The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne)
Chapter 217

Inside the private suite.

Paul sat alone on the couch, his gaze lifting slightly as Arabella entered. He stared at her gloomily, and after a long silence, he finally spoke, "Our alliance is over, and I'm going public with the fact that the child you're carrying has nothing to do with me."

"How could you do this to me, Paul?" Arabella's heart filled with resentment, but she still looked at Paul with a pitiful gaze.

"Don't give me that act!" Paul was completely unaffected by Arabella's attempt at playing the victim.

He had once thought Arabella was a pure and innocent goddess. His pursuit of her was causing him sleepless nights.

However, after learning she had been impregnated out of wedlock at eighteen and that she couldn't even identify the father of her child, he found her past pretenses sickening.

"Do you think the Ellington family is a joke? I would never marry a woman who has been to jail."

Given the evidence, Arabella was destined to be sentenced. If he married her, he would become the laughingstock of the town.

He was vying for the position of head of the family against Percival. He couldn't afford to have such a stain on his reputation.

"What if I manage to avoid jail?" Arabella bit her lip and asked.

"What do you mean?" Paul furrowed his brows and widened his eyes as his gaze landed on Arabella's abdomen. "You're not thinking of keeping this child and using your pregnancy to get a lighter sentence, are you?"

Indeed, Arabella considered the baby her last resort in case she got sentenced. But looking at Paul's reaction, it was clear that he wouldn't agree.

As expected, he scoffed at Arabella. "We agreed from the start that I would never let your child become my firstborn!"

"Besides, even if you got a lighter sentence, you would still have a criminal record, which is no different than going to jail for me." He looked at Arabella disdainfully. "You are this foolish because you were raised by the Hawthorn family. My parents may not be politicians, but my uncle is a high-ranking official. If I marry a woman with a criminal record, it could potentially harm his career. Why do you think my grandfather would agree to jeopardize my uncle's career for you?"

Furthermore, he had seen how Arabella got pampered by the Brooks family and thought that she was well-loved by them.

But when his grandfather went to Baron to cancel the engagement because of Arabella's attempted murder, the Brooks family didn't even utter a word in her defense. It was clear that she wasn't as important to them as he thought.

This made him reconsider the merits of marrying Arabella.

"What if I can convince my grandmother that I didn't push her and get her forgiveness, so she can drop the charges?" Arabella asked, suppressing her displeasure. "My grandmother wants money to revive the Hawthorn family business. If we give her two billion, she will definitely agree."

"You're not expecting me to shell out that two billion, are you?" Paul laughed sarcastically.

"My grandmother and father will help me out." Initially, Arabella wanted Paul to pay, but after seeing his obvious disdain for her now, she had no choice but to turn to her grandmother, Judith, and father, Scott, for help.

After a moment of contemplation, Paul weighed the benefits and difficulties of marrying Arabella. The immense benefits of aligning with the Brooks family eventually swayed him. "Fine. If you manage to avoid charges and a criminal record, then we can continue. But the child you're carrying cannot stay!"

"Don't worry." Arabella gritted her teeth. She wanted to keep the child in case she got charged, but on the surface, she agreed obediently. "I want this child gone more than you do."

Just as Paul was about to tell Arabella to leave, his phone rang. It was his father, Ryan Ellington.

"Dad." He quickly answered.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Ryan's furious voice was so loud that even Arabella could hear it. "You're willing to accept any trash? Are you trying to kill me with anger?! Why would you marry Arabella knowing that she's carrying someone else's child?! Do you know what a laughingstock you've made of our family?!"

"Dad?" Paul was stunned, wondering how his father knew.

Playing the fool willingly was too humiliating.

Even though his family planned to call off the engagement due to Arabella's attempted murder charge, he had never told anyone what was truly going on.

"Check the news yourself!" Ryan was practically livid with his foolish son. The news was all over the place, and Paul was still clueless.

"I know you want to win over the Brooks family, but not in this way! You've made a complete fool of yourself. How can you compete with Percival now?! Your engagement is off! Get back to Rivenwood immediately!"

Paul opened Twitter, only to see the trending hashtag, "Paul, The Cuckold."

His pupils contracted and his hand trembled as he clicked on the link, leading him to an audio clip.

In the recording, a woman was heard speaking to him flirtatiously. "Paul, your fiancée is pregnant, and yet you invited the three of us to accompany you. Aren't you afraid she'll miscarry from the stress?"

It seemed like he was drunk since he was slurring his words. "Let her miscarry! I wish she would! The child isn't mine anyway!"

Another woman gasped. "The child isn't yours? Then who's is it?"

He laughed sarcastically. "She doesn't even know who the father is, so how should I?"

The woman sounded shocked. "No way! Your fiancée looks so young and innocent. How could she be so reckless? She doesn't even know who the father of her child is?"

His bitter and cold laughter echoed. "We've all been fooled! I was fooled too! She's nothing but a cheap floozy! She got herself knocked up and had the nerve to expect me to pick up the pieces..." Paul's face turned stormy. No wonder his old man was so livid.

Now, the whole world knew that he, Paul, had willingly donned the proverbial 'cuckold's cap.' He had become a laughingstock.

All he wanted was to replace those three women who were with him that night. He wanted to see who was audacious enough to betray him.

He would make sure she paid for it!

He glanced at the comments, each one a slap to his ego.

"Paul is the most dedicated lapdog I've ever seen!"

"Ah, the refined taste of the rich."

"What did Paul do wrong? All he wanted was to provide a home for a fallen woman."

"Fallen woman, my ass! More like 'Party Princess Arabella.' How else would you explain not knowing who the father of her baby is? Didn't you see those pictures of her? She seemed to be enjoying every bit of it."

"I have uncensored high-definition content. DM me if you're interested."

"Hey, DM me too."