He Swore He Hated Seafood, So Why Did His Lips Taste Like Oysters? - Chapter 51: Chapter 51

When Connor finally came home, he set a gift box down in front of me.
"Bella, I screwed up today. I shouldn't have left you to handle everyone at the dinner alone. This is to make it up to you."
I didn't say a word.
Connor gently opened the box like some sweet little puppy and pulled out a bracelet.
He even offered to put it on me himself.
But I recognized it immediately—this was the birthday gift he'd bought for someone else two months ago.
Sofia had rejected it.
They were in the middle of some fight back then, and Sofia literally threw the gift box in the trash.
Connor had to take her and the baby shopping for something new just to get back in her good graces.
Apparently, he'd fished this one out of the garbage and was now trying to pass it off as some precious gift for me.
"Bella, you know Emma is my biological daughter. She's almost a year old and has never had her dad around. The neighbors keep talking shit, calling her a bastard with no father. I was thinking..."
Before he could even get the bracelet on my wrist, I pulled out the divorce papers and slapped them down in front of him.
"Sign this. We're getting divorced."
The smile froze on Connor's face.
"What did you just say? Bella, you're seriously going to divorce me over one kid?"
I stared at him with zero emotion.
"Yep."
"So quit the bullshit and sign the papers so we can both move on."
"Then you can go play daddy to your heart's content."
Connor looked like I'd slapped him across the face. His eyes actually started watering.
After a moment of stunned silence, he grabbed the divorce papers and tore them into pieces.
"Bella, what did you promise me when we got married? You said once we tied the knot, divorce would never be an option!"
"And I never betrayed you..."
I cut him off with a bitter laugh.
"You had a whole-ass baby with another woman, but that's not betrayal? Then what the hell would you call it?"
Connor was too choked up to even speak, when our housekeeper Maria walked over.
"Ms. Grant, don't be so hard on Mr. Grant. That whole thing from back then is ancient history, isn't it?"
"Everyone knows he was drugged that night. It wasn't his fault..."
I gave this backstabbing bitch an ice-cold stare.
Connor had fired all the staff I'd hired and brought Maria in instead.
The people serving him had long since become Connor's loyal lackeys.
No wonder whenever shit hit the fan, Connor always had some excuse ready to clear his name.
I stood up slowly.
"If what happened two years ago wasn't his fault, then how exactly did that baby get made?"
"He could've told that woman to get an abortion, but he didn't."
Guilt flashed across Connor's face, but he started crying with his whole body shaking.
"Bella, how can you even say something like that?"
"When I found out Sofia was pregnant, I was freaking out too. But the doctor said if she terminated, she'd never be able to have kids again."
"Sofia might call me uncle, but she's still a person. It was her body, her choice. We couldn't be that selfish..."
Oh, so now wanting her to abort his bastard made me the selfish one.
When Connor first found out Sofia was pregnant, his immediate reaction was to lie to me that he needed to go overseas for work for a year.
I was confused at the time—Connor was such a homebody who hated traveling abroad.
He usually couldn't handle even two weeks away without me by his side.
Why was he suddenly insisting I couldn't come with him that year, taking his parents along instead?
Later I realized he was secretly staying with Sofia through her pregnancy and delivery.
"You tore up the divorce papers? No problem. I can print a hundred more, a thousand more, until you finally sign."
I was done with this conversation and headed upstairs.
I only took a short nap, but when I came down for water, I froze.
Connor had brought that baby into our house without even asking me.
There was a little girl lying in a pink stroller.
The second she saw me, she started screaming bloody murder.
Connor immediately scooped her up, cooing and comforting her.
"Who said you could bring this kid into my house?"
My voice was ice-cold.
Connor looked startled, then turned to face me with this pathetic, conflicted expression.
"Bella, you love me so much—I know you can learn to love my daughter too, right?"
"She's my flesh and blood. Does it really matter who her birth mother is?"
"I already worked it out with Sofia. I'll take Emma Monday, Wednesday, Friday. She gets Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. And in this house, Emma will only know you as her mom..."
I couldn't help but laugh.
"I don't have a fetish for raising other people's kids."
Connor's face darkened.
"Bella, could you stop being so damn selfish?"
"I'm her father. I have parental rights. I have an obligation to give my child the best possible life..."
I'd never seen someone make cheating sound so fucking righteous.
Connor seemed to forget that the "best possible life" came from my money.
Why the hell should I provide for some bastard child?
I took a deep breath.
"Connor, take your little mistake and get the fuck out of my house."
Connor's eyes flashed with rage.
Just then, Sofia called to tell him someone had trashed her apartment.
Connor immediately glared at me like I was some kind of criminal.
"Bella, I didn't know you were this petty and vindictive. You're going to regret this."
With that, he stormed out of the house with the baby.
It was the first time Connor had ever threatened me.
But I knew it would also be the last.