforward that it stumped Genevieve.

The latter had registered her question and wanted to say something in retort but was so taken aback that she did not know what to say.

After all, Waverly was right; Zeke was not the father of the child in Shirley's womb.

However, not even Shirley herself knew about this, so Genevieve doubted that anyone in the Shurmer family could have figured it out, either.

As her mind ran wild, Genevieve concluded that Waverly was trying to shirk responsibility to cover for Bailey.

That was expected, of course, given that those two were mother and daughter whose blood ran thicker than water.

There was a time when Waverly thought of Bailey as a thorn in her side, but now that Bailey was going to become the next matriarch of the Luther family and thus gained a higher net worth, it was understandable that Waverly would try to curry favor with her.

With that thought in mind, Genevieve put on a grim expression as she said through gritted teeth, “So, this is how the Shurmer family works. In order to protect your own daughter, you'd ignore the law and overlook the horrendous crime she committed against your future daughter-in-law. This is the woman who killed your unborn grandchild! How heartless do you have to be to protect a murderer? Does the entire Shurmer family uphold such evil, twisted values? I thought I'd seen plenty in this lifetime, but you've proven me wrong. My daughter was put through hell trying to conceive an heir for your family. Now that she's ended up in such dire circumstances, you didn't even stand up for her but chose to defend the culprit instead. I can't even begin to explain how disgusted I am.”

Waverly's face clouded over after she heard Bailey's allegations. As rage seized her, she decided that she would no longer try to suppress nor deny this scandal on the Gourd family's behalf anymore. This was the last straw!

“Ha!” Waverly retorted viciously, “You know as well as I do that the child Shirley was carrying was not Zeke's. If you insist on denying it, then I see no simpler way to resolve this debate other than a paternity test. We'll have the doctor collect a DNA sample from the amniotic fluid and run it against Zeke's. Let's see if the baby really was the flesh and blood of the Shurmer family.”

Genevieve blanched at this.

She was not a fool. Waverly had made herself very clear; the paternity test was more of a challenge than it was a means of confirmation at this point.

Have they figured out that Zeke is not the father of Shirley's child? But, how could they have possibly discovered this? Maybe this old lady's just trying to scare me.

“I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you mean, Mrs. Shurmer. I'd appreciate it if you could elaborate on this.”

Not wanting to beat around the bush anymore, Waverly said, “You stole Zeke's semen from our family infirmary in hopes of getting your daughter pregnant with his child through IVF, but unfortunately, the semen had been frozen for so long that it was useless. However, in order to let your daughter marry into a prestigious family, you used another man's semen instead and lied that it was Zeke's. Tell me I'm wrong, Mrs. Gourd.”

Genevieve's eyes widened. She staggered backward, but just as she was about to argue, Shirley hurtled out of the operating room.

The girl was covered in blood and made for a startling sight. Nonetheless, she hurled herself at Genevieve and clutched her arm, then demanded hysterically, “Is that true, Mom? Did you replace Zeke's sperm with another man's? You made me carry some random stranger's child instead of Zeke's, is that it?”

Genevieve's heart tightened when she saw the last glimmer of hope in Shirley's despair-filled eyes, like she was silently pleading with Genevieve to tell her that this was not true.

She had a feeling that the truth would devastate Shirley to a point of no return.

“S-Shirley, listen to me. I didn't have a choice back then, and I had to...”

Before Genevieve could finish explaining, Shirley cried out maniacally, “Why did you do this? How could you lie to me and ruin my life like this? I'm your daughter!”

At that moment, it was as if something in her finally snapped, and she began to laugh maniacally as she continued, “It's no wonder that they hate my baby. It's because they knew the baby wasn't Zeke's, but some stranger's b*stard. I'm nothing but a joke to the Shurmer family! Haha! How ridiculous! This is absolutely ridiculous! I didn't think my mother would be the one to cause me such misery! Now that all is said and done, I don't see a point in living anymore. I might as well just die!”

Anguished and mad with disbelief, Shirley swiveled around and ran headlong into the wall.

“Shirley!” Genevieve cried out in alarm.

At the sight of this, Zeke hurriedly reached out to stop Shirley.

He didn't do it out of any special sentiment, only so that she would not die right in front of them.

If she did, then the Shurmer family would be forced to take responsibility for her death, which was a hassle. As such, he had no choice but to stop her from ramming into the wall.

Presently, Shirley looked up at him in sorrow and wailed, “You knew all along that this child was not yours, but you didn't say anything about it! You wanted to punish me with this! How could you be so cruel? We've known each other since we were children, and you just stood by and let this happen to me! Why didn't you say anything? Why did you let me make a fool of myself?”

Zeke narrowed his eyes.

He hardly thought it mattered whether he told her or not, given how stubborn she was.

“Go home with your parents,” he said coldly. “I will not pursue this matter any further. Let the past be in the past and pull yourself together. Stop getting into situations that will only end badly for you.”

Shirley could not cope with this dramatic turn of events, and she looked like she was about to faint.

“B-Blood... There's blood on the floor!” Genevieve yelled.

Bailey glanced down at the floor, and her breath hitched when she saw the widening pool of blood.

“Zeke, knock her out at once! She's just had a miscarriage, and if she keeps throwing a fit like this, she could end up bleeding out right here! Bring her to the operating room to stop the bleeding before it's too late!” Bailey urged.

Zeke immediately knocked Shirley out with a deft strike to her neck.

Following that, Genevieve and Richard hurried over to support their unconscious daughter, then brought her into the operating room.

Bailey was about to go in after them when the communication device on her wrist started to ring.

She looked down at the screen and saw a series of codes. The numbers were familiar, and she had a feeling that this might be a call from the Hoffman family.

Is the head of the Hoffman family calling me?

That did not seem likely. Zeke was the one who had been dealing with Raymond for the last few days, so it wouldn't make sense for Raymond to call her up personally.

If it wasn't Raymond, then it had to be Julie.

Bailey shot Zeke a meaningful look, then made her way over to the nearby balcony.

After a moment of thought, Zeke fell into step behind her.

When they were on the balcony, Bailey said, “It's a call from Julie.”

“Answer it,” Zeke bit out.

Bailey tapped on the communication device twice to answer the call. “Bailey speaking.”

Sure enough, Juliana was the person on the other line. “It's me, Master.”

Bailey frowned and asked, “Are you holding up all right? I've heard about what happened to you. I'll head over to the Hoffman residence and demand that they release you, so just hang on for a few more days. I won't let them hurt you, not that they would dare to, anyway.”

“You don't have to come anymore, Master!” said Juliana, her voice hoarse.