The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Chapter 217

Inside the private suite.

Paul sat alone on the couch, his gaze lifting slightly as Arabella entered. He stared at her gloomily, and after a long silence, he finally spoke, “Our alliance is over, and I’m going public with the fact that the child you’re carrying has nothing to do with me.”

“How could you do this to me, Paul?” Arabella’s heart filled with resentment, but she still looked at Paul with a pitiful gaze.

“Don’t give me that act!” Paul was completely unaffected by Arabella’s attempt at playing the victim.

He had once thought Arabella was a pure and innocent goddess. His pursuit of her was causing him sleepless nights.

However, after learning she had been impregnated out of wedlock at eighteen and that she couldn’t even identify the father of her child, he found her past pretenses sickening.

“Do you think the Ellington family is a joke? I would never marry a woman who has been to jail”

Given the evidence, Arabella was destined to be sentenced. If he married her, he would become the laughingstock of the town.

He was vying for the position of head of the family against Percival. He couldn’t afford to have such a stain on his reputation.

“What if I manage to avoid jail?” Arabella bit her lip and asked.

“What do you mean?” Paul furrowed his brows and widened his eyes as his gaze landed on Arabella’s abdomen. “You’re not thinking of keeping this child and using your pregnancy to get a lighter sentence, are you?”

Indeed, Arabella considered the baby her last resort in case she got sentenced. But looking at Paul’s reaction, it was clear that he wouldn’t agree

As expected, he scoffed at Arabella. “We agreed from the start that I would never let your child become my firstborn”

for me.” He looked at Arabella disdainfully. “You are this foolish because you were raised by the Hawthorn family. My parents may not be politicians, but my uncle is a high–ranking official. If I marry a woman with a criminal record, it could potentially harm his career. Why do you think my grandfather would agree to

pampered by the Brooks family and thought that

even

reconsider the merits

if I can convince my grandmother that I didn’t push her and get her forgiveness, so she can drop the charges?” Arabella asked. suppressing her displeasure. “My grandmother wants money to revive the Hawthorn family business. If

not expecting me to shell out that two billion, are you?” Paul

pay, but after seeing his obvious disdain for her now, she had no choice but to turn to her

of contemplation, Paul weighed the benefits and difficulties of marrying Arabella. The immense benefits of aligning with the Brooks family eventually swayed him. “Fine. If you manage to avoid charges and a criminal record, then we can continue. But the

gritted her teeth. She wanted to keep the child in case she got charged, but on the surface, she agreed obediently “I want this child gone more than

to leave, his phone rang. It was his father,

quickly

you trying to kill me with anger?! Why would

Paul was stunned, wondering how his father

willingly

engagement due to Arabella’s attempted murder

foolish son. The news was all over the place, and Paul

Brooks family, but not in this way! You’ve made a complete fool of yourself. How can you compete with Percival now?! Your engagement

Chapter 21

Twitter, only to see the trending hashtag, “Paul, The

he clicked on the link, leading him to an

woman was heard speaking to him flirtatiously. “Paul, your fiancée is pregnant, and yet you invited the three of us to accompany

his words. “Let her

woman gasped. “The child isn’t yours? Then who’s

“She doesn’t even know who the father is, so