"Who's that damn bastard who did this to you, Vivi? Tell me!" Victor said, gritting his teeth restlessly.
After learning that Valerie was pregnant, they had asked her this question several times. Each time she had clammed up, refusing to speak, until Eleanor told them not to ask again.
Like always, Valerie shook her head and lowered it. "I… don't know… I'm sorry, brother."
If they learned it was Azrael, the Sinclairs would definitely go against the Hawthornes—and that would surely lead to the Sinclair family's downfall.
Valerie stayed in the hospital until her due date. She gave birth to an adorable angel with a full head of black hair.
After the doctor did some additional tests to check if her body was doing well, Valerie was left alone with her family.
Valerie looked at the child in her arms, her heart squeezed. She had just given birth, and she still couldn't believe the baby boy was her own.
They had decided to have the baby adopted by a reputable family, but the moment Valerie held him in her arms, her heart trembled.
The baby had the same green eyes that she and her brother shared. His hair was dark, unlike their blond hair. Her memory flashed to the dark hair she had fisted that night, and her face reddened.
While in the hospital, she had googled him a hundred times and seen him each time with another woman hanging on his arm. She felt bitter and abandoned all thoughts of contacting him.
The boy's giggling gets her attention. He was fisting her hair and laughing. She couldn't believe she had given birth to the cutest baby she had ever seen.
"Vivi," Victor said as he approached. "It's time."
He was standing with a man and a woman behind him. In that moment, desperation clung to her as she understood what he meant.
"No… no, no! It's too soon! I-I just got him..."
She clutched the baby to her chest.
"Vivi..." Victor's mouth fell open. "We talked about this. You can't ruin your whole life because of one night's mistake."
"No… no!" She clutched him tighter, getting off the bed and backing away as Victor tried to take the baby from her. "See! He looks like me! He's… mine. Look at him—he's holding onto me. I… I can't."
"Valerie! You're just twenty-one! Are you crazy? You want to be a single mother to a bastard of who-knows-who?"
"He's not a bastard! He's mine!"
Cursing under his breath, he stomped to her,"You've gone crazy."
Victor reached for the child again, but Valerie grabbed a knife from the fruit basket.
"Don't come near me!"
Eleanor quickly held Victor back as the situation got out of hand. "Let's all calm down." She turned to the couple. "I'm really, really sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson. Can we get back to you?"
"No. We're happy the child is loved," they said, leaving with teary smiles.
Victor scoffed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "The fuck… What the fuck!" He kicked the table, startling everyone.
"Victor—"
He stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Eleanor sighed and looked at Charles, who seemed defeated. Then she smiled softly and spread her arms toward the baby.
Valerie hesitated before handing him over.
The moment Eleanor saw him, it wasn't just Valerie's heart that was stolen. Her maternal instincts surged—she wanted to the child, but she wanted to protect her own baby more.
Charles softened upon seeing the adorable little boy giggling in his teary-eyed wife's arms. She had always yearned for a child.
"Have you finally thought of a name for him?" Eleanor asked as Valerie took the baby back.
"Roe Sinclair," Valerie said with a bright smile despite how haggard she looked.
Eleanor frowned. "You named him after a food?"
Valerie had been craving roe.
"Isn't it original!" She smiled. "My little Roe should have a name like no other!"
Charles could only sigh at his niece's naming sense. He felt sorry for his… the child.
"Then how about Roman Sinclair for paperwork, and we call him Roe?" Charles suggested.
Valerie looked displeased but shrugged, eliciting a sigh of relief from her uncle and aunt.
"These are trivial concerns," Eleanor said gently, stroking little Roe. "What's important is that we have a new member in our family."
Valerie nodded. The child was innocent. She shouldn't blame him for their mistakes. He was the purest thing in her world. If she didn't accept him, then who would?
It hurt that she had been treated like a prostitute by his father and mocked as a slut by her friends and colleagues, but all of that didn't matter.
"Even if I hate his father, this child is mine. From now on, my son is a member of the Sinclairs."
Valerie knew better than anyone what it felt like to grow up without parents. If not for her uncle and aunt, she would have been a lonely child. The thought of leaving Roe alone physically hurt her.
She knew Victor didn't hate the baby. He was worried about her reputation—pregnant without marriage, already surrounded by rumors in elite society. If the truth came out, Valerie's social life would be destroyed.
Charles wanted to speak, but seeing the looks on Eleanor's and Valerie's faces, he knew it wasn't the time.
Eleanor met his eyes. Charles could only shake his head slightly, silently rejecting her unsaid appeal.
No matter how much he wanted to accept it, he knew— It just couldn't be.