Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 140

Kieran explained to Julie, “Bertha knew from the start that my brother was not dead. The child in her

belly wasn’t conceived through artificial insemination either. These were all lies she made up. And I

totally believed her words.”

Julie picked up on what he was saying, “So, to protect your brother’s only offspring, you agreed to

Bertha’s request, claiming the child in her belly as your own? That’s why you lied to me?”

“I lied to you, but not because Bertha lied to me,” Kieran simply replied.

But Julie was even more confused, her mind filled with questions, “Then why would you agree to her?”

In fact, during the time Julie was pregnant, she felt extremely happy. Despite Bertha’s interference in

her relationship with Kieran, Kieran spent most of his time and energy on her and their child.

Although Kieran acknowledged that the child in Bertha’s belly was his, during Bertha’s pregnancy, he

never seemed to care for Bertha as much as he did for Julie. Instead, he would always be home on

time after work, shopping for baby supplies with Julie. Every night, no matter how tired he was, he’d tell

simple bedtime stories to the baby in her belly.

Bertha, just as she promised Julie, quietly awaited the birth of her child, as if she didn’t exist. She never

directly intervened in Julie and Kieran’s marital life.

Back then, Julie thought Kieran was treating her so well out of guilt for his betrayal. But now she

understood that there was only a contractual relationship between him and Bertha.

But she still couldn’t understand Bertha’s motives.

Kieran told Julie, “Just a few days before you gave birth prematurely, she told me Lucian was alive. The

child in Bertha’s belly wasn’t conceived through artificial insemination, but through a relationship

between Lucian and Bertha.”

Five years ago, Julie’s due date was supposed to be in mid-August, while Bertha’s child was a few

weeks older than Julie’s, so her due date was in early July.

In mid-June of that year, the Department of Transportation announced that they had found the

wreckage of the plane Lucian was on. Experts speculated from the analysis of the wreckage that the

plane might have experienced a ‘sudden drop’ before crashing, falling from 35,000 feet at a rate of

20,000 feet per minute.

According to the condition of the wreckage, the plane crashed directly into the sea at high speed, with

no emergency landing or sliding. That is to say, the pilot might have done this on purpose. The plane

crash caused a great deal of attention. The National Security Agency got involved in the investigation,

not only because there were important agents on the plane, but also because the cause and process of

the plane crash were very mysterious.

Kieran couldn’t accept that Lucian was dead just like that. Even though he knew the chances were

slim, he still had Payne turn on the facial recognition system on surveillance cameras worldwide, in an

attempt to find traces of Lucian.

Payne thought this move was just to comfort Kieran, but on the third day after the wreckage was found,

he found a man who looked extremely similar to Lucian on the facial recognition system.

Payne immediately told Kieran, who then contacted Hayden.

When Hayden started a full search for the man, Dylan also received news: Bertha didn’t go to the

hospital for artificial insemination, but she did destroy Lucian’s sperm stored in the freezer.

Kieran found Bertha. He originally wanted to confront her, but unexpectedly, Bertha took the initiative to

confess everything…

At this point, Julie couldn’t help but ask Kieran, “What did Bertha confess?”

Just as Kieran was about to answer, there was a knock at the door.

They heard the nurse grumbling, “Why did you lock the door so early? This is a hospital, not your

home. What if there’s an emergency?” “Is the patient here? Come get your medicine!”

Kieran stood up and turned to open the door, receiving the medicine from the nurse.

The sight of Kieran left the nurse momentarily stunned.

Kieran coldly shut the door, then turned and handed Julie a cup of water, “Drink some water first.

Shannon just made some soup. Wait until you eat something before you take the medicine.”

The way he spoke to Julie was as if they had been a harmonious couple for many years.

Julie set the cup of water aside, “What did Bertha confess?”

Kieran looked at Julie, his eyes reflecting the lights of the hospital room, seemingly filled with starlight.

Just as Julie and Kieran were locking eyes, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Daphne rushed to Julie’s bedside, “What happened? Why are you always in the hospital? Do you think

the hospital is your home?”

