Chapter 453/You can’t give me a child

Chapter 453

Harold’s POV

I walked into the house completely shattered, as if the very walls were caving in around my head. Thoughts clashed violently inside my mind like an unrelenting storm. Even now, I couldn’t fully comprehend what my father had done all this chaos, all these heinous, unforgivable crimes!

The image of Adam flashed in my mind. My little boy was sick, and I had no idea! My child was suffering, needing a liver transplant just to survive!

I threw myself onto the sofa, pressing my palms hard against my temples, squeezing violently. How could I have been blinded by such deceit for all these years?! The moment I set eyes on that girl, Julie, and then looked at Adam’s features, not a single trace of doubt remained in my heart.

He resembled her to a frightening degree the exact same eyes, the exact same pair of dimples! And when she mentioned giving birth to a baby who died three years ago, the scattered pieces of the puzzle slammed together in my head like a bolt of lightning. Adam the child my father brought to me to raise under the lie that his mother had died during childbirth, and that his father, Robert, didn’t want him and demanded an abortion!

I struck my forehead with a stinging slap, whispering in a broken voice, "You’re an idiot, Harold... an idiot, an idiot!"

Adam caught the sound of my ragged gasp. He padded over with tiny, quiet steps, asking with pure innocence, "Daddy... what’s wrong?"

I forced down a jagged breath, pulling together a frail smile. "Nothing, my love..."

At that moment, Miley walked into the room, a warm, radiant smile gracing her features. "My sweet boy is home!"

Adam immediately scampered toward her, wrapping his arms around her legs. I knew I had to cut open this raw wound with Miley right now; I couldn’t bear the crushing weight for a single second longer.

I looked at her, my voice turning dry and cold. "Miley... call the maid to take Adam upstairs for a bath."

She blinked, taken aback by my tone. "I’ll bathe him myself."

"No," I insisted with firm authority. "Call the maid."

She stopped in her tracks, her brows knitting together with sudden apprehension. "Is something wrong?"

I looked at her with desperate eyes. "Miley... please."

She called the maid, who gently ushered Adam toward the upper floor. The moment they vanished from sight, Miley stepped toward me, visible fear etched across her face. "What is it, Harold? What happened?"

I stood up helplessly, at a total loss for where to begin whether with the medical nightmare threatening my son’s life or the hidden hell of our reality.

"I found out terrible things today, Miley..." my voice trembled violently.

Her pupils dilated in sheer panic. "For heaven’s sake, Harold, speak! You’re scaring me!"

"Adam is sick..." I choked out, a raw pain burning in my chest.

The color drained from her face, her hands faltering. "Does he have a cold?"

"He needs a liver transplant," I answered, the burning sensation choking the words in my throat.

She stumbled back a step, letting out a nervous, breathless laugh. "Harold... please, you know I don’t like these kinds of jokes!"

I tightened my fists until my knuckles turned white. "It’s not a joke, Miley."

She shook her head in hysterical denial. "My son is sick?! That’s not true!"

"My father knew about it..." I continued bitterly, "...while we were left living in total darkness!"

Her legs gave out completely, and she collapsed onto the rug, letting out a broken wail. "No... that’s impossible!"

I quickly dropped to my knees beside her on the floor, clamping my cold hands over hers. "Don’t worry... my father found a donor."

She snapped her eyes to mine in absolute shock. "What?! How could he not tell us this?! How?!"

She broke into heavy sob, and I pulled her tightly against my chest, whispering, "Please, Miley, don’t do this to yourself..."

She wept bitterly, clutching tightly to my shirt. "My son!... He’s my son, Harold! I can’t bear the thought of him being sick!"

"I know..." I whispered through the pain tearing at my own chest.

She raised her head with sudden, fierce determination. "Let’s perform the surgery today! We’ll go right now!"

I gripped her shoulders to steady her. "Wait... there’s something else."

"What?!" she asked impetuously.

