Did she think I was a fool?
Lies that clumsy might have worked once. Even twice. But three times, four times? I'd injured my kidney, not my brain.
"You're right, we really should thank Daniel properly."
As Bella spoke, her right hand drifted unconsciously to her lower belly, her eyes soft with a sweetness that had nothing to do with me.
"Honey, I have a suggestion. Tell me what you think?"
I nodded. "Go ahead."
"Well..." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "Here's what I was thinking. Daniel's been my personal assistant for a year now. He knows every aspect of how the company operates. So I'd like to promote him to Director of the General Manager's Office. And to give him a real sense of belonging, I want to reward him with fifteen percent of the company's shares."
My expression didn't change.
Director of the General Manager's Office. Fifteen percent of the company. Quite the generous package.
"Sure," I said. "But where would that fifteen percent come from?"
Bella looked at me with guilt pooling in her eyes. "Honey, could we take it from your shares?"
Before I could respond, she rushed to explain. "Don't overthink this. I know the seventy percent you hold was compensation for nearly dying to save me, and it's a symbol of our love. But I'm doing this for the company. For our future. You understand that, don't you?"
I nodded. "I understand. But if I remember correctly, when you transferred those shares to me five years ago, you promised you'd never take them back or give them to anyone else. I have absolute authority over them, including selling them to a third party. Isn't that right?"
The color shifted in Bella's face. After a beat, she forced a smile. "That's right. You have a good memory. Of course I haven't forgotten either. It's just that—"
"Good. As long as you haven't forgotten." I cut her off, turned, and headed toward the bedroom. "It's late. Let's get some sleep."
"Honey!"
She threw her arms around me from behind, her voice cracking.
"Are you angry? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you to give up your shares. Can you forgive me?"
I let out a sigh, turned around, and gently pushed her away.
"I'm not angry. And I'll give the fifteen percent to Daniel."
"Really?"
Tears still clung to her lashes as she studied my face, searching every inch of it.
"Really."
But whether Melody would hand those shares over to Daniel was none of my concern anymore.
I didn't let a single thing show on my face.
Bella's tears dissolved into a smile.
"You're so good to me!"
Then a coy blush crept across her cheeks. "Honey, let's have a baby."
"A baby?" A bitter laugh escaped me. "How? Strictly speaking, I'm not even a real man anymore."
The damage to my kidney, the inability to father a child—that was a wound that would never heal.
"Don't say that. It hurts me to hear it." Bella's face crumpled with tenderness. She reached up and stroked my cheek, then pressed herself against my chest, her skin warm against mine.
"We could adopt," she murmured.
My expression went cold. I looked down at the woman nestled in my arms, nuzzling her cheek against my chest with that blissful smile on her face.
So that was her plan. She wanted to fabricate a legitimate identity for the child growing inside her.
Clever. Very clever.
Being taken for a fool wasn't enough. She wanted me to play the happy father too.
In that moment, staring at the face I'd once loved down to the marrow of my bones, the face I'd been utterly captivated by, all I felt was revulsion.
Every word out of her mouth was love—but from Daniel's promotion to the shares to manufacturing an identity for her unborn child, every single step had been calculated.
What a joke.
