No Strings Attached

Chapter 67

The mention of children sent Clara into a towering rage. With a sudden burst of force, she shoved lan away She stumbled backward, her face a twisted mask of bitter cold and Irony. “Mr. Hayes, you’ve got the wrong gal. Your sweetheart’s upstairs. Go make babies with her. I’d rather die than bear your child.” She spun around and marched off toward the back garden.

The whole situation was absurd and ludicrous. Were he and Heidi in cahoots to torment her? One wanted a surrogate, and the other pressed for offspring.

“lan, you spineless jerk! Whoever you have children with is none of my business.” Clara thought to herself.

Seated alone by the pond, she licked her wounds in silence, replaying the tumultuous history between her and lan.

As she cursed lan and lobbed pebbles into the water, Heidi’s voice crept up from behind. “Ms. Clara, lan sent me to check on you. Are you alright?”

Clara snapped without a hint of courtesy, “Buzz off!”

offense. Instead, she smiled sweetly. “Ms. Clara, I know this is hard to swallow, but think about it. Have our kid, and you’ll be

that?

family heir. You might not marry into the Hayes, but if your child stays with the Hayes, that’s like fulfilling your

about to shove her away, she realized Heidi had positioned herself by the pond’s edge. One push, and Heidi would tumble into the

to Heidi’s ploy, an attempt to provoke her, to have Clara push her into

anyone stoop lower than you?

taking her place at the pond’s brink. Noticing someone approaching, she cried out, “Ms.

splash, and

had gone off

into the water. That’s when the cries for help broke out, “Someone’s in the water, save her!”

over, but no one dared to dive into the murky depths. The pond, a relic of the old Hicks estate,