Chapter 203: The Girl Isn’t Mine (2)
Monica’s sigh was long, weighted with the exhaustion of a secret buried too long. "My real daughter," she said quietly, "was stillborn. She never took a single breath. She was my child with Richard."
Ric’s breath caught. His brows knit together, stunned, confused. "What...? Then who is—"
"I took Cammy," Monica interrupted, her voice low, almost hollow now.
"She wasn’t mine. She was the daughter of one of our housemaids—Peter’s housemaid. He had an affair. I fired the girl the moment I found out and sent her away, but I had her watched. I knew something like this might happen. I didn’t want any bastard child lurking in the shadows, threatening my future children’s inheritance."
Ric stared at her, speechless, as the pieces began to click together in his mind like a puzzle he’d never even known existed.
"I found out she was pregnant," Monica continued, her voice gaining speed now, each word a dagger of confession.
"At the same time, I was also carrying Richard’s child. Cammy’s real mother didn’t want her; she wanted money. So I offered her a deal—keep the baby, and I’d take her once she gave birth. She agreed. I didn’t plan to raise the child... just ship her off to some orphanage, keep her far away from our lives."
Her hands gripped the pouch tightly now, her nails digging into the plastic.
"But then... I found out my baby had a hole in her heart. I kept it from Peter. I clung to hope that she’d survive birth... that we’d operate and fix it after. But she didn’t make it."
Ric couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. His heart thudded so hard in his chest it hurt.
"Peter was out of the country when it happened," she whispered. "And Cammy—Cammy was born early. I had her taken in secretly, thinking, planning...