After Divorce Billionaire Ex Found Me Pregnant (Leonica and Gabriel) novel Chapter 198

No, she was worried because she didn’t know where or who begun it. Was this another stunt to bring her family down, or was it….

She shook her head. No, thinking like that was not healthy.

She wasn’t going to assume the worse just yet. And hopefully, her mother wouldn’t.

Putting her phone down, she decided it was time for a shower. Perhaps she could call Owen, after all, his voice always had a way to calm her down.

~•~

Three hundred and fifty two thousand views in less than a day.

Irene smirked at the numbers written underneath the article that would soon bring about the end of her so-called Father’s demise.

“Looks like the media is having a field day with this,” Jamil commented from where he sat, his eyes glued to his phone as he too monitored the comment section. “I told you this was the right move.”

“Yeah,” Irene replied, not once tearing her eyes off her screen. “We need to spread more rumors, so that when we officially release the news, Benjamin would have no other choice but to come clean.”

“And when he does, he’d have no other choice than to accept you into the family. That’s when the real work begins.”

“Yes,” Irene nodded, a smile on her face as the thought of ruining her bastard of a father and the rest of his family became even more exciting.

“I can’t wait.”

Jamil mirrored her smile which grew more after he spotted one comment.

[Crazy news, but it has to be true, after all, I just ran into Leonica Romero and she seemed tongue tied. Probably doesn't want to ruin the reputation of her family anymore than this news would.]

He chuckled after reading the comment. "Looks like this is going to be easier than expected."

Leonica woke up the next day to the sound of her phone rumbling hard on her bedside stool. She groaned and turned on her side, blindly searching for the vibrating device until she found it.

Without looking, she wiped on the answer icon, or at least hoped she did and pressed it to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Leonica,” Her eyes finally opened at the sound of her father’s voice and she pulled the phone away from her ear for a few seconds to glance at the caller ID.

It was Indeed her father. Why was he suddenly calling her?

“Father, why are you calling so early in the morning?” She asked, rubbing her eyes to rid the sleepiness, while she glanced at the time.

It was just ten minutes past seven, quite early for her to be awake on a Sunday morning.

“Come home Leonica, there’s something important we need to discuss.” Benjamin answered, his voice sounding stern.

“Something important?” She repeated, her brows knitting together. It was only after a few seconds that something clicked in her head and she recalled the article that stranger had shown her yesterday, that along with the many more she had read.

“Oh,” She mused, already getting out of bed. Of course it had reached the eyes of her father. What about her mother? Had she seen them? How was she feeling? “Certainly. Just give me a little time, I’ll be there right away.”

The line went dead after that. Leonica couldn’t even bring herself to frown. She knew how her father behaved in serious situations, never being his usual sweet self.

But that begged the question; what was so serious about a false tabloid?

Or was it perhaps something else?

Leonica couldn’t bring herself to look surprised. However she was worried, about her mother who had remained silent since she walked in and her father who looked like he was struggling to get the rest of the words out of his mouth.

She glanced at Melvin and Leonardo. Unlike her, they both looked surprised.

“But I have an explanation for it,”

“An explanation,” Cassandra spoke for the first time, mumbling under her breath before chuckling lifelessly. “Sure, explain how you forgot you had a child out of Wedlock.”

Benjamin didn’t react to his wife’s statement. He had to let her pour out her anger someway.

“Years ago, before I met your mother, I was seeing a woman. She was someone I met through a friend, an old classmate, and we quickly fell for one another. However, my father didn’t approve of our relationship because she was from a lower background. A commoner, he called her. He insisted that I marry someone of equal status, a heiress like my self and at that time, his ideal daughter in law happened to be your mother.”

He paused, allowing the little information that had been revealed to sink in.

Leonica seemed the most interested with her father’s story. She listened intently, waiting for the moment where she could use as a defense point to her mother.

“However, I insisted. I loved the woman with all my heart and was willing to do anything to be with her, including defying my father’s wishes even more so when she revealed that she was carrying my child. And so, planned to elope with her. But unsurprisingly, my father had the entire country packed with security. We were stopped at the boarders and brought in. But,”

There was another pause in his speech and Benjamin’s face contorted as he remembered something unpleasant. “The moment Alice was in the presence of my parents, she acted differently. She revealed her true nature, saying that she was going to expose all the secrets I had told her if we didn’t we give a large sum of money. She even threatened to sue me in court for child negligence.

My father was merciful enough to bend to her wishes. He made her sign an NDA and paid her off, making her promise never to speak a word about the family again, then sent her back.”

“And the baby?” Leonica asked before she could stop herself.

"She was meant to deliver it to us after birthing the child. But she disappeared after her labor, along with the child."

Silence ensued.