I laid out the cold, unvarnished truth. "Adam is Robert’s son, Miley!"

Her face froze instantly, staring at me in absolute, stunned silence. "What are you saying?!"

"My father told me he was Robert’s son..." I rushed to explain. "He said Robert didn’t want him and demanded an abortion, but the girl kept the baby and died during childbirth!"

She screamed in disbelief, "Why didn’t you tell me this before?!"

"Because my father ordered me not to say a word!" I confessed in utter shame.

She lunged forward, hitting me with frantic questions. "And why are you telling me this three years later?!"

I squeezed my eyes shut in agony. "Because today... I discovered his mother is alive!"

She gasped, completely horrified. "What?!"

"Robert got engaged to her today..." I added, my mind spinning. "...and she believes her baby is dead!"

Miley slapped her hands over her head, unable to comprehend the horror. "How could this happen?!"

"I don’t know..." I said darkly. "But my father is standing behind all this destruction!"

"My God..." she whispered in terror. "Could your father really do something like this?"

I nodded bitterly. "Yes... it turns out he’s capable of far worse, Miley! I was going to expose everything I was going to tell Robert that Adam is his son, but..."

"Are you insane?!" she cut me off with a sharp, piercing shriek.

I stared at her in utter confusion. "Why?"

"Are you actually planning to tell Robert the truth?!" she asked, her outrage rivaling my sudden shock.

"Do you really think I can keep this hidden from my own brother?!" I asked in utter condemnation.

She scrambled up from the floor with terrifying speed, standing tall as she backed away, waving her hands frantically. "Impossible, Harold!... This is absolutely impossible!"

I stood up right after her, taking a step forward. "He’s my brother! Why shouldn’t he know he has a son?!"

She struck her chest hard, screaming in raw anguish, "And what about me?! What about my pain?!"

"Miley..." I stepped closer.

"Adam is MY son! Do you understand?!" she cut me off in an unhinged frenzy. "You cannot say a single word to Robert!"

"His mother believes her baby is dead!" I insisted firmly.

"I don’t care!" she shot back in selfish desperation. "I don’t care at all!"

"Miley... he is their son, not ours!" I tried to bring her back to reality.

She stepped directly into my face, her pupils blazing with uncontrollable rage. "Did you not consider him your son, Harold?! Did you not love him?! Did you not raise him all these years?!"

"Yes, I did!" I shouted through the agonizing chest pain. "But he is my brother’s son... I cannot hide the truth, Miley!"

She flew into a fury, dropping her voice into a cold, lethal threat. "You kept it a secret for three years, so shut your mouth and don’t say a word!"

"I didn’t know back then!" I defended myself desperately. "I didn’t know the truth... I can’t deprive a mother of her own child!"

She clenched her hands tightly, her eyes wild with madness. "Adam is MY son and I will never give him up! I am his mother... me, not her! I’m the one who raised him, I’m the one who stayed up with him through the night, I’m the one who felt motherhood because of him!"

I stared at her in utter horror. "Miley... you’ve completely lost your mind!"

She raised a single finger, pointing it directly at my face in a severe warning. "I am warning you, Harold don’t you dare take my son away from me!"

"Robert is his father!" I reminded her of the brutal reality.

She let out a harsh, cruel laugh, spitting out words stripped of all empathy. "Robert can just go and have another child, Harold!"

I blinked, my brain failing to process her words. "What?!"

She drove the sharp knife deeper, twisting it into my heart and stripping away my manhood in one swift, ruthless stroke. "Robert can have two, three, or even ten children... while you can’t!"

I froze on the spot, staring at her in complete, paralyzed shock. Through all our years of marriage, Miley had never used my medical condition against me with such sickening cruelty. With a single sentence, she stripped me of everything, hurling it in my face to remind me that I was simply infertile.

She didn’t even blink, continuing with a coldness that could draw blood from stone. "You can’t give me a child... while your brother can give his fiancée a thousand children!"