Chapter 1851:


    “You’re nowhere near your due date. Don’t start celebrating so soon,” Ynda said coldly.


    Had it not been necessary to stop Vickie from using that unborn child to cement her ce in the Dawson family, Ynda would never have returned to suffer such an indignity. Every obstacle had to be cleared to ensure her own ns left no room for failure. If that illegitimate baby disappeared, Vickie — abandoned and without backing — could abandon any dream of marrying into the Dawson family entirely.


    In the past, sheltered by the Scott family’s influence, Vickie had treated Ynda with open contempt. Now that her powerful support had vanished, Ynda intended to settle every score.


    Vickie’s expression darkened, but she let out a lightugh and ran her palm slowly over her rounded belly. “Are you envious because you cannot carry a child, while I’m carrying Brendon’s?”


    She turned her gaze to Joselyn and continued in a syrupy tone, “Joselyn, just look at her. She cannot conceive, and yet she wishes hardship on my delivery. Isn’t that the same as wishing misfortune on your own grandchild?”


    Already displeased with Ynda, Joselyn felt her irritation sharpen at Vickie’s pointed words. She fixed Ynda with a hard stare. “If you want a child so badly, then have one yourself. Since you cannot, keep those remarks to yourself.”


    Ynda trembled with pure fury, her eyes filling with tears almost instantly.


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    She thought back to the days when Joselyn had despised Christina and showered her with warmth instead — when everything about Ynda had pleased her. Now that same woman looked at her with undisguised contempt. Vickie had stolen her ce and be Joselyn’s new favorite.


    Ynda wondered, briefly, if this was some form of punishment for her past.


    The thought died the moment it surfaced. A cold resolve hardened her expression, and she clenched her jaw. She didn’t believe in fate or retribution. She believed only in her own power. Whatever stood in her way could be broken.


    Since Brendon was entertaining thoughts of returning to Christina, she would make sure he disappeared from that possibility permanently. And Vickie — using her pregnancy to dig her ws into the Dawson family’s fortune — would never see that child born. Ynda intended to watch what became of Vickie once she lost the baby and the Scott family’s protection along with it. Anyone who stood against her would be made to suffer for it.


    She had curled her hands into fists and was drawing breath tosh back at Joselyn when she heard footsteps approaching. Brendon.


    The shift in her was immediate. Tears spilled down her cheeks in earnest, and she let her sobs grow loud. “Joselyn… how could you say such things to me?” she wept.


    “I… I was pregnant with Brendon’s baby. I truly was, but…”


    Her body shook as she cried, the performance of grief carefully calibrated.


    “It was your fault! You caused me to lose my baby. If you hadn’t done what you did, my child would be here right now.”


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