In her concern for Julie, Daphne completely ignored Kieran. Julien, carrying a food box, followed

behind Daphne. She silently placed the soup in front of Julie but didn’t leave.

Daphne was only concerned about Julie. She held Julie’s hand tightly, looking at her with concern, “Is it

your stomach or intestines this time? I called you more than ten times and you didn’t answer, are you

trying to scare me to death?”

“I’m fine,” Julie replied out of habit. But actually, she wasn’t sure herself.

The truth revealed by Kieran had completely turned her world upside down. Julie really didn’t know if

she was okay…

Julie’s gaze fell on Julien behind Daphne. The two unrelated people, Daphne and Julien, were

surprisingly in her hospital room at the same time, which made Julie curious.

Julien, who had been quietly observing from the side, seemed to understand Julie’s expression, but

she didn’t volunteer an explanation. Julie had been friends with Julien for many years and knew her

personality well. If she didn’t ask, Julien wouldn’t volunteer the answer.

So, Julie turned to Daphne and asked; “You and Julien…”

“Who is Julien?” Daphne feigned confusion. She looked around, finally resting her gaze on Julien’s

face.

1

Just as Julie was pondering whether to introduce Julien to Daphne under such circumstances, Daphne

pretended to be surprised and stretched out her hand to Julien, “Oh my God! Are you the cool woman

Julie has been raving about?”

Julien was speechless.

She glanced at the hand Daphne extended but didn’t hug her.

She was genuinely curious how Daphne survived in the cutthroat world of showbiz with such terrible

acting skills.

“Mr. Hernandez, can I have a word?” Julien ignored the overly enthusiastic Daphne and turned to

Kieran. Her purpose today was not to

visit Julie.

Daphne awkwardly withdrew her hand, turned to Julie and laughed, “That’s pretty cool…”

Kieran glanced at Julien and nodded in agreement.

When Julien and Kieran had left, Daphne finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Why are you in the hospital again? Weren’t you in Oakhurst?” Daphne pretended to be clueless.

Julie looked in the direction of the door, silent for a while before answering Daphne, “Ivan… seems to

be my son…”

Daphne had already been told about this by Julien, so she wasn’t too shocked by the news.

Daphne pretended to be shocked out of her mind. “Ivan is the child you bumped into last time, isn’t he?

Isn’t his name Ivan Kennedy? How could he be your biological child? As far as I know, you only have

one child and that child…”

“Daphne.” Julie cut her off, “That day, you said on the phone that the one who survived is the winner.

You meant that the one who survived was Ivan, didn’t you?”

Julie was always sharp. She could always see through the truth. When Julie exposed her lie with such

certainty, Daphne fell silent.-

Julie seemed to be waiting on purpose for Daphne to speak.

After a while, Daphne finally confessed, “The day after you had a quarrel with Bianca Riley, Julien

came to see me. We met. That’s when I found out Ivan is your biological son. This just happened a few

days ago… I swear I didn’t mean to deceive you. Even though I knew Mr. Hernandez had been

struggling with something all these years, Julie, whatever decision you make, I will absolutely support

you! I swear to God!!”

Julie turned to look at Daphne, silent. She didn’t mean to blame Daphne.

Daphne didn’t know what else to say. Julie sat blankly by the bed. Daphne stretched out her arms and

pulled Julie into her embrace, “Julie, you’ve said it yourself, we must have hope! Ivan is your hope…

isn’t this a good thing?”

Julie repeated Daphne’s words in a daze, murmuring, “Yes, how wonderful…”

Her child was still alive, how wonderful…

Ivan was her child, how wonderful…

As long as you’re alive, there’s hope. These were the words Julie used to comfort herself when she

was on the verge of collapse. Thinking about it, Julie started to laugh, and then she started to cry…

Outside the door, Julien took a peek at Daphne who was hugging Julie tightly. Suddenly, she

understood all of Kieran’s actions…

“I admit I was wrong.” Julien looked at Kieran with a cold expression, “I thought you just loved her but

didn’t know how to protect or cherish her, but it seems that’s not the case.