THE FORGOTTEN HEIRESS-Chapter 439: Pregnant With Our Child

George was like that, he never promised what he would’nt do... at least where she was concerned as she didn’t know about others.

That ended up reminding her why she had come to the room and hurried up to peel of the mask and quickly washed her face.

Five minutes later, she reemerged with a mask free and fresh face.

Taking a look at the beautiful face he was used to, George let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Much better."

Lauren smirked back and settled onto the couch. "Alright, spill it. What’s going on between you and Ariel?"

George’s face instantly turned serious and for a moment he did not say anything, probably thinking of where or and how to start whatever it was he wanted to talk about.

Lauren was also not in a hurry as she was still mulling over the idea of being a shareholder at one of the most prestigious coffee firms in the world.

So she just crossed her arms with narrowed eyes as she studied George’s face. He maintained a composed expression, but she saw a flicker of tension that he couldn’t entirely hide in his eyes.

"Look, Lauren, I’m not playing games here," George finally said, running a hand through his hair, as he chose to start from where they left off before he hung up the call. "It’s... complicated."

Lauren’s expression softened, but only slightly. "I can handle complicated, George. What I can’t handle is seeing Ariel the way you left her at the restaurant... on edge, uncomfortable, and refusing to say anything to anyone."

She paused briefly, though her eyes were still fixed in George who strangely appeared to be in a fix himself. She had never see him this affected by any woman before which was the more reason she needed to get to the root of this.

"So if you care about her at all, you’ll stop with the cryptic responses and just tell me what happened between you two," she concluded.

George drew in a deep breath and released it slowly as he leaned back against the couch, his fingers intertwined into each other.

"It was a few years ago, before I took over father’s company," he began.

"Ariel and I... we had a thing. We were young and ambitious... she was just starting her career, and I was figuring out what the hell I wanted to do with mine."

Lauren raised an eyebrow. "A ’thing’ as in you dated, or something more?"

George hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, we dated. But it wasn’t for long... not as we intended, anyway. Ariel and I had an instant connection... something I never had with any woman, both before and after."

"She was different... sharp, passionate, but also stubborn as hell. And she had dreams, big ones, and I... well, I wanted to be a part of those. Or at least, I thought I did."

Lauren’s frown deepened as she absorbed this. "But something changed. You must have hurt her, George, because she’s not the kind of person to be so rattled for no reason."

A shadow crossed George’s face, rwavelaing a regret he couldn’t quite conceal.

"I hurt her, yeah. But it wasn’t just me... she got hurt because she believed in me too much, she believed I’d never make a mistake. And I let her down. I got scared, Ren. I was at a crossroads in my life with so many opportunities and huge responsibilities, and I didn’t know how to balance that with ... what we had. So, I pulled away, made stupid decisions... until there was nothing left between us but emptiness."

"When exactly are we talking about?"

Lauren asked.

"That was seven years ago."

"Seven years ago..." Lauren thought of a moment. "If I get it correctly, that was when uncle handed over that empty shell of a company to you and demanded you prove to him that you are man enough to be his successor at Wellington Globals, right?"

George nodded meekly.

"So what were these ’stupid decisions’ you made?"

George’s face twisted in agony and for a moment, Lauren thought he might break down in tears. "She... she... got pregnant with our child and..."

"You obviously didn’t want to be tied down by any pregnancy because you selfishly wanted to prove yourself to your father," Lauren finished bitterly.

"As much as I’d love to deny it, that’s the ugly truth," George admitted.

Lauren shook her head slowly as her anger boiled to the surface. "You abandoned her when she needed you, most. Classic George."

His jaw clenched, but he didn’t deny it. "Yeah. And by the time I realized what I’d lost, she was already gone. It took me less than twenty four hours to realize that but then it was already too late."

"What do you mean?"

"I tried to reach out, to see if we could find a way to sort things out, but... she didn’t give us a chance."

"She went straight to the hospital and terminated the pregnancy the same day she left my apartment," George said in a voice thick with bitterness as if it was just yesterday he was talking about.

"I only found out about it the next day, from a friend of hers who had gone with her. I was furious. She didn’t even give us time to talk it out... not even time to make a decision together. It was that same friend that informed me that Ariel had left the city with no clear destination."

"I’d have done the same to someone who denied me the chance to be a mother," Lauren hissed, though she wasn’t entirely on board with Ariel’s rash decision. But she wasn’t about to let George know that...not yet. She needed to see if he was being sincere.

"So what did you do afterward? Just let her disappear while you focused on impressing your dad? A case of good riddance to bad rubbish?" Lauren’s tone dripped with sarcasm, even though she knew George wasn’t that callous.

But she felt the need to stand up for Ariel. She’d seen that Ariel was a good girl, and by now, they might have been like sisters if things had turned out differently.

"That’s not how I saw it or felt back then, Ren," George’s voice cut through her thoughts.

"I still wanted to get her back, and if possible start a family with her. So I tried to find her, but then, my resources at that time were so limited to find someone who I had no idea what part of the world she had disappeared to."

"After two years, I gave up. I figured she’d moved on because she clearly didn’t want anything to do with me. I thought it would be easier for her...or for both of us. But my life was a mess. So I threw myself into the company... I couldn’t afford to lose on both fronts," he added with a hollow laugh.

"That’s why... that’s why I’ve never allowed any woman come near me or had anything to do with the ones that were bold enough to come close and would always use you as my shield," he finished flatly.

Something exploded in Lauren’s brain and her eyebrows instantly shot up. "You... you mean you’ve been... celibate all these years?"