Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 677

The room was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. Tyler gave a helpless shrug as his dad fixed him with a hard stare. He didn’t waste a second before shifting the blame. “I tried, Dad. Seriously, you know how stubborn James is. If he doesn’t want to talk, what am I supposed to do, tie him up and force it out of him?”

Jared’s jaw clenched, the vein at his temple pulsing, his face stormy. “You two. Both of you kept this from me. If you’d just told me the truth sooner, would any of this have happened?”

His cold gaze slid over to his wife. “And you. You’re going to go to our daughter-in-law yourself and explain everything that happened today. No excuses.”

Shelly’s brow furrowed, her face tense and embarrassed, but she tried to keep her dignity. She pulled a stack of photos from her bag and set them on the table. “Someone dropped these off at the front gate. No note, nothing.”

She looked at Jared, her voice flat. “You and her look so close in these. She’s even pregnant. If I’d known she was part of the family, do you really think I would’ve made such a scene?”

Her meaning was obvious. If James hadn’t kept secrets, she wouldn’t have lost control. But deep down, Shelly knew it was just an excuse. Whoever had sent those photos knew everything about the Nelsons. They knew exactly how to push her buttons, how to feed her anxiety about Jared always being away, and how, as the matriarch, her biggest fear was another woman’s child threatening her own son’s place in the family.

That twisting fear had eaten away at her common sense. That was why she’d rushed in, determined to take control before anyone else could.

Jared barely glanced at the photos before slamming them back on the table. “There’s a mole around Emmy,” he said coldly.

He looked at Tyler, his eyes sharp. “Find out who it is. Someone’s trying to mess with your mother and Emmy, and they know exactly what they’re doing.”

Then he turned to Shelly, his voice hard. “You’re usually the sensible one. How could you fall for something like this?”

“Think about what you’ve done. And stop jumping at shadows.”

“I want a ten-thousand-word reflection on my desk within the month.”

…

When Emmy opened her eyes, the sharp, clean scent of antiseptic filled her nose. She moved a little and realized her hand was hooked up to an IV. Instinctively, she reached to touch her belly, but her other hand was locked tight in someone’s grip.

James’s voice, rough and shaky, came from right beside her. “Emmy, you’re awake.”

“The baby’s fine. The doctor said you just got too worked up. As soon as the IV is finished, we can go home.”

Hearing him call her by that pet name made her skin prickle. All she could see was what had happened in that private room, every moment replaying in her mind on a loop.

She jerked her hand free from his. “Mr. Nelson, did you enjoy making a fool out of me?”