It took Melanie a moment before she remembered that Tiffany was with her. She hurriedly introduced them. “Bro, this is Tiffany. You should probably know her, since she’s a good friend of mine.”Nikolai squinted his eyes slightly as he sized up Tiffany for a moment. Then, he said with a casual expression, “Hello, my name is Nikolai.”Tiffany waved her hand. “Hey Nikolai, we’re all friends here, so there’s no need to be so formal.”The stairs were definitely not a good place to have a chat, so Melanie said, “Bro, why don’t we find somewhere to sit and chat? I haven’t been home for a very long time now, so I neither know how things are back at home, nor have I been in contact with Mom and Dad.”Nikolai nodded his head, but his gaze was still fixated on Tiffany. Tiffany was already standing below the pair and it was narrow on the stairs, so she definitely needed to turn around and walk down first. Suddenly, Nikolai pushed her from behind. Since she was heavier due to her pregnancy, t
‘The people who have attended tonight’s event are all businessmen, so how could there be a doctor present?’ When Melanie realized this, she borrowed a phone from one of the bystanders to call Arianne. ‘We need to get the cruise back to the coast now and send Tiffany to the hospital. Otherwise, her life is definitely going to be in danger!’When they received the news, Arianne and Mark swiftly rushed to the scene. When they saw how bad of a condition Tiffany was in, Arianne’s face instantly turned pale. “Tiffany!”Mark was still calm at that moment. “Turn the ship back now!”Soon, Jackson and Alejandro arrived on the scene as well. Jackson almost lost his footing the moment he saw Tiffany. “W… What happened? How did this happen?! What’s going on here?!”Alejandro’s first reaction was to rush towards Tiffany’s side. He gently slapped Tiffany’s cheeks as he growled with an urgent tone, “Can you hear me?! You have to stay awake, or the baby in your womb won’t make it!”Melanie, who wa
Mark broke the silence first and said, “What’s the situation?”Jackson helplessly shook his head and remained quiet.Melanie’s guilty conscience kicked in, and she went to the washroom to escape. She was finding it hard to even breath when she was in the crowd.As she stood in front of the basin, hatred began to well up inside of her when she looked at herself in the mirror. She had always been very upfront with her actions, but the incident had left a very sharp nail in her heart, relentlessly piercing her. ‘None of this would have happened if I had not gone and met my brother with Tiffany. I can’t say that it was Nikolai who did this. I’ll bear all the responsibilities for this incident.’When Melanie left the washroom, she could see that Alejandro was waiting for her through the corner of her eyes.She subconsciously averted her gaze and retreated.When Alejandro saw her reaction, a hint of disappointment flashed through his eyes. “Tell me the truth. Did you do this?”Melanie
Jackson waited until everyone had left before he turned to look at Melanie. “Did she fall down on her own?”Melanie locked eyes with Jackson but remained silent.Jackson’s eyes turned dark and he spoke no further. When Tiffany was pushed out by the nurses from the operating theatre, Jackson followed them to her ward.Tiffany gradually woke up when it was past 1 AM, and the first thing she did was to touch her belly. “Baby… Where’s the baby?!”Jackson gently held her hand. “It’s fine, the baby’s fine. She had to be placed in an incubator for a few days since she was born prematurely. You must have been shocked, haven’t you? It’s all fine now… Don’t be afraid…”Tiffany sighed in relief. Suddenly, she saw Melanie standing not too far away through the corner of her eyes and had an expression with mixed emotions on her face. “Jackson, could you leave us first? I would like to speak with Melanie for a moment.”Jackson turned his head to look at Melanie and said, “I’ll be outside. Call
Tiffany pretended to have a relaxed expression on her face. “How could it be her? You’re overthinking things. I just slipped and fell accidentally. It’s my fault for not listening to you. I just had to wear that dress with the long hem but couldn’t wear heels that were too high, so I ended up tripping… But you tell me the truth, is our child really fine? There was quite a distance from the cruise to the coast, so a long time must have passed. Our child must’ve been in danger, wasn’t she?”How could Jackson possibly tell the truth? He reached out his hand to tidy up Tiffany’s hair. “How could she be? We asked the cruise to turn back to land first thing. The ambulance arrived right on time as well, so you and our child are just fine. The baby just had to be placed under observation in an incubator due to premature birth, so stop thinking too much and scaring yourself. Just as you wished, it’s a girl. You must be happy, aren’t you? I heard from the doctor that she’s very cute…”Tiffany
Arianne combed through her thoughts for a second before concluding, “I don’t think Melanie did it. That wasn’t the first time Melanie and Tiffie were ever alone together—if harming Tiffie had always been her goal, then she would have done it long before our wedding day, right? Let’s just… ask Tiffie what really went down later when we see her.”Smore did not understand his parents’ conversation. He just wanted to visit the hospital as soon as possible, so he started wolfing and slurping down his food. Unthinkably, instead of chiding the child for his bad dinner behavior, Mark merely laughed.Arianne rolled her eyes. “If I ate like that in the past, you’d smite me in the head with a ladle or something! I call this the TDS—Tremont Double Standard!”Mark laughed even harder. “I did not hit you; that’s not true, that’s bunkum! I’ve never raised you like my daughter—I certainly never parented you like you were my daughter. The only difference between us is that I’m ten years your senior.
Arianne’s heart sank. The only reason why Tiffany could keep this promise she made with Melanie was because she thought her baby was okay. Should she know that the baby had not left critical condition, Tiffany’s charitable attitude might crack.“Okay, I got you. I’m not gonna tell anyone about it. God, Melanie’s also a victim, isn’t she? I mean, she and Alejandro’s relationship might be… affable, but it doesn’t mean he loves her. And Melanie knows it," Arianne remarked. “And her brother has doomed her with this. Alejandro’s wary nature will compel him to treat this incident as anything but an ‘accident’. I’ve got a bad feeling that the relationship between Melanie and Alejandro is unraveling.”The injustice Melanie suffered aggrieved Tiffany. “That sh*tbag can’t even see how good a wife she has been to him! Goddammit, does he even have half a brain?! But as long as I keep this a secret, their relationship will be safe, right? I mean, how is he supposed to blame it on Melanie without
Footsteps neared the door. Melissa was quick to recognize it as her father’s and sprung toward its direction in childlike blithe. Her tiny stature made it impossible for the kid to reach the doorknob, though it did not matter, as a second later, the door cracked open softly from outside, as though whoever was coming in predicted the little girl’s presence to stand behind it.Seeing little Millie, Alejandro bent down and carried the girl in his arms. “C’mon, standing behind the door again? You know someone might hit you with the door one day, and that’s not very nice, is it? Next time, stand farther away from the door, okay?” he admonished kindly. “Anyway, go play with your toys downstairs. Daddy needs to talk to Mommy for a bit, okay?”Melissa mimicked Melanie sniffling. “Daddy, Mommy cry, sniff-sniff, argh-argh…”Alejandro shot Melanie a complicated, indecipherable look and handed Melissa to her nanny.Alejandro closed the door and faced Melanie, who stood before the window twiddl