She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 656

Hank froze instantly. The hand that had been gripping her clothes stilled. He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "What did you just say?"

Terrified by the dark storm brewing in his eyes, Giselle's heart hammered. She took a deep breath. "If I were pregnant, would you even want this child? How would it survive?"

Hank frowned deeply. "I don't want kids."

He had just taken over the Costa family mafia. While the syndicate was relatively stable, he was still cleaning up the colossal mess the former godfather had left behind. Having a child right now was the equivalent of handing his enemies a loaded gun and pointing it directly at his own heart.

Giselle felt a sharp ache in her chest. Did he not want children in general, or did he specifically not want a child born from a one-night stand?

Perhaps a child would just ruin his playboy lifestyle and get in the way of him sleeping around.

The disparity in their status and worlds was simply too great. They could never truly be together.

She had been the one overthinking everything, foolishly hoping for impossibilities.

"Are you really pregnant?" Hank stared at her intensely. He remembered that during their very first reckless night, he had lost control and didn't use protection, though he had made sure to use it every time after.

Giselle shoved him away with all her might, her voice icy. "Of course not. I was just testing you, and I got the answer I needed. Let's just write this off as a meaningless fling. Keep your 'mistress' offers and fake feelings to yourself. I'm not giving up my dreams and career for a man like you."

With that final blow, she turned and sprinted away into the dark.

Having witnessed the entire trainwreck, Loyce and Lucian let out synchronized sighs.

"Hank's approach to romance is startlingly similar to how I used to be," Lucian murmured. "He's going to deeply regret this."

Loyce frowned. "He doesn't know she's actually pregnant. If he doesn't want the baby, is she going to get an abortion? She's still in college."

"I don't know," Lucian said quietly. "You'll have to find time to talk to her yourself. You're the only one who can help him now."

...

After Corinne and the other billionaires lost their case, the animal protection organization filed counter-lawsuits against them to salvage its own reputation.

While the organization heavily relied on funding from these elites, that money was strictly meant for conservation. Many of the staff were genuinely passionate about wildlife and refused to be associated with those monsters. They wanted the world to know they weren't complicit.

The scandal was so massive that top government officials from multiple nations were forced to launch deep-dive investigations.

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