The CEO's Amazing Ex-Wife Is Back (Thalassa and Kris) novel Chapter 217

Chapter 217
For a moment, the world seemed to stop. Kris stared at Rita, uncomprehending. He blinked, processing the words, but they didn’t make sense.

“What… what are you saying?” he whispered, his voice barely audible, filled with confusion.

Rita looked down, guilt washing over her face. “I’m so sorry, Kris. But Tessa… she’s not yours.”

Kris stared at her for a few seconds more before a curt chuckle escaped him, filled with disbelief.

“Where is this coming from, Rita? What are you even saying?” he questioned, his voice tight. “Tessa IS my daughter. She’s my little angel. I’ve been there since the day she was born.”

“I know,” Rita said, tears filling her eyes. “But… the truth is… you’re not her biological father, Kris. Karen confessed it to me herself.”

“Karen is a fucking liar!” Kris growled, shaking his head frantically. “She’s making this up to hurt me.”

Rita shook her head, a tear sliding down her cheek. “No. In fact, she did everything she could to keep the secret hidden because she didn’t want you to know.”

Kris staggered back, his breath catching in his throat. It felt like a punch to the gut, knocking the air right out of his lungs.

“No… no, that can’t be true. Tessa is my daughter. There has to be a mistake somewhere. The dates match. She was conceived around the time I got drunk and woke up in bed with Karen.”

Rita’s face paled as even more realizations dawned on her. Karen’s deception truly ran deeper than she’d imagined.

“Kris, Karen was having a relationship with… another man around that time. She might have already been pregnant before whatever happened between you two that night… if anything happened at all.”

Kris’s expression twisted, filled with a mix of emotions—confusion, disbelief, anger—but most of all, pain. The pain felt like it was squeezing the life out of him.

“She deceived me,” he gritted out, gripping the duffle bag in his hand which contained the evidence against his mother inside. “She told me she was pregnant and even threatened to abort the child if I didn’t marry her. She forced me to marry her when she was deceiving me all along.”

“Yes,” Rita croaked out, her face burning with shame. “I’m so sorry, Kris. I’m so sorry. It brings me no joy to tell you this, because I know how much you adore my grandchild, and how much she adores you. I am so, so sorry.”

Two police officers passed by, escorting a handcuffed man, forcing them to temporary halt their conversation.

“Why now?” Kris asked once the door had closed behind the officers. He didn’t know how he could sound so calm, despite the storm of emotions raging inside him. “Why did Karen decide to reveal the truth now? Why not keep her mouth shut?”

“I guess she thought she had no choice,” Rita answered, then gestured to the bag in his hand. “I didn’t want to tell you, but Karen came to hide the evidence in my house. I don’t know how she got hold of it, but she was keeping it to ensure your mother wouldn’t tell you the truth. After I found the bag, she…”