Chapter 35 Why Can’t It Be Me?
Despite knowing the answer, Miles posed the question nonetheless. He should’ve been able to know that it was his baby just by calculating the days. Judging from his chilly tone, Stella knew he was angry. Even if what he showed was but a fraction of the true extent of his emotions, it was enough to frighten Stella, who was practically on the verge of tears.
“Y-Yours…” Biting on her bottom lip, Stella mumbled in a teensy voice.
“Mine? Yet you aborted the baby on your own accord even though you knew it was mine?” Miles rested his elbow on the gearshift while leaning closer to her.
The glumness of his voice made her shiver uncontrollably. She had a feeling that the vengefulness he showed while annulling Zane’s contract would soon be directed at her. “I—” The atmosphere in the car was tense and hostile. Stella could only manage a single word under the pressure.
“You what? Are you going to explain your reasoning behind the decision to abort the child without my consent?” Miles snapped while staring into Stella’s eyes.
While she wanted to explain that it was Zane’s fault, and that she wasn’t the one who decided to abort the baby, Miles’s anger over her presumed selfishness made her lose the will to refute his claims. Fine. He can think whatever he wants.
Luckily, it was dark in the car, nor did Miles turn on the headlights, or else Stella wouldn’t know how to face him. “Do I need a reason to do so? Zane and I are a married couple, so how should I live from hereon if I’m pregnant with your child? Even if I can no longer stay in a relationship with him, it’s not an excuse for me to carry another man’s child.” Stella straightened her posture while gazing into Miles’ eyes.
Miles held his mouth shut without saying anything. Later on, the car sped away until it pulled over outside of the area where the CCTV at Stella’s house covered. Although Miles didn’t utter a single word after that, Stella could sense the simmering anger lurking beneath his livid expression.
After Stella got out of the car, he didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he made sure to watch over her until she got into the house, as she just underwent an abortion after all. The possibility of having children did cross his mind, as he thought it would be his chance to force Zane and Stella to get a divorce, but he never expected her to act so swiftly.
When Stella got back home, Zane suggested to host a gathering this coming Saturday. According to him, coming back to life after a close call in the accident was cause for celebration. He also reminded her to put on her best outfit. Although she didn’t want to attend the gathering, Zane said her presence was required for the occasion as all eyes would be on her. Despite not knowing what he was planning to do, she eventually decided to go.
Saturday, at Sunrise Hotel.
Stella donned a black silk gown that she paired with a white mink fur shawl and a huge single pearl necklace. With how beautiful and fair she looked, Zane didn’t seem like a good match for her in comparison despite being a rich man of decent status himself.
She stood out like a gem in the crowd that garnered her the unsolicited attention of a lot of guests. However, she remained untouchable by setting herself apart using her appearance and aloofness while staying on the fringes amidst all the extravagance. Unbeknownst to her, Zane also invited Miles, as she never cared to learn about the people who Zane associated himself with.
When they were greeting the guests at the entrance, Zane recited his lines when he saw Miles arriving at the doorstep. “You’re finally here, President Grant. My wife and I had been expecting you. After my recent encounter with death, I would like to host this gathering as a token of my appreciation to my wife for her attentive care during my hospitalization.”
With her head hung low, Stella lifted her gaze and managed to meet his eyes. “President Grant, I’m grateful that you’re able to attend this gathering that my husband and I hosted!”
Miles grabbed onto her soft hands upon hearing that, then praised her with a chilly tone, “You look gorgeous today, Miss Johansson.”
“Thank you, President Grant,” Stella replied. However, the fact that Miles didn’t address Stella as ‘Mrs. Levitt’ irked Zane. After that, Miles took a seat in the venue.
Zane and Stella were the ones to do the opening dance. When they were dancing to the music on the dance floor, he asked Stella with a smile, “Do you get why I hosted the banquet now?”
“Of course. You want to show off our relationship.” However, she left the fact that he was specifically trying to show it off to Miles unsaid.
After aborting Miles’ child, Zane was intent on wiping Miles’ influence out of his life. By showing off his relationship with Stella, he was hoping to repel Miles. He even invited Yulia over in order to push her into Miles’ arms, just like how he did when he introduced them to each other. Ever since Zane knew of Miles’ existence, his attitude had flipped.
When Stella was dancing with Zane, Yulia also invited Miles to dance with her, which he surprisingly didn’t refuse. They chatted happily while Yulia rested her head on his shoulder. Stella was curious about their exchange, as Miles looked at Zane differently when he left. There was an icy look in his eyes that made Stella shudder. Therefore, she approached Yulia in a hurry to inquire about what she told Miles.
