Too Late Mr. White! I'm Married To Your Rival Now novel Chapter 308

Benjamin's POV

Slowly, painstakingly, I wrestled back my composure, then raised a trembling hand to fiercely scrub at my face. A bastard daughter. The words echoed in the sterile hospital room, a sickening, impossible truth. Especially one whose age felt unsettlingly, frighteningly close to Aria's. The thought alone was a cruel twist of the knife.

How could this possibly be? How could I, Benjamin Jones, possibly have a love child? I had never, not once in my entire life, betrayed Aria's mother, my beloved wife. Even after her untimely passing, my world had narrowed to Aria alone. I had dedicated every fiber of my being to raising her, to honoring my wife's memory.

Yet, a mere month ago, an anonymous text message had landed like a venomous snake in my inbox, claiming the existence of another biological daughter besides Aria. Last week, this supposed daughter had brazenly demanded to see Aria. The sheer audacity, the stress, the crushing weight of the unknown had sent me spiraling, culminating in my collapse and subsequent hospitalization.

For the past few days, the woman had relentlessly bombarded me with texts and calls, each one a thinly veiled masquerade of concern for her "father's" health. Until today, when she finally showed up in person, dropping the pretense, revealing her true, mercenary intentions as clearly as the fluorescent lights above.

But how? How was any of this even remotely possible? How could I, Benjamin Jones, have a secret daughter?

I slumped back against the hospital pillows, my mind a frantic maelstrom, desperate to unravel the tangle of lies and impossibilities. I racked my brain, sifting through decades of memories, but nothing, absolutely nothing, offered an explanation. For all these years, the only truly anomalous event, the sole deviation from my meticulously ordered life, had been one night. A business dinner years ago, I'd gotten dangerously drunk, vomiting uncontrollably. My secretary, bless her efficient soul, had booked me a hotel room. I distinctly remembered Aria's mother coming to take care of me; it should have been her, only her, who stayed with me that night.

But strangely, when I woke up the next morning, a complete stranger had been in the room. A woman. She'd met my bewildered gaze with a guilty start, then quickly wrapped herself in a bathrobe and fled, without a single word, leaving only a lingering scent of unfamiliar perfume and a profound sense of bewilderment.

I'd had people discreetly investigate the incident afterwards, but they'd found absolutely nothing concrete. I'd dismissed it as a drunken hallucination, a vivid nightmare born of too much alcohol and stress. I'd even cautiously asked my wife about that night, and her answers had, without a flicker of hesitation, confirmed that she was indeed the one who stayed with me.

For all these years, that bizarre, unsettling encounter had been the only anomaly, the solitary stain on my otherwise impeccable memory. And even then, I hadn't even touched that woman. How could she possibly be my daughter?

I was utterly baffled, consumed by a chilling dread that twisted my gut. A cold, insidious fear began to grip me.

If Aria, my precious daughter, ever found out about this, it would utterly shatter her heart. The thought alone sent me spiraling further, into a terrifying vortex of anxiety and agitation.

Aria's POV

I arranged to meet Lillian for lunch near her office after leaving the hospital. Just as I was mindlessly scrolling through social media, someone tapped on our table. I looked up, surprised to see Lillian already there.

"You're early!" I couldn't hide my surprise.

Lillian dropped her designer bag beside her chair with a dramatic sigh. "Feels like it's going to pour any minute. I sneaked out before my boss could notice." She grabbed the menu from my hands. "How's your dad doing? When's the surgery scheduled?"

"Just got his test results this morning. Doctor says they'll operate within the next couple days."

"Once they put in the stent, you can finally relax," she nodded reassuringly.

I frowned slightly. "Yeah, except... I can't shake the feeling Dad's hiding something from me."

"You mean that mysterious phone call?"

"Exactly." I hummed quietly, flipping through the menu and marking two dishes. "You choose the rest."

Lillian studied my face. "It is weird how secretive he's being. Definitely feels intentional."

"I know, right?"

My phone lit up beside me. I propped my chin on my hand and tapped the screen. Aiden was checking if I'd made it home, warning me about the incoming downpour expected around 1 PM.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify