CHAPTER 23: CHAPTER 23: CAUGHT PREGNANT, EXPOSING LIES (PART 2)

"Holly, I can explain!"

"Explain what?"

Crowe sneered.

"Explain the dual system on your phone? Explain your three-year affair with Mia? Explain your thrilling escapades in the marital home with Mia? Or maybe explain that the child in her belly isn’t yours? Zion Pence, you truly disgust me."

Crowe unleashed a torrent of words, finally releasing everything that had been bottled up inside her.

Zion Pence’s facade completely shattered, his expression shifting from panic to shock, "You... you knew all along?"

He recalled Crowe’s change in attitude over time and suddenly, all the little details in his mind connected, "Holly, I was wrong, I really was wrong. Please forgive me this once."

Crowe didn’t even intend to look at him properly, "Don’t call my name, I find it filthy!"

Zion Pence tried to grab her hand, "She seduced me, it was all Mia. It was just a one-time mistake, I have no feelings for her, it’s always been you I love! You know that!"

Seeing that she wasn’t moved, Zion Pence even rushed over, trying to hold her.

He was overwhelmed, breathing heavily, "Holly, we’ve been together for seven years, give me another chance, I promise I’ll change! I’ll do anything if you forgive me."

Crowe stepped back as he approached until her back was pressed against the wall.

"Zion Pence, so you remember we’ve been together for seven years, and how have you treated me all these years?"

"Sorry, sorry, I won’t keep the child. I’ll have her abort it. Holly, give me another chance, we can have the wedding tomorrow...."

Slap.

Crowe raised her hand and slapped him, "Enough!"

The crisp sound of the slap echoed in the stairwell.

Zion Pence was stunned for a moment, looking at her incredulously.

Crowe looked at him coldly, as if seeing a puddle of mud, "Seven years, and I finally see what you truly are. You’re not even fit to be human. A person like you is only fit to live in the filth of the gutter."

Zion Pence tilted his head, took a moment to turn back, a flash of twisted anger in his eyes, all the pleading gone.

"Seven years, and you finally speak your mind. Crowe, you never thought highly of me, did you?"

He bit the back of his molars, voice rising, "But what about you? Do you think you’re any better? Five years ago, if I hadn’t begged you to stay at the company, would you have just flown off to Brelond?"

"Is my infidelity all my fault? If it wasn’t for your controlling nature, your lack of interest in dressing up, your lack of empathy, would I have looked for someone else? You claim to have loved me for seven years, yet you won’t forgive this trivial matter.."

Crowe looked at him in disbelief.

Watching him twist the truth, watching him aggressively corner her.

The world seemed to mute, she could only see his lips moving..

The face she loved for seven years was suddenly so distorted, so frightening..

"So...." She was so infuriated her chest hurt, and she could only speak intermittently, "..you think your cheating is my fault?"

It turned out the human heart could indeed be this ugly. This was men’s nature, selfish, and vile..

If they can’t have it, they want to destroy it. When love fails, it turns to hate!

At this moment, Crowe even lost the desire to argue with him.

All the questioning, all the scolding vanished at this moment.

Not even willing to give him a glance.

Because he wasn’t worth it anymore.

"Are you done?" Crowe heard her own voice, calm as if from the depths of the ocean, "There is no need for us to get entangled any longer, remember to notify and cancel the wedding."

With that, she headed for the door.

Zion Pence, however, went crazy and rushed over to try to grab her hand again, but he missed.

"Crowe! Think it through, who else would want you besides me? You’ll never be happy without me in this lifetime! Can you really walk away from a seven-year relationship?"

Crowe didn’t stop her pace, instead, she quickened, as if fleeing some hell.

Zion Pence grew desperate, his voice rising by eight octaves, "Crowe, I’ve already apologized, what more do you want? Do you really need to push me to my death?"

Crowe paused, suddenly pulling the door open, daylight flooded in.

She turned back, looked at him coldly, and said word by word, "Then go die."

Walking towards the light, never looking back.

In the hallway, Mia was still standing where she had been, holding her bag, "Crowe, don’t forget your bag."

Crowe stopped, her gaze falling on Mia’s flat belly.

Mia wasn’t the least bit flustered, instead, she touched her abdomen with an air of pride and smiled, "Eight weeks."

Her voice was sickeningly sweet, "His mom’s always wanted a grandson."

Florence Ford wants a grandson.

Of course, she knew.

Those cold sarcasms at the Pence family dinner table resounded in her ears again:

"Zion, mom made you some tonic soup, if a woman can’t bear children, better to change her early.."

"Crowe, not to mention, it’s been years and still no movement in your belly? Our Pence family absolutely cannot end with you!"

"What luck does our family have to run into a hen that can’t lay eggs, can’t rely on you for anything."

Every time she heard those words, she felt like a commodity on sale, one that could be picked apart and judged recklessly.

But was this all her fault?

Crowe’s throat tightened, squeezing her palm tightly.

Seeing her silence, Mia shrugged proudly, "Crowe, I won’t abort this child."

She stroked her belly, with an air of certainty in her eyes, "He will be the first grandson of the Pence family, and in the future... the only heir to the Pence family."

Crowe didn’t answer.

She withdrew her gaze, stepped forward and took her bag from Mia, and as they passed each other, she turned her head slightly.

"Men like that, there’s only zero times or countless times of infidelity. I hope you manage to secure... the position of Mrs. Pence as you wish."

Mia’s smile froze on her face.

Crowe left that remark and departed without looking back.

Mia watched her retreating figure, lowered her head after a long while, and whispered softly to her belly, "Of course. What I want, no one can take away from me, right, baby?"

She looked up again, wearing that pitiful, innocent facade once more.

She walked with small, cautious steps towards the stairwell, her voice trembling slightly, "Zion, where are you~"