“Nothing much. I told him that Zane forced you to abort the child. Since it was between you and Zane, he took my word as gossip. Stella, you won’t be angry at me, right?” Yulia smiled mischievously at her.
Upon hearing that, Stella wore a frown. Yulia assumed that she was pregnant with Zane’s child. She had no idea about the complications involved, nor was she aware that the child was Miles’. Now that Miles knew it was Zane who forced her to abort the child, she wondered how he would deal with Zane. She was certain that a storm was brewing.
Sure enough, she came home from work the next day to an unlit house, so she assumed that nobody was in the house. It wasn’t until she put her bag down that she heard someone asking, “You’re finally back.”
The voice sounded as dejected and lifeless as a dying man would sound. Switching the lights on, Stella asked, “What’s going on?”
“My company is on the verge of being bankrupt. All of the creditors who the company loaned from are wanting to collect their debts. All of the debts would amount to a hundred million. I have no income since all the money is currently in turnover. Other than that, the other companies that my company will be collaborating with on a few projects are also wanting to terminate their contracts, which means that the company will not only lose all its capital, but there will also be no profit to gain.” With one leg crossed on the other, Zane’s face was shrouded behind the smoke of his cigarette.
Stella was shocked by how capable Miles was. Having only known the day before that Zane was responsible for the death of his child, he swiftly came back at Zane with full force the next day. The huge financial blow left Zane crippled. Although she knew Zane would be forced to file for bankruptcy if things went down like that, she didn’t care much, as she bore a deep hatred toward Zane for forcefully aborting her child.
Meanwhile, Zane had yet to realize it was Miles who was messing with him, but he wouldn’t be ignorant of the fact for too long. Even Stella wondered if it was worth it for Miles to go that far for the sake of an illegitimate child.
Unexpectedly, her father came to beg her. After work that day, Korbin asked her to go home, the reason being, he had invested seventy percent of his assets into Zane’s company. Since he wasn’t a good businessman, he decided to invest his money elsewhere so that he could gain dividends from other people’s business. However, his investment of millions would be for naught if Zane’s company went bankrupt.
Despite how he had always stood tall and proud, Korbin knelt before Stella all teared-up while begging her, “Stella, aren’t you on good terms with Miles Grant? Can’t you beg him for help? He’s a prestigious man who Zane can’t even compare to, so you should have him come up with a solution.”
Korbin had yet to know that Miles was behind Zane’s predicament. With a rueful smile, Stella thought, Hmph, so you’re wanting to beg him now when you were the one who forced me to toast Zane in front of him? She figured that nobody knew what Miles did to her after the toast. “I won’t beg him!” Stella didn’t want to beg Miles for help after having done so once to help Zane’s company.
All of a sudden, Korbin shot up from where he knelt on the ground. “Okay! If you’re not gonna do that, you can watch as I go bankrupt, since most of my money is invested in Zane’s company! It’s also none of your business if I fall ill or commit suicide!”
Exasperated, Stella cried, “Dad!” Frustrated by her father’s attitude, she yelled while stomping her leg, “Alright, I will beg him for help!”
Tears welled up in her eyes. While other people could rely on their fathers, her own father had to not only rely on her, but bring harm to her. If it wasn’t for Korbin forcing her to toast Zane, Miles wouldn’t have forced himself on her, she wouldn’t have been impregnated, and her child wouldn’t have been forcefully aborted by Zane. In her opinion, her father reaped what he sowed by putting her through all that ordeal.
However, Stella figured she shouldn’t make herself obvious to Miles, since she was doing so unwillingly. Aside from that, she didn’t think a direct approach would be wise, since Miles was the one behind everything. Therefore, she thought she should slowly improve her relationship with Miles.
After she got back to work the next day, Kevin had her deliver some blueprints to Miles. While an intern used to handle such menial tasks, Stella volunteered for the task to go to the president’s office. Upon knocking on the door, Miles told her to come in while his attention was on the papers he was writing on.
He was still writing after Stella entered, so he instructed casually, “Put the blueprints on the rack.” There was a look of surprise on his face when he lifted his head to see it was Stella who entered. “Why is it you?” He couldn’t help but ask upon seeing her walking into the office.
She knew Miles still held a grudge against her due to the abortion, so she had to let him accept her into his life again in order to convince him to give up on his revenge on Zane. Only by doing so would her father’s money be safe. With a bright and cheerful smile, she questioned, “Why can’t it be me?”
