Chapter 45: Chapter 45: My stepsister’s trick
That voice belonged to none other than Lucas. I turned around just in time to see him storming over, her long strides eating up the distance between us. His gaze immediately landed on Kayla’s tear-streaked face, then on me, then on Jessica.
And that was when everything happened at once.
Jessica suddenly stumbled backward, and a startled scream tore from her throat, piercing through the air.
"Ah!"
My eyes widened. I hadn’t even touched her. Yet somehow, she was falling. Her body crashed onto the floor with a loud thud.
"Jessica!" Lucas shouted.
Kayla gasped at the same time. "Auntie Jessica!"
What the hell?
Jessica clutched her stomach immediately. Tears welled in her eyes as she curled into herself, and even her breathing became ragged.
"M-My stomach..." she whimpered, her features twisted into an expression of pain.
Lucas rushed forward without hesitation, and before I knew it, he was already crouching down by her side, his eyes full of concern and worry. "What happened? Are you okay?"
Jessica looked up at him with trembling lips, but she didn’t say anything. Her gaze flickered toward me instead, and we locked eyes.
"Evelyn...I know you hate me because of what happened. But the baby is innocent. Please don’t hurt my baby..." she pleaded, her voice soft and vulnerable as tears filled the brim of her eyes, threatening to spill at any moment. "I’m begging you."
I let out a scoff. "What?"
She burst into tears this time, thick beads of tears falling down her cheeks as she cried pitifully. "She got angry at me." The words came out between sobs, her eyes now fixed on Lucas. "Kayla said she wanted to stay with me, and she got mad."
My eyes widened in disbelief. "You liar."
Jessica acted as though she hadn’t heard me. "She said I stole everything from her." Another sob as she sniffled, looking down at her belly. "She said I didn’t deserve this baby."
An incredulous chuckle left my lips. "I never said that. I didn’t even touch you." My gaze flickered over to meet Kayla’s large brown eyes. "Did you see me push Auntie Jessica?"
Tension hung in the air like a thick blanket as silence stretched between us, and I patiently waited for my daughter to say something. But to my horror, she nodded her head.
"I saw it... I saw you push Auntie Jessica," she lied for whatever reason. It didn’t matter what the reason was, but something in my heart broke when I heard those words spill from her lips.
She chose Jessica again.
Lucas slowly stood. The look on his face made my blood run cold, because he believed her, he believed them.
"You pushed a pregnant woman? What the hell is wrong with you?" He snarled. "I know you are jealous of Jessica. You are jealous that Kayla likes her better and that she can carry a child. It’s not her fault that she could and you couldn’t. But you can’t just bully her because of these petty reasons. How could you be so cruel to your own sister?"
The accusation hit me like a slap, and a chuckle of disbelief left my lips. "Cruel?" I repeated. "What about the fact that you cheated on me with my stepsister? Is that not cruel?"
His face darkened, and his voice was low. "That’s not the point."
"Of course it is. If you are going to stand here and lecture me about being cruel, then maybe you should take a look at what you did first before pointing fingers at me. I believe there’s a saying for this..."I paused. "Pot calling the kettle black."
"You!" His fists clenched tightly beside him, bleaching his knuckles.
"What?" I asked with a raised brow. "I’m telling you, she’s lying."
"She’s lying? I saw her on the floor, and you were standing over her. Are you saying that she intentionally threw herself on the floor to frame you?" He stepped forward. "Besides, Kayla already said that she saw you push Jessica. So you are saying that our daughter is lying too?"
Kayla averted her eyes, looking almost as though she felt guilty. I couldn’t tell what was running through her mind at this point in time. But when she finally opened her mouth to speak, she was quickly cut off.
"Actually—"
Jessica let out another pained cry, the timing intentional. "My stomach hurts..."
Fear immediately flashed across Lucas’s face. He dropped to his knees beside her. "Jessica." His voice shook. "Look at me."
Jessica squeezed her eyes shut. "My baby..."
