Chapter 13
“What do you mean, a joke? I was the one who did the papers! Her name is Emmeline Gray. Make sure you don’t tell anyone else about this,” the other woman said.
Beverly’s phone slipped from her hand when she heard that.
“Beverly, did you hear that? Hello? Beverly?” Ashley called.
Beverly was too distraught to respond, and she couldn’t calm down. She mumbled to herself, “Evan doesn’t like children. How can he have another child?”
Countless memories flooded her mind.
After Elaine’s death, Beverly had always wanted another person who shared her blood. When she and Evan had first gotten married, she’d started preparing to conceive under Heather’s expectant watch.
Evan had asked, “Isn’t it good enough with just the two of us? We didn’t get married just to have kids.”
“Why did we get married, then?” Beverly had teased. At the time, she’d done it to poke fun at him.
“So that I’d never have to be apart from you. So that you would belong to me and only me,” he’d said tenderly.
When giving birth to Harold, Beverly had suffered through labor for a whole day and night. Meanwhile, Evan had kneeled outside the operating room the entire time.
After Harold’s birth, Beverly had ended up in the ICU due to complications from childbirth. Evan had completely ignored Harold, not even sparing him a glance. He’d even vowed to disown Harold if anything were to happen to Beverly because of him.
Later, thanks to the Gray family’s massive fortune, Heather had directly and indirectly urged them to have another child. Beverly had also wanted one more child, and she’d hoped it would be a girl. And so, she’d started preparing to conceive again.
But that time, Evan had refused to get her pregnant again. “Honey, your body is already too weak. No one is worth wearing yourself out like this. Having one obedient child is good enough. There’s no point in having so many children if none of them turn out well.”
However, Beverly had insisted. Evan had been left with no choice but to establish the best obstetrician and gynecologist team to give her the best treatment and help her conceive. Sure enough, she’d gotten pregnant again a year later.
At the time, she’d curled up in Evan’s arms while he stroked her belly. He’d said sternly, “If you’re as naughty as your brother and put your mother through hell, I’ll smack you the moment you’re born.”
Back then, Beverly had felt utterly blissful. Everything had been going exactly as she’d hoped.
“Honey, let’s think of a name for the baby,” she’d said.
“How about Everly?” he’d blurted.
Beverly had felt like her heart had been filled with honey upon hearing that. However, she’d teased, “If I’m Bev, that means her nickname will be Ev. How can my daughter share her mother’s name? Think of something else!”
Evan had looked at her and traced her eyes gently before kissing her. “I hope this child is as hardworking and diligent as my precious Bev, so let’s name her ‘Emmeline.””
He’d deepened the kiss, and she’d sunk right into the web of tenderness he’d woven for her, drowning in her love for him.
Different people could have the same names, but there was no way it was a coincidence to have identical entries for both the father’s and child’s names. There was no denying it now-Evan had another child!
Pain ripped through Beverly’s head, and she started to collapse weakly. Her world spun; all she could see was a nearby.
basketball court, the bushes around her, and two figures that ran to her. One was tall, and the other was short.
Right before she hit the ground, a warm pair of arms caught her. She stared blearily at the person before her, barely hearing him as he seemed to call her his junior.
Her consciousness sank thoroughly into darkness. She didn’t want to wake up to face all of this anymore.
The man, Damien Reed, lifted Beverly into his arms. Meeting her once while she was injured could be considered a coincidence, but a repeat of the incident meant that the people in her life had failed in their duty to care for her.
He furrowed his brows tightly when he saw her ashen face. What the hell had Evan done to her?
“Daddy, it’s the pretty lady we met at noon. She looks so sad. Can we take her home with us?” A child around Harold’s age stood beside Damien. His gaze was innocent and guileless, but it was now filled with concern as he looked at Beverly.
Damien also wanted to take Beverly home, but he couldn’t. After all, they were supposed to be strangers, so they couldn’t have any contact with each other.
“Timmy, I can only take her to the police station. Someone will help her there. Remember not to tell anyone that we ran into her. Don’t ever mention it to her either,” Damien said.
“But why?” Timothy Reed, the child, asked.
“It’s for both her and our safety.”
Timothy didn’t know why Damien was doing this, but he knew any decision the latter made couldn’t be wrong. He really wanted to be friends with Beverly, but he couldn’t put Damien in a tough spot and put Beverly in danger because of his selfish desires.
He nodded. “I understand, Daddy. I’ll help her hold her phone.”
He picked up the phone from the ground and followed Damien to the nearest police station.
When Beverly regained consciousness, she found herself at the police station. Whoever had saved her was long gone.
She had no time to consider thanking them. She asked a police officer to help her book a flight out of the country and had a temporary ID made.
Then, she threw her phone into a nearby man-made lake. Without a car or phone that had GPS tracking, she was sure Evan wouldn’t be able to notice her disappearance so soon, no matter how powerful he was.
Beverly hailed a cab and headed to the airport. All she wanted was to leave-nothing else mattered anymore.
2
Half an hour later, Evan’s phone pinged. He glanced at the screen to see the red dot on his tracking app getting further away from the suburbs. It was headed toward the airport!
When Beverly arrived at the airport, boarding had already commenced. She followed the other passengers onto the plane, only relaxing slightly once she’d settled into her seat.
Suddenly, she remembered something and borrowed a phone from one of the cabin crew members. Afraid that Evan would be able to track her down, she devised a special encryption code that would transmit her message through numerous other signal stations before reaching him.
She texted, “I know all about you cheating on me with Cindy for five years and even having an illegitimate daughter with her.”
“I will never forgive you, Evan Gray.”
213
“I hereby forgo custody of Harold, and I don’t want any of your things. All I want is a divorce!”
She sent those three messages before returning the phone to the cabin crew member.
When she first came to Alterra with Elaine ten years ago, she’d never once imagined that she would leave under such circumstances. Her husband, son, mother-in-law, and best friend had all betrayed her. She was all alone, and she had no one else in the world.
The plane had a bumpy takeoff and retracted its wheels before soaring into the sky. It shot through the clouds, and a rainbow unfolded before Beverly’s eyes.
She smiled. Yet, after a while, tears streamed down her face.
This was goodbye. Goodbye to Evan, and goodbye to Harold.
She was free now!
