From Betrayal to Brilliance Her Rise to a New Life novel Chapter 68

Chapter 68 I Refuse

Finished

The guests at the banquet were all blue–bloods–society’s finest–and there wasn’t a single reporter or irrelevant soul in earshot. If handled carefully, this whole mess could be buried like it never happened.

Before Tristan could finish speaking, two voices cut across the room at once.

“No way.”

“I refuse.”

It was Lewis and Bridget.

Nina had been bright with hope when Tristan suggested Lewis marry her; she hadn’t expected such a violent reaction from Lewis.

Her eyes went wide in shock, the color drained from her face, and tears welled up helplessly.

“Lewis, why won’t you agree? Didn’t you always want to be with me? I’m Dion’s mother!”

At that moment, a small figure barreled down from upstairs.

Dion’s face was furious; he pointed at Nina and shouted, “You’re not my mother! Get out–my mother is Athena!

“I want my mom back, boo hoo …”

The banquet, already chaotic, spiraled further into confusion the instant he charged the room.

Bridget’s heart hammered. She snapped at a maid, “Take Mr. Dion upstairs now. Don’t let him make a scene.”

Once the head of the household, she had once doted on Dion, but the revelation that he was Nina’s son left her recoiling, disgust twisting in her chest.

Seeing him now was like a thorn in her eye.

She didn’t even want to see him!

Lewis’s years of lies left a bitter taste–she couldn’t eat.

A maid moved to lead Dion away, but the boy struggled, crying, “I don’t want her as my mom. I want my real mom … that bad woman tricked me…

Eventually, they took him upstairs, and the immediate uproar faded, but the air in the room

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Chapter 68 | Refuse

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turned thicker, heavier–a suffocating quiet that made everyone want to flee.

Nina stood white as a sheet; she hadn’t expected Dion to reject her so fiercely.

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She had carried him, given birth to him, and he had cried out that he didn’t want her. It was a betrayal more cutting than she could have imagined.

Worse, Lewis didn’t seem willing to marry her.

Her worst fear had come true: his heart had drifted elsewhere–maybe he’d already fallen for Athena without her even realizing.

Alaric let out a bitter sigh. “Bridget, we proposed a fix, and you don’t agree–then, what do you suggest? You got something better?”

Bridget’s face darkened visibly.

She had no better option, but the thought of letting Nina into the family made her want to die.

Carina shot Lewis a calculating look, sniffing an opening.

“Lewis–your mother hates Ms. Green for her low birth. If you object, what’s

Weren’t you fond of her? Just marry her already.”

Lewis’s face soured; anger prickled under his skin like a raw nerve.

your reason?

Even if he didn’t admit it out loud, he couldn’t bring himself to divorce Athena or to wed Nina.

Maybe that realization had been there all along.

That was why he’d refused to let Nina attend the banquet as his wife.

When Athena confronted him and accused him of killing their daughter, something sickened him deep inside–a spike of raw guilt that left him wondering how he’d ever been so blind.

“I’ll find a way to fix this. You don’t need to worry about it.”

Carina snorted. “Find a way? What could you possibly do? Are you going to beg Athena back and make a show for the public that she forgives you, and that the whole thing was some scheming woman’s smear?”

Her words hit like a barbed arrow–and Lewis’s eyes lit with a dangerous spark.

She’d spoken the truth.

If Athena could be won over–if he could coax her back into his arms–then yes, they could put on a show: Athena forgives, the scandal dies, and because he refused the divorce, even if Nina

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