The Billionaire Ex-Wife and the Beggar He Became novel Chapter 339

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Everyone turned toward the voices. Standing there were two men: Xander and Yves Prescott. Xander was in front, unaware that Yves was right behind him.

Xander hadn't come for Winona; he had come for Felicity. He knew she was pregnant and remembered the night she had been blasted with a fire hose, leading to a dangerously high fever. He knew she had been treated with fever reducers, antiviral drugs, and antibiotics. As a doctor, he was keenly aware of the unpredictable nature of genetic mutations in a developing embryo. A fetus is incredibly fragile and requires the utmost protection. Even if the embryo starts out healthy, external factors during cell division can cause mutations.

While many genetic abnormalities could be screened for during pregnancy, some couldn't be detected until after birth, when it was too late.

Driven by his medical ethics, Xander had quietly tried to warn Felicity. She had refused to listen. "Xander," she had told him, "my conscience and my beliefs won't allow me to terminate this pregnancy. Nature has its own way of weeding out the weak. If the babies were unhealthy, they wouldn't have survived in my womb. But they are doing fine, which proves they are strong!"

That conversation had taken place at the Shepherd home, with too many people around for him to press the issue. Today, he had a break from his clinical duties and surgeries, so he had come to try one last time to explain the lifelong risks. If she still refused to listen, he would never speak of it again.

He found himself increasingly wanting to distance himself from Felicity and the Shepherd family. He remembered being at the hospital, seeing the desperate look in Mr. Frank's eyes as he tried to speak with Winona. There was a story there that no one else knew. Frank kept calling Felicity "Shepherd," believing she was Julian's wife. But Winona's surname had also been Shepherd a decade ago, and she was Julian's true wife.