Love's Cunning Ruse novel Chapter 139

After Ivan was taken away by Karl, Kieran took Julie back to the hospital room and locked the door.

Julie's face was pale. Kieran moved closer to help her onto the bed, but Julie backed away, eyeing him warily, "You've been using mine and Ivan's toothbrush... What's the big idea?"

"Get back into bed first," Kieran commanded.

All resistance and determination drained from Julie. Under Kieran's command, she obediently walked to the bed, pulled back the covers, and climbed in.

Kieran sat down next to Julie's bed and said, "You've got acute gastritis because you ate some food that was contaminated with bacteria. You've been experiencing stomachache and loss of appetite. You didn't even touch the breakfast I had Karl prepare for you on the plane today. Whose stomach is it, yours or mine?"

"Was that a paternity test between me and Ivan?" Julie had been hesitant to ask this question from the doorway to the bedside, but eventually she carefully broached the subject.

Kieran glanced at her and replied, "The doctor says you need bed rest. Let's observe overnight to see if you still have symptoms like diarrhea."

"Kieran!" Julie was desperate, grabbing Kieran's collar.

Kieran took hold of Julie's hand, pulled it away from his collar, and placed it over his heart.

Through the thin fabric of his shirt, Julie could clearly feel Kieran's heart pounding fiercely. It was a heart full of life.

Kieran suddenly looked up at Julie. His eyes seemed to conceal a deep pool, so mysterious it was irresistible.

He said, "Ivan is my son, and yours. He is our child. He is our biological child."

His tone was very calm. Julie couldn't read his well-masked emotions, but her heart was thumping faster than usual, as if it was in sync with Kieran's heartbeat.

Ivan was her son... How could that be...

She clearly remembered the small, frail child lying in the ice coffin. It was Kieran who personally told her that her child was dead...

He said it himself!

Julie shook her head, then forcefully withdrew her hand from Kieran's chest, vehemently denying it, "Impossible, that’s impossible... He's dead! You took me to see it yourself. It's impossible, absolutely impossible..."

Julie lost control of her emotions. She was even more irrational now than when she learned her child died on the operating table years ago. Clearly, she was struggling to control her emotions and trying to convince herself that her child couldn't still be alive.

Before revealing the truth to Julie, Kieran had anticipated that she might lose control of her emotions. He reached out, cradling her face in his hands, and looked at her with determined eyes, "There's so much that happened in the past. I can't explain it all at once, but you need to know that Ivan is our child. He's still alive."

"You're lying to me!" Julie's eyes were bright as the moon in the deep night. She tried to control her emotions, but her voice still trembled, "I heard... you said to save her outside the operating room. You said... to save Bertha. I heard it all..."

Kieran's hand, which was still cradling Julie's cheek, didn't let go. He continued to gently stroke her face, trying to comfort her.

He admitted, "I did say 'save Bertha,' but..."

Five years ago, on a stormy night.

Julie and Bertha were rushed into the operating room together.

Kieran anxiously waited outside the door.

After two hours, the hospital dean carefully opened the operating room door, walking towards Kieran. He carefully told him, "Mr. Hernandez, the hospital's blood bank is running low. Ms. Bertha and Mrs. Hernandez have the same blood type. We can only save one of the children first. Who should we save first, Mrs. Hernandez's child or..."

In the delivery room, Julie had cried herself out. All she heard was Kieran outside the door saying, "Save Bertha."

Hearing this felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest, a pain too great to bear. By the time the doctors took the child from her body, she had already blacked out and lost consciousness...

What Julie didn't know was that the moment the dean was about to turn around and go back to the operating room, right before she passed out, the complete conversation between Kieran and the dean was, "Save Bertha. I want her to live, but if Mrs. Hernandez dies, I want the entire hospital to go down with her!!"

Unfortunately, Julie didn't hear his last words.

Kieran's cousin, Payne, took less than two minutes to pull up the entire hospital staff's blood type records and find donors that matched Julie and Bertha's blood types. Julie didn't know that the first donor was sent to her operating room...

Kieran revealed the truth to Julie. Julie instinctively shook her head in denial, "I don't believe it! I don't believe... Bertha's child is Lucian's. Ivan is Lucian's child! He is Lucian's child!!"