Chapter 300
Chapter 298
Gemma’s POV
The words leave my mouth and seem to suck all the air from the room, leaving it in absolute, unbreakable silence.
I feel Cassian’s head whip toward me, his entire body going rigid with shock. Claire’s pelly glare vanishes, and Sybille looks as if she’s been slapped.
Grandpa is the first to break the stunned silence, as if the radiant joy has transformed his aged face. “Gemma! My dear child, are you telling me the truth? You’re… you’re pregnant?”
I offer him a soft, affectionate smile, appropriate for a blissful expectant mother.
“Yes, Grandpa. I just found out for certain the other day.” The lie feels both dangerous and liberating. Instead of living in constant fear of discovery at Lotus Manor, I will use Grandpa’s joy as a shield against Cassian’s scrutiny, and a gag for the rest of the family’s nagging.
I can see the gears turning in Cassian’s head. He’s confused, trying to reconcile my hospital lie with this new announcement that has dropped like a bombshell.
Sure enough, the moment we have a sliver of privacy, he pulls me aside. “When did this happen”
1/7
15:37
I meet his gaze, asking calmly.
“What do you mean? Weren’t you there for the checkup?”
I remind him of the gastroenteritis episode, layering one deception over another. He frowns, “So you just… told them that? ”
I shrug helplessly. “Your family has been hounding us for years, Cassian. The pressure is relentless, I can’t even breathe for a second. What was I supposed to do? It was the only way to get them to back off.”
I take a pause.
“Anyway, we’ll be divorced soon. We can tell Grandpa I… lost it, after the papers are signed. Isn’t the most important thing right now to make your relatives stop their incessant badgering? ”
He just stares at me, momentarily speechless. The bright thrill that I noticed in his eyes is now extinguished and replaced by a weary sense of understanding.
“I’ll play the part in front of Grandpa,” I continue, giving him no time to question anything. “If you’re worried about the charade being exposed at home, you’ll just have to be more mindful about what’s put in front of me. It’s not that much trouble, really.”
2/7
15:37
I sound so calm, but my heart is marching a drumbeat against my ribs. One lie always demands a hundred more to support it.
He lets out a long, slow breath, a sigh of resignation. “Okay… let’s go back in.”
I don’t wait for him. I turn and push the door open, re–entering the lounge without a backward glance, leaving him to gather the pieces of his own unexpected disappointment.
By that evening, Lotus Manor is flooded with deliveries. Grandpa has sent over an entire apothecary’s worth of supplements, tonics, and rare, suspicious–looking herbs.
The packages pile up in the foyer like a monument to his hope.
Lauren takes one look at the haul and her professional demeanor slips. I see the understanding dawn in her eyes, but she doesn’t look pleased; she looks puzzled.
Her mind is whirring, like she’s recalibrating her entire approach to my “condition.”
The news, of course, spreads through the Blackwell family like a virus. The one thing that could permanently cement Cassian’s position is now, in their eyes, a reality.
3/7
15:38