"Don’t worry. You will be okay." She nodded as he gently brushed her hair away from her face. "I’m taking you to the hospital," he told her, and the tenderness in his voice was something I had never heard from him in the past seven years.
"Daddy, is the baby okay? Is Auntie Jessica okay?"
"Don’t worry, they will be okay," he assured her. I watched as he carefully gathered Jessica in his arms, swooping her up in one swift motion while Kayla quietly trailed behind them.
Jessica immediately buried her face against his chest, looking every bit like the victim. I watched as he walked away with Jessica in his arms. She peeked over his shoulder, and our eyes met.
And there it was. The smirk. It was small and subtle, gone within a split second. But I saw it, I saw every bit of it with my own eyes.
"Lucas...it hurts..." I heard her voice drift down the corridor again, and it only disgusts me.
This time, he turned around, and his cold eyes met mine, fury consumed his features. "If anything happens to my child..." The threat hung heavily in the air, and his eyes were darker than I’d ever seen them. "I’ll make sure you pay the price."
He turned back to Kayla. "Come on, let’s go."
***
Lucas’ POV
Jessica was still inside. The past thirty minutes had felt like an eternity. Every worst-case scenario imaginable had crossed my mind during the drive to the hospital. What if something had happened to her or the baby? I would never forgive Evelyn for what she did.
My fists were still clenched beside me, my nails digging into my palms as I paced up and down along the bright hallways of the hospital, when the sound of footsteps snapped me back to reality.
I lifted my head to see the doctor stepping out of the examination room. "Doctor, is she okay?"
The doctor adjusted his glasses and offered me a reassuring smile. "The patient is doing well, Mr. Smith. Her vitals are stable, and the baby appears healthy. There’s nothing to worry about."
I frowned. "But she told me her stomach hurts."
The doctor nodded. "That can happen during pregnancy. Stress, emotional distress, sudden movements, anxiety—these things can sometimes trigger abdominal discomfort."
I glanced toward the closed hospital room door. "So everything is okay?"
The doctor continued speaking. "From what we can tell, both mother and baby are perfectly fine," he reassured before he excused himself shortly after, leaving me standing alone in the corridor.
My gaze drifted toward the door again, then to the seats nearby. Kayla was asleep, curled up against my mother’s shoulder. My mother had rushed to the hospital the moment she heard the news, worried for the health of Jessica and her unborn grandchild.
It was at this moment that Jessica stepped out of the examination room, one hand resting protectively on her stomach. The second she saw me, her eyes filled with tears.
"Lucas..."
I was by her side instantly. "How are you feeling?"
She bit her lower lip. "A little better."
Relief washed through me, and my lips curled into a small smile. "I’m glad you and the baby are okay. I was worried sick."
The pout still rested on her lips when she leaned into me, burying her face in my shoulder. "I knew you still care about our baby and me. I was so scared that something was going to happen when Evelyn pushed me."
Her voice was soft and weak when she spoke, her eyes wide with fear, and anger surged in me again.
How dare she? How dare Evelyn try to harm Jessica and my baby?
"If you hadn’t come back home in time, I’m afraid something bad might have happened," she continued, a pitiful expression etched onto her face.
I interlaced my fingers with hers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "I won’t let anything bad happen to you or our baby."
She nodded. "But what are we going to do now? Evelyn wants to kick us out of the house. Is it true that the house belongs to her?"
That ungrateful wrench. After everything I had done for her, I couldn’t believe that she was going to kick all of us out. Anger pulsed through the veins beneath my skin, my heart racing in my chest. I took in a deep breath and kept my voice steady. "Don’t worry, she can’t kick us out so easily."
Jessica’s gentle voice reached my ears again as she gingerly wrapped her fingers around my arm. She looked up at me with wide eyes, her words breaking the silence that settled among us.
"Lucas...can you promise me something?"
I turned to face her fully this time. "What is it? I will do anything for you."
"I want you to sign the divorce papers and leave Evelyn Hart for good."
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