Having Loved Him Before

Everyone went silent.

"Honey, what are you doing here?" Vincent's expression changed abruptly. He shoved Kiara aside. She tried to reach for him, but he dodged her.

I looked at him. "If I hadn't come, how would I have found out you're still in contact with this woman? That you even have a child together?"

"Honey, you've got it wrong." Vincent scrambled to explain. "The child is almost three now. I didn't betray you. Kiara and I only slept together that one time, and she got pregnant from it.

"I didn't want her to have the baby, but my parents said I needed an heir, so they allowed her to give birth.

"Honey, you have to believe me. Kiara and I are just co-parenting a child. Nothing else has happened between us. The person I love is you. I'll only ever love you. Besides, with this child, you won't have to go through pregnancy. When he's a bit older, I'll transfer custody to you. Then the three of us will be a family. We'll be so happy."

Happy? The three of us as a family?

How could he even say these things? Was he not disgusted?

I looked up at him. "No need. Let's just get divorced. I'll step aside so Kiara can stand by your side openly, and your child can have his proper place."

"No!" Vincent grabbed my shoulders violently, rage and pain roiling in his eyes. "Do you even know what you're saying? I'm telling you, unless one of us dies, I won't divorce you!"

Kiara stepped forward with reddened eyes, her voice barely a whisper. "Elena, please don't divorce Vincent. This is all my fault."

I swept a cold glance over her. "Do you have the right to speak here?"

Kiara flinched, lowering her head with red eyes, not daring to say another word.

Vincent's brow furrowed slightly as he moved in front of her. "She's still young and in college. Why are you scaring her?"

My heart twisted. Was raising a child really all there was between them?

Fine. I did not want to dwell on it anymore.

I turned to leave, but the test results in my hand suddenly fell to the ground.

Vincent snatched them up. When he saw what they were, his expression turned ugly. "I guess I couldn't hide it from you, after all. The truth is, after this child was born, I secretly got a vasectomy three years ago. I even bribed every hospital to mark your test results as problematic."

I felt like I had plunged into an icy pit. My whole body trembled uncontrollably. He said he got a vasectomy three years ago?

Then what about all those needle marks that had covered my body for the past three years? What about all the bitter medicine I choked down, dose after dose?

"Elena, I was wrong to do this to you. But look, I already have a child. Kiara isn't qualified to be his mother. Only you can be. So from now on, we can just raise him together, okay?"

When I did not respond, Vincent reached out to hug me, sounding somewhat aggrieved. "Say something, Elena. I don't like it when you don't talk."

I shoved him away violently, my voice coming out in a scream. "Vincent Harlow, you're disgusting from the inside out!"

Vincent's expression grew even uglier. "Elena, how can you say that about me? Aren't you usually the one who cares about me the most?

"Besides, my child is your child. What's the difference? You're my wife. Kiara is nothing." Then, he suddenly seemed to remember something. "To be safe, why don't you get your tubes tied too? Then we'll be the same."