Chapter 695

A familiar scent approached, and Teresa jerked her head up.

“How did you get in?” Teresa shot to her feet and asked, her eyes locked on Jonathan.

Jonathan didn’t say a word, his brow furrowed as he stared at the bracelet he’d given her.

An uneasy silence stretched across the room.

Teresa suddenly remembered that she had left the door unlocked all night, waiting for Michael to return. Holding on to a faint hope that he might bring Mike home, she stayed up until morning.

“Where is Mike?” Teresa demanded.

Teresa pressed him again, but Jonathan remained fixated on the bracelet, still offering no reply. She caught the scent of alcohol on him, and her heart clenched. “You’ve been drinking?”

“I’ve got two questions for you.”

Jonathan finally spoke up. He stared intently at Teresa, unblinking.

“Was our son conceived during our divorce? Why did you lie and say you took birth control?”

Teresa took a deep breath, her voice steady. “We were so estranged back then. I wanted to get it over with quickly. And honestly, I didn’t think I could get pregnant.”

“Why didn’t you abort him? Why did you have him?” Jonathan pressed.

Teresa turned her face away and said softly, “When a child is growing inside you, it takes incredible strength for a mother to choose abortion. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, so I decided to keep him.”

Jonathan clenched the bracelet and demanded, “Then why didn’t you tell me after he was born? Why did you let everyone around you lie to me? Why keep me in the dark?”

“By then, we’d been divorced for ages, and you’d left Nareigh long before that. What would’ve been the point in telling you?” Teresa retorted.

“Then why didn’t you tell me even after I came back to Nareigh?” Jonathan pressed.

Although Teresa had already asked two questions, Jonathan was still far from satisfied.

He demanded, “Even if you don’t want to remarry me, I’m still Mike’s father. Don’t I have the right to know that? Don’t I have visitation rights? To see him? What gave you the right to keep this from me?”

His eyes were hard with finality. With a sharp ache in his knuckles, he threw the bracelet behind him.

With a sharp crack, the bracelet struck the ground and shattered into two pieces.

Teresa stared in utter disbelief, her heart clenching with sudden, agonizing pain. “Have you lost your mind?” she shouted.

“It’s nothing but a piece of glass,” Jonathan said with a bitter smirk, a desolate stillness in his obsidian eyes. “Even the most precious things can shatter easily. That alone shows how worthless they are.”

But what lay shattered was far more than just that bracelet.

Teresa pressed her lips together. With the bracelet shattered, she knew they could never go back to how things were.

It was a tense standoff. Meeting his unnerving calm with equal composure, Teresa shot back, “What exactly do you want? Don’t you dare throw a drunken tantrum.”

“I’m completely sober,” Jonathan replied.

Jonathan’s stance was proud and unyielding, charged with a desperate determination to risk everything.

Teresa’s eyes reddened as she took a moment to steady herself. “Fine, have it your way,” she said, her voice tinged with weary resignation. “As long as you’re happy.”

Teresa wanted to tell him about Mike many times.

Whether it was because of Irene, Jennifer, or someone else, for all sorts of reasons, she just didn’t tell Jonathan. And she didn’t want to blame anyone anymore.

All the pain of raising Mike on her own and the relentless weight of caring for those around her seemed to fall away from Teresa at that moment.

A tense silence hung between them for a few seconds. Jonathan’s words abruptly shattered the silence.

“I’m giving you two options. First, remarry me,” Jonathan said.

“What did you just say?” Teresa asked. She thought she had misheard.

Jonathan shifted his gaze slightly and repeated, his voice firm, “We can remarry.”

Teresa gasped, but she hadn’t missed the frost in his expression.

She said calmly, “So you want to remarry to give Mike a so-called family? That’s not what I want, and I doubt it’s what you want either. You hate me, and I resent you. Let’s not make each other miserable.”

Jonathan crossed his arms, his expression unreadable as he stared at her. “If you won’t choose this option, then you can take the second one,” he added.

Teresa asked warily, “What’s the second option?”

Jonathan slowly pulled the DNA test report from his pocket and handed it to Teresa.

She took it, her brow furrowing in renewed confusion as she scanned the document.

Looking down at her imperiously, Jonathan stated, “This is a legally binding DNA test with my signature. From now on, it means I officially acknowledge Mike as my son, and the law will recognize it too.”

Teresa’s face paled. She thought, “What does he mean by this? Why is he bringing up legal matters?”

Jonathan said coldly, “Mike is three years old now. He has the legal right to choose which parent he wants to live with, my last name, Lynn, rather than your surname, Johnston.”

Teresa finally understood what Jonathan meant.

“Are you planning to sue me for custody of Mike? No, you can’t do this.”

Jonathan retorted, “Why can’t I? I had a lawyer witness the DNA test. By voluntarily acknowledging the child, I have every right to pursue custody.”

Teresa cried out, “Jonathan, how could you do this to me?”

Teresa, composed moments earlier, was now on the verge of breaking down. Jonathan watched her pale face and trembling hands, noted the flicker of fear in her eyes, then drew a breath and said, his expression unreadable.

“You did this to me, and now you expect me to play nice? Why should I?”

Tears welled up in Teresa’s eyes, her voice trembling. “Do we have to end up like this?” she pressed.

“You think I wanted this?” Jonathan said as he looked away. “You kept lying to me. You should have known this day would come. Sending a three-year-old to hail a taxi alone? I can’t begin to understand your thinking.”

Teresa took a deep breath and said, “I admit, sometimes I’m too careless, and I haven’t been the best mom. But I carried Mike for nine months. He’s my flesh and blood. My love for him is no less than yours.”

“What good is love when it can’t put food on the table?” Jonathan said, with a complex mix of emotions.

Teresa’s crystal-clear eyes met Jonathan’s, and his gaze darkened.

“With me, Mike will have far better living conditions and a top-tier education. These are things you can’t provide.”

A bitter laugh escaped Teresa’s lips, laced with irony.

After the divorce, he built his career and became successful. Teresa, meanwhile, struggled to return to work and raise Mike alone. Now he stood there, lecturing her about her failures. Her only support had been her child.

“What are you laughing at?” Jonathan asked.

Teresa let out another derisive laugh, her fear of him now completely gone.

“Don’t you worry about public shame? Suing your ex-wife for custody? How dignified.”

Jonathan remained impassive. “Right now, the last thing I care about is dignity.”

Seeing her unyielding defiance, Jonathan steadied himself and averted his gaze. “You still have a chance,” he said, “to choose the first option I offered.”