Chapter 8
Chapter 8
The joy on Russell’s face vanished instantly.
Eleanor, curious, tried to peek at his phone, but Russell quickly turned off the screen.
“Tessa, regarding our daughter, I will give you an explanation.”
Eleanor looked suspiciously between Russell and me:
“Russell, what explanation are you going to give her? I’m telling you, I’m carrying your child! If you betray me… I won’t want to live anymore…”
Russell gently caressed her face.
Eleanor leaned into his touch, kissing his palm with devotion.
But I didn’t miss the tremor in his hand, as if he were struggling to control something.
“How could I betray you? Let’s go to the hospital now to check on our baby and make sure it wasn’t frightened!”
With a triumphant smile, Eleanor left with Russell.
Before leaving, she whispered to me:
“Only the unloved one is the third wheel. A dead child could never compete with the one I’m carrying!”
I gently wiped the blood from the tip of the knife, waiting for Russell to come back, just like the nights I used to wait for him to come home to me and our daughter.
But ultimately, everything was different now.
There was no longer a little girl chattering beside me, waiting for a man who came home late.
There was no playful, sweet little girl listening to my bedtime stories.
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Chapter 8
There was no soft, cuddly child calling me “Mommy” a thousand times a day….
Every time Russell didn’t come home on time, my Heidi would pretend to be a grown–up,
comforting me:
“Mommy, Daddy must be busy earning money for us. Don’t be mad at him.”
“Mommy, when Heidi grows up, I’ll earn money with Daddy, and you can just be our pretty little princess.”
I forced back the bitterness and asked her, “Heidi, what if one day, Daddy can’t come home often anymore…”
Before I could finish, tears filled Heidi’s big, bright eyes:
“Mommy, no way! Daddy promised me he would come home to be with me every day.”
She spoke with such urgency and determination that I couldn’t bear to shatter her illusions about her father.
In her eyes, Russell was an idol, greater than any hero she admired.
And before Eleanor returned, Russell’s love for Heidi was as deep and steadfast as a mountain.
I couldn’t understand how such a strong father–daughter bond had deteriorated to this point.
Until I received an anonymous message from Eleanor:
“Tessa, I never meant to harm your daughter. She was just unlucky and not good enough. Russell is a businessman, and businessmen prioritize profit.”
“Of course, I’m the exception.“/
Since when did loving a child depend on whether they were good enough?
What was wrong with my Heidi?
She was a kind–hearted girl, always empathizing with others to the point of tears when she
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After My Pregnant
Chapter 8
saw someone sad. How could she be deemed unlucky and not good enough?
She was only five years old, yet because of a single comment from Eleanor, Russell forced her to memorize English and French dictionaries.
I’m an adult, and even I can’t memorize them all. Why should she be expected to?
Because Eleanor mentioned that a friend’s child was excelling in every aspect, Russell enrolled Heidi in countless training courses.
Even when she was so exhausted she would fall asleep as soon as she lay down, she never once told me she wanted to give up.
She said she wanted to be as great as her father and make us proud.
If I hadn’t intervened and left her with only her favorite dance and swimming classes, she would have spent every day either attending classes or on her way to them.
I just wanted my daughter to grow up healthy and happy.
She didn’t need to be exceptional enough to outshine others because, in my eyes, she was already the best child in the world.
But Russell didn’t think that way.
The first time we argued over Heidi’s education, he eventually compromised.
But I never imagined that this would plant a seed of doubt in him.
And under Eleanor’s influence, that seed grew, taking away all the love Russell had for Heidi.
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