Chapter 294 You’re on Your Own From Now On

Nolan Forrester clasped her soft hand, his gaze deep as he spoke in a low, firm voice.

“She’s not as fragile as you think. Once she gets through this and gets her bearings, she’ll go back to being the same formidable Mrs. Forrester.”

Shiloh Sloan’s brow furrowed with worry.

“Then will she change her mind later? Will she start objecting to us being together and try to stand in our way again?”

“No,” Nolan Forrester said, his tone firm and leaving no room for argument. “I won’t allow it.”

He wouldn’t allow anyone to tear him and Shiloh apart.

Before, he was powerless, but things were different now. He would never let anyone control him again.

Since his mother said she would stay out of his business, it meant she had accepted him and Shiloh being together.

‘From that perspective, his father’s affair with his aunt, as immoral as it was, had actually helped him!’

…

「The next morning, in a hospital room.」

Clara Shepherd slowly opened her heavy eyelids. The first thing she saw were her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd, keeping vigil by her bed, their faces gaunt with exhaustion.

“Dad… Mom…” Her voice was hoarse and weak.

“Clara, you’re finally awake! How do you feel? Does anywhere hurt?” Mrs. Shepherd immediately clutched her hand, her eyes red as tears of heartache streamed down her face.

“It hurts… My stomach really hurts.”

Clara Shepherd suddenly remembered something. She frantically looked around, her expression a mask of panic and anxiety. “The baby! Where’s my baby?”

“Don’t worry, the baby’s fine. Frederick took the baby for a bath. He’ll be back soon.”

Hearing this, Clara Shepherd let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. A moment later, however, a dark glint flashed in her eyes.

“What about her?”

Mrs. Shepherd froze, realizing a moment later that Clara was asking about Carla. She quickly tried to placate her.

“Don’t think about anything right now. The most important thing is to focus on your recovery.”

Clara Shepherd stared at her parents’ pale, troubled expressions and let out a soft, knowing laugh. Her voice was light and airy.

“You both know, don’t you?”

Mrs. Shepherd nodded grimly, her tears falling even faster.

Mr. Shepherd stood to the side, his jaw tight and his face ashen with anger and disappointment. But when he saw his daughter, so weak and pale after just giving birth, the rebuke on the tip of his tongue dissolved into a heavy sigh. He turned away in fury.

“Dad, Mom, I know you blame me and resent me.” Clara Shepherd’s eyes held no remorse, only a stubborn, obsessive bitterness. “But I truly love Frederick. I’m younger, prettier, more accomplished, and more graceful than my sister. Why should she be the one who gets everything from birth? Why did she get to marry a perfect man like him? I was jealous. I couldn’t accept it. It was my own desire that pushed me to make this mistake.”

“You’re out of your mind!” Mr. Shepherd finally lost his patience and roared. “She’s your own sister! She doted on you and protected you your entire life! How could you betray her like this and steal her husband? This time, you’ve completely shattered her heart!”

Remembering how Carla had proposed cutting ties yesterday—remembering her cold, resolute eyes, devoid of any trace of affection—Mrs. Shepherd couldn’t stop herself from lowering her head, covering her face, and weeping silently.

“Clara, how could you have been so foolish?”

“I don’t regret it.”

Clara Shepherd’s gaze was defiant, each word resolute.

‘She had been studying abroad, reeling from a few failed relationships, feeling completely lost and dejected. Back then, whenever Frederick went overseas for business, her sister would ask him to make a special trip to visit and look after her.’

‘He was middle-aged, yet he carried himself with a straight back. He was handsome, refined, mature, and dependable, not to mention thoughtful and attentive.’

‘Day after day of his gentle care slowly made her fall for him. Her initial reliance and admiration twisted into a paranoid, crazed possessiveness.’

‘She was jealous of Carla to her very core—jealous of her sister’s marriage, her respectability, her perfect life. Why was she forced to drift from place to place while Carla could sit comfortably, having it all?’

‘That bitter resentment took root and sprouted, giving rise to a wicked idea.’

‘She spared no expense to buy a potent drug, all to make Frederick’s mind cloudy and his desires impossible to control.’

‘That night, her scheme succeeded. She finally had the man she had obsessed over.’

‘But when Frederick sobered up afterward, he was consumed by a towering rage. Far from showing any affection, he had coldly offered her a huge sum of money to buy her silence, to make her disappear and never disturb Carla’s life again.’

‘She pretended to agree, but she had other plans.’

‘And in the end, fate was on her side.’

‘She found out she was pregnant!’

‘She used the child to force Frederick to take responsibility.’

‘And she had succeeded.’

‘Frederick not only took responsibility, he even developed a more intimate relationship with her.’

‘She knew she was better than Carla. Of course she could win a man over!’

Just then, Frederick Forrester walked into the room holding a sleeping infant. A heavy, unshakable exhaustion and gloom were etched between his brows.

He gently placed the baby in the nearby bassinet, then turned to Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd, whose faces were etched with weariness. His tone was gentle, though tinged with formality.

“Mom, Dad, you’ve been up all night. Why don’t you go home and get some rest? I’ll stay here and watch over Clara and the baby.”

The elderly couple glanced at their daughter in the bed, then at the exhausted Frederick. With a storm of mixed emotions in their hearts, they finally nodded. After murmuring a few words about resting well, they quietly left the room.

The heavy door swung shut, sealing them off from the outside world.

In an instant, only the two of them remained in the silent room.

Clara Shepherd leaned against the headboard, her face still pale, but her eyes were locked on Frederick as she was the first to break the silence.

“Did you really leave with nothing?”

“You saw it, didn’t you? If I hadn’t signed, neither you nor the baby would have survived.”

Frederick’s gaze fell to his infant son sleeping soundly in the swaddling. A hoarse, bitter laugh escaped his throat, filled with exhaustion and self-deprecation.

“I have nothing now. The Forrester Corporation shares, the family assets, the houses… I gave them all to Carla. I walked away with nothing. There’s nothing left.”

“So, are you satisfied now? You got what you wanted, seeing me reduced to this. Are you happy?”

‘This absurd affair had destroyed his decades-long marriage and ruined his stable life. And in the end, it had cost him everything.’

Clara Shepherd retorted angrily, “I’m not satisfied! You shouldn’t have signed. I don’t believe she could be that heartless!”

“There’s no point in saying that now. What’s done is done.”

“Frederick, since you’re divorced from her now, you should marry me.”

‘She had schemed and plotted, gambling away her relationship with her sister and her own reputation. It was all so she could take Carla’s place and become the rightful Mrs. Forrester.’

“Impossible.”

Frederick rejected her without a second thought, his tone icy and absolute, leaving no room for argument. “Clara Shepherd, I will not marry you. Not in this lifetime.”

His eyes held nothing but disgust and detachment as he looked at her.

Clara’s pupils shrank in disbelief. “Am I the only one at fault here? You said you would take responsibility for me! You…”

“I will support the child. That’s it. I have nothing now, I can’t give you anything else!” Frederick placed the baby beside her, then pulled a card from his pocket and tossed it at her.

“There’s two million on here. It’s all I can give you. From now on, you’re on your own.”

He turned to leave, but Clara, gritting her teeth against the pain, shot out a hand and grabbed his arm.

“Frederick Forrester, what is the meaning of this?”