Chapter 846
Thinking of this, Dalores approached Julio, stopping at a cautious distance. “Why did you follow me here?” she asked. “If I hadn’t come, how would I have known that you would abandon your own child just to be another’s stepmother?”
Julio responded, his voice dripping with scorn, “Maybe I refuse to cut ties with you because of the child.”
Dalores’ declaration reverberated between them, sharp and cutting. “Yes, I’m prepared to be a stepmother because I genuinely care about Kinsey. I even cared for you once, despite how you treated me. But I’ve changed. I’m ready to embrace all that comes with my choices—whether it’s stepping into a maternal role for Kinsey’s child or making difficult decisions about my own future.”
Dalores’ words cut into Julio’s heart.
He extinguished his cigarette, closed the distance between them, pinned Dalores against the wall, and kissed her.
His kiss was laden with the scent of tobacco, leaving Dalores’ lips tingling with pain.
The eyes of passersby lingered too long, their whispers igniting a flush of shame in Dalores. In a desperate bid to escape Julio’s grasp, Dalores bit his lip hard.
“You’re so stupid. Do you honestly think Kinsey genuinely cares about you? Maybe you’re the only one willing to be a stepmother to his child. If it were anyone else…”
His words sliced through the air with cruel sharpness, suggesting that Kinsey only loved his mistress. As for Dalores, she was just a legal nanny hired to care for his child. Once the child grew up, Kinsey would likely cast her aside.
“I’m a fool, but I’m not shameless!” Dalores struggled, but she couldn’t break free from Julio’s grip.
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Julio sneered. “Are you saying that I’m shameless? I learned it from you!”
Neither of them was willing to back down. They could see the storm of emotions in each other’s eyes but were unable to understand one another.
Suddenly, the door to the resuscitation room burst open, snapping Julio’s grip loose. Dalores dashed towards the doctor, her mind solely focused on Emerson’s condition.
“The child’s safe now; it was just a severe reaction to a high fever. You should be quicker to act in such situations from now on,” the doctor said, his disapproval of Dalores evident.
Dalores felt her heart ache but said nothing, her attention fixed on Emerson as he was gently pushed out of the room on a gurney. She turned to look for Julio, but he had vanished, leaving only the remnants of his cigarette smoldering in the ashtray, a thin trail of smoke rising from it.
“Take him to the ward. Keep him under observation for the next 24 hours,” the doctor instructed briskly.
Nodding, Dalores accompanied the nurses as they escorted Emerson to a VIP ward, her heart heavy with what might have happened had Julio lingered a moment longer. Seated by Emerson’s bed, her mind raced. If Julio had been more perceptive, the secrets she guarded about Emerson might have been exposed.
After taking a moment to calm down, Dalores took out her phone and hastily typed a message to Eileen, asking to fast-track her application to become an online teacher.
“Okay,” Eileen responded promptly.