CHAPTER 146: CHAPTER 146: THE CHILD IS MINE

Shannon Quinn jolted awake, opening her eyes to see a shadow approaching her.

She was no longer terrified; instead, she immediately stood up to greet him, but found herself at a loss for words when she reached him, awkwardly searching for a topic: "...Have you eaten?"

Vincent Rhodes nodded and turned to sit on the sofa.

Shannon noticed that today he didn’t even use his cane, but his face was still masked.

She went to the water dispenser to pour a glass of water, placed it on the coffee table, and sat opposite him. Just as she was about to speak, Vincent said, "Sorry it took me so long to come find you."

Shannon’s eyes darkened as she asked him, "You should know what’s been going on in the news, right?"

"Mm."

"What’s your plan?"

Vincent leaned back slightly, looking at her as he said, "I know you’ve suffered a lot, and I haven’t been able to help you much. Even when you needed me most, I wasn’t by your side. My decision might be somewhat selfish, but I still hope you can give birth to the child."

Shannon was dumbfounded; she hadn’t expected Vincent to still insist she give birth to this child that wasn’t his.

In her heart she wanted to bring this little life into the world, but she was afraid that making a blind and impulsive decision now might lead to a mistake.

She was silent for a couple of seconds, then asked him, "How much longer will you keep doing this? After the child is born, will it still be just the two of us living together without you?"

Vincent took a deep breath, his voice low as he said, "It will take a few more years."

Shannon laughed, clearly dissatisfied with his answer, but knowing she had no right to reproach or question him, she gritted her teeth and said, "I should just terminate the pregnancy while the baby is still small."

Vincent furrowed his brows, fearing most her making such a decision.

She continued, "Sometimes I think people online aren’t wrong. Their words might be ugly, but I did wrong by you. I don’t know if you truly don’t mind it. When you said I should give birth to this child, I was grateful for your tolerance, but I truly can’t bear it anymore."

"I can’t see a future in you... I feel very uneasy; you are too mysterious, so mysterious that beyond your name, I know nothing about you."

Vincent understood her feelings but was unable to do much for her; he just earnestly pleaded: "I’ll explain to you slowly in the future."

Shannon shook her head with a smile: "It’s always ’future, future’. I can wait patiently but I don’t want to gamble a child’s life on it. If someday I have no value to you anymore and you abandon me, I can start anew. I can endure hardships, but I don’t want the child to suffer with me. If you manage, and the two of us are really going to be together for a lifetime, then when you can be like a normal person—not completely healthy, but at least without always wearing a mask and hiding—we can adopt a child then."

Vincent realized he still couldn’t provide her with a sense of security.

Indeed, expressing love seemed too hollow right now, for he hadn’t done anything substantial for her, only selfishly trapping her in marriage, always asking her to believe him, waiting for him to give her a beautiful future.

Promises seemed worthless compared to concrete actions.

But things had reached this point, and he couldn’t just stand by and watch her terminate their child.

If this child were truly gone, even if one day he returned and explained everything to her, recalling the child, she probably would never forgive him.

"The child is almost six months old, right?" he said.

Shannon took a deep breath and uttered a muffled "Mm."

"Can you endure a little longer?" Always noble and knowing only to give commands, for the first time, his tone carried a hint of pleading.

Shannon’s nose tingled, her eyes reddened, and she shook her head after a long silence: "The child isn’t yours anyway; adopting one later is the same. Once I’m back in the country, I’ll contact the doctor. The sooner the surgery, the better."

Seeing Shannon’s seeming resolution, to forcibly remove her own child sounded like something only a cruel, cold-hearted person could do.

But for her, Vincent knew she had probably been tormented day and night over this, struggled for a long time, before making this decision.

Because he remembered when she brought home the pregnancy report, and when he asked her to have the child, the joy in her eyes.

The two sat in silence; it felt like a very long time had passed. Vincent mentally ran through all possibilities and consequences; it was the first time he felt so impulsive.

The low voice rang out in the silence, no longer hoarse.

"The child is mine."

Shannon stared wide-eyed in shock; the familiar voice made her feel she’d misheard.

And in the next moment, Vincent took off his mask...

Seeing that face, Shannon felt a chill down her spine, as if in a horror movie scene, yet it was happening to her.

"Who exactly are you?! Why are you impersonating my husband?!"

At this moment, Shannon’s mind was very confused, trying to connect everything that happened recently, she couldn’t fathom how big a trap she was actually in.

Was it that the current Vincent is Landon Sutton in disguise, or has it always been him in disguise? Has the real Vincent never appeared at all?!

However, Landon’s answer surprised her even more.

"I am your husband. Landon Sutton is Vincent Rhodes; it has always been this way."

Shannon laughed absurdly, shaking her head continuously: "No way, why would you deceive me? What exactly are you after?"

Landon lowered his gaze, reached into an inside pocket of his overcoat, retrieving a small box. The box opened, revealing a wedding ring and the pocket watch Shannon had recently given to Vincent.

The pocket watch might have a model one could buy, but the same couldn’t be said for the wedding ring.

Now knowing the truth, Shannon stood abruptly, retreating two steps with wide-eyed disbelief, her gaze at him akin to a horror film protagonist seeing a ghost.

Tears streaming, she shook her head slightly, her voice trembling: "...You are terrifying."

She thought the face was much more terrifying than any rumor or description.

She even suspected that all this had been his design from the start—was that night also orchestrated by him?

Finally, feigning magnanimity, forgiving her error and allowing her to have their child?

What did this man ultimately aim to achieve in such an elaborate scheme?