Although Hattie had known that this day would come, seeing the result still made her heart skip a beat.
She touched her abdomen, her pupils as dark as ink spreading: “Finally.”
Perhaps she was even more eager for this child to arrive than Harry.
Hattie took the pregnancy test and went to Harry’s study. When Harry worked at home, he didn’t like to be disturbed. The door was closed, and nobody would enter without knocking, even if there was a real reason.
Hattie pushed the door open directly.
“Who is it?” Her tone was filled with impatience.
“Harry, I’m pregnant.”
Seeing Hattie push the door and enter, the annoyance on Harry’s face retreated. Now, hearing her say she was pregnant, Harry’s expression froze. He didn’t react until Hattie walked up to him.
Hattie approached, placing her hands on the arms of the chair Harry was sitting in, leaning closer to him. From behind her, it seemed as if she had firmly bound Harry beneath her.
This gesture was domineering, and Hattie thought she hadn’t heard clearly, so she said again, “Harry, I’m pregnant.” She held up the pregnancy test in her right hand and showed it to Harry. “See, two lines.”
Harry embraced her tightly, a smile in his eyes. “I heard you, Hattie. We have our own child now.”
Since Harry found out she was pregnant, his heart felt as if it had been stung by a bee, sweet and painful. “Let’s go to the hospital for a check-up.”
“It’s too cold outside, I don’t want to go out.”
“Then I’ll have the doctor come to the house for your examination.”
“But we don’t have medical equipment for the examination.”
“It can be delivered here. The house is spacious enough to accommodate it.”
“It’s troublesome. I’m a doctor myself, and I know what’s going on with the child in my belly. Let’s go to the hospital for a check-up when the snow stops another day.”
Harry was delighted in his heart. He hadn’t expected this child to come so soon. When a person is suddenly hit by a surprise, astonishment outweighs joy. He felt uneasy inside, always feeling that he might lose something.
Harry was aware of the uncertainties between him and Hattie, but the only thing he was certain and determined about at the moment was that he wanted both Hattie and the child.
He held that pregnancy test in his hand, clutching it like a precious treasure. Then he looked at Hattie’s abdomen and wanted to reach out and touch the little life inside, but he hesitated.
“Hattie, shall we keep this child?” His voice carried a request, and his gaze was pleading.
Hattie smiled gently, “Okay.”
Harry cared about this child more than Hattie had imagined.
She agreed verbally, but Harry felt inexplicably uneasy. Perhaps everything was obtained too quickly and too easily, which made him feel extremely insecure.
If… Harry couldn’t help but think, if there hadn’t been Fiona, would he have married Hattie and had children long ago?
Harry immediately interrupted his own idle thoughts. If it hadn’t been for Fiona lending him a gold chain back then to exchange for money and solve his debt problem, he probably wouldn’t have made it to this day, or perhaps even survived until now.
At first, he approached Hattie for revenge. When nothing had happened to her family, she was the mayor’s daughter, a true Brubert princess. But later, when her father committed a crime and went to prison, her family fell apart. The relatives who had connections with the Mason family ran away one by one, leaving young Hattie at the doorstep of an orphanage. It was Harry who brought her back.
During those years, he couldn’t even see clearly his own feelings toward Hattie. Was it revenge or did he truly have some feelings for her?
He hated someone for the first time, Hattie. He always remembers the year when he knelt on the ground begging the Mason family, and Hattie passed by him. Her eyes were like those of a stray dog with a broken leg on the side of the street, filled with sympathy but cold indifference, without offering any help.
Her pride was what Harry detested the most. Why… when his family fell into ruin because of the Mason family, was Hattie still the high and mighty little princess?
At that time, Harry vowed to one day destroy Hattie’s pride and make her kneel on the ground just like him.
The first time he lost control was also because of Hattie.
When Hattie turned eighteen, she developed a close relationship with a boy at school. They laughed and talked together.
…
On Hattie’s eighteenth birthday, Harry asked her to come home early.
Every year, he celebrated her birthday with her, and it never changed. But that day, he waited for Hattie for a long, long time…
He didn’t call or text Hattie, nor did he ask anyone to check… That night, he granted Hattie her final freedom. After this night, it would be gone.
At ten o’clock in the evening, Harry stood on the second-floor balcony and watched as a boy escorted Hattie home. The November weather had turned chilly, and Hattie was wearing a man’s coat. When they reached the doorstep, Hattie took off the coat and handed it to the boy.
They hadn’t done anything inappropriate, not even held hands, but Harry’s demeanor instantly turned cold. He stared downstairs with fierce eyes, his figure hidden behind the curtains, resembling a cheetah ready to pounce, its eyes fixed on its prey.
Hattie seemed to sense something downstairs. She looked up in the direction of the second-floor window, but all she saw was the curtains. She trembled, said goodbye to her classmate, and walked towards home.
The villa was quiet, with all the lights on. Hattie changed her shoes and stepped inside, wearing her fluffy slippers adorned with bunny ears.
As soon as she entered the living room, she felt that something was off. There was an unspoken energy between people, just like when she faced Harry. Even if she couldn’t see him, she could feel him nearby, watching her.
She looked up and indeed saw Harry standing on the second-floor staircase, gripping the railing, and staring at her with an expressionless face.
Seeing Harry like this, Hattie inexplicably felt a bit scared, but she still smiled and obediently called out, “Harry.”
“Come here,” Harry said, watching his beloved girl approach. The violence in his heart could no longer be restrained, pouring out like a flood.
As Hattie approached him, she suddenly sensed danger and halted her steps. There were still five steps in front of her.
Harry raised his hand and adjusted his cuff, twisting his wrist. The long and slender fingers rested on his collar, pulling at the tie. For Hattie, this gesture was like a predator preparing to strike its prey.
The alarm bell rang, and without hesitation, she turned around to escape. But as she turned, Harry had already reached out and grabbed her hair.
She winced in pain, her body uncontrollably falling backward into Harry’s arms. Though he was warm, Hattie felt cold sweat running down her body. He held her hair with one hand and pressed the other against her throat, against her Adam’s apple.
“Hattie, did you have a good time playing outside today?” Harry’s smile shattered, his gaze turning cold. It was a Harry Hattie had never seen before, a Harry resembling a venomous snake coiled around her neck.