Chapter 697
It was clear that Callum a deliberate effort to conceal his emotions and thoughts.
However, that all fell apart when he heard about Lillian’s situation.
“But he’s with Madeline…” Rosalie said hesitantly.
“There must be some reason for it. Sometimes, you can’t have both power and a beautiful woman. You have to make a choice,” Jonathan said. “Are you saying Callum chose Madeline to reclaim his position in the White family?” Rosalie asked, clearly stunned.
“That’s just one possibility,” Jonathan replied.
Rosalie fell silent as she wondered, “Could it be true? What would Callum say to Lillian?”
Jonathan held Rosalie’s hand tightly, trying to comfort her in her current state of unease and tension.
Inside the ward, Lillian and Callum locked eyes. She couldn’t help but feel that even though he was so close, they had become distant.
In fact, they were even further than ever before.
“Is what the news said true?” she asked hesitantly. She had been awake for a while now, but only in recent days had she been able to speak, and even then, her words came out haltingly.
Callum remained silent for a while before finally uttering a quiet “yes.”
Lillian’s body trembled. “Are you… with another woman?” she asked. She strained to open her eyes wider as if trying to see him more clearly.
Callum slowly approached Lillian’s bedside. He crouched down and tilted his chin up slightly, creating an angle where she looked down on him.
“Lillian, I’m not a good person. I used to think that being with you was a simple matter. But in the end, you’re not right for me.” He spoke softly, his voice tender, like a lover’s whisper, yet each word was icy cold.
“You know, I’ve always been the White family’s illegitimate child, looked down upon by others. So, I made a vow back then. One day, I would trample all those who looked down on me under my feet. I did love you at one point, but your presence didn’t help my career. In fact, it could have become a burden. Madeline, on the other hand, could use the Tall family’s power to help me achieve my dreams.”
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As he spoke, he raised his hand as if he wanted to touch her cheek.
Just as his hand was about to make contact, he hesitated and withdrew it, as if he feared that touching her would make it harder to let go.
Lillian’s eyes flickered. “Is what you’re saying… the truth?”
“Yes, it’s the truth, Lillian. When I loved you, it was genuine. But what I truly desire, you couldn’t provide. So, you’re not right for me. I need a woman who can support my ambitions,” Callum said.
Lillian slowly lowered her eyelids, lost in thought. Meanwhile, Callum continued to kneel before her, as if waiting for something.
Both of them looked like sculptures frozen in time.
After what felt like an eternity, Lillian’s dry lips moved, and she murmured softly, “Callum… So, your love for me is nothing much.”
Callum’s pupils suddenly contracted, and his face turned pale. His clenched fists at his side were an attempt to suppress something.
Lillian smiled gently, but her smile was so bitter.
She had never felt such pain when she was about to die, but now she was in so much pain.
She almost struggled to lift her hand, her fingers caressing his cheek.
The face that had once been so familiar, the one she had touched and admired countless times, now felt strangely foreign.
From the initial emotion of seeing the news to calmly listening to him now, had she mentally prepared herself for this before he arrived?
“Well then, from now on, we have no more ties between us,” she murmured, her fingertip gently landing on his lips as if performing a ritual. “Callum, I wish you all the best.”
She didn’t want the final separation to be filled with tears and sorrow.
She didn’t want to go from being the person he loved the most to becoming his enemy.
Even in parting, even if they no longer loved each other in the future, she hoped for an amicable breakup. After all, this man had been the one she genuinely loved.
She couldn’t provide what he wanted, and his love for her was far less than what he hoped to gain.
His body stiffened. The fact that she could calmly discuss these matters. with him, without tears, without tantrums, even amicably, should have
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been the best possible outcome he could have expected.
Callum wondered why he felt like his body was being ripped apart.
He knew he wouldn’t get what he really wanted.
He knew from the moment he chose Madeline that his life would forever plunge into darkness.
Irene looked at the medical report in her hand, her face turning ashen. She couldn’t believe she was pregnant.
She wondered, “How is that even possible? I pretended to be unable to conceive due to my physical condition, and that’s why I faked a pregnancy and staged a miscarriage by falling down the stairs to ensure my future difficulties in conceiving. This not only resolved the issue with Amelia but also shifted the blame for my infertility onto her. However, I’m now pregnant, and the child isn’t Warren’s but that cursed Brayden’s.” Thinking about it, Irene felt an overwhelming hatred.
The day she gave Brayden 10 million dollars, they ended up drinking together, and she ended up in bed with him unconsciously while under the influence of alcohol.
At first, she thought it was not a big deal as long as she and Brayden kept it a secret.
But now, her pregnancy had thrown everything into chaos.
The Fletcher family was also in chaos because of Irene’s pregnancy. The Fletcher family and the York family were going to be joined in a marriage of convenience soon, so they couldn’t afford any mistakes now. “Why not pretend the child is Warren’s? Say that you’re pregnant with his child. At least, it’s your own blood,” Ivy suggested.
“No,” Irene firmly rejected. “Warren isn’t a fool. If I actually give birth to this child, it would be direct evidence against me. There would be no way to escape it.”
