As soon as the little boy set eyes on Thalassa, his face broke out with pure delight. "Mummy!"

"Sweetheart," Thalassa croaked, moving toward the bed and pulling him into a tight embrace. She held him close until he wriggled in her arms.

"Mummy, let go!" he giggled.

Thalassa chuckled softly and loosened her hold, pressing a gentle kiss on his forehead. "I'm sorry, baby. Mummy's just feeling a bit emotional today." She wiped away a stray tear and glanced at Betty. "Why was he crying?"

Betty smiled warmly. "You know how he gets when he doesn't see anyone after waking up."

Thalassa sighed and met Betty's gaze. "You don't seem surprised."

Betty scoffed lightly. "That Kris is the father of Alex?" Betty scoffed. "Oh come one. I knew it the moment I saw him on the CCTV. Even a blind person won't fail to see how much the boy looks like his father. I assumed it was a lovers falling out thing and now he's trying to make amends."

"What surprised me," she continued. "was when he didn't even once ask about the boy. I had my suspicions but decided not to ask any questions. But this morning, it has become quite clear. He doesn't know about the boy, does he?"

Thalassa shook her head. "No. He doesn't."

"You never told him?" Betty's brow furrowed in disbelief.

Thalassa let out a bitter laugh. "Oh, I told him, alright. He called me a liar to my face and kicked me out of the house in the middle of the night."

Betty's eyes widened in shock. "He did that? But why?"

She looked genuinely shocked, as if she couldn't believe Kris would do something like that. Thalassa scoffed.

She scoffed bitterly. "Because his mother convinced him I was lying. First, she orchestrated a plan to make him believe I cheated on him the night before our wedding. We were married for a year, and for every single day of that year, Kris dedicated himself to making me the most miserable I've ever been. The worst part? He never told me why. I had no idea what I'd done to deserve it."

She paused, her voice thick with emotion. "I stayed, hoping that one day, things would change-that I'd get back the man I fell in love with. But that day never came. His mother had me framed for embezzlement, and I spent three days in jail. After that, Kris demanded a divorce."

Thalassa recounted how she'd gone to the Miller mansion, desperate and broken, begging him not to divorce her. How she'd told him about her pregnancy, only for him to dismiss her, calling her a liar, before kicking her out into the street. How she was attacked that same night, too lost in her grief to defend herself.

"Kris's mother did that to you?" Betty's mouth dropped open. "She tried to have her own grandchild killed? How could she do that?"

"Believe me, Betty, that woman is capable of so much worse," Thalassa muttered, recalling the damning report from her private investigator about Linda's involvement in drugs and human trafficking. "When I woke up in the hospital, they told me I'd lost my pregnancy." Betty's brow furrowed. "I don't understand. You have Alex, so how could you have lost the baby? Was it a false miscarriage?"

"Not exactly." Thalassa swallowed hard, her voice lowering. "I *did* lose a child." She paused, collecting herself. "When I moved to New York with the Mathews family, I was devastated, convinced I had miscarried. Then, months later, I noticed something-my stomach began to grow."

A faint smile tugged at her lips as she remembered. "Actually, it was Granny who first noticed the bump. She asked if I was pregnant, but I told her no. I couldn't believe it-I thought it was impossible. I assumed it was fibroids or something... until I went to the hospital." She pursed her lips. "Turns out, I was pregnant with twins. I only lost one. The doctors told me that since my pregnancy had only been a few weeks old when I was attacked, it was very easy for the tests to show total miscarriage as there's a lot of uncertainty during that time with HCG levels. He explained a lot of medical terms I didn't give a shit about. All I cared about was the life that was still growing inside me."

Her voice trembled slightly as she continued, "They told me that judging by the severity of the attack I faced, it was a miracle that the other child survived, but they didn't think it would make it out to the world since my pregnancy was too high-risk and might lead to lots of complications. Everyday, I feared that I was going to lose him, but he survived Betty. He survived."

Thalassa leaned down, kissing Alex gently on the forehead. He was too absorbed in playing with his Batman and Superman toys to notice the weight of her words. Even if he did hear, what were the chances that he understood?

"That's why I named him Alexander." she said softly. "Because he's nothing short of a warrior who fought to come into the world despite all the odds being against him. You don't know how grateful I am that he fought to come to me." Tears welled in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. "But I've never been able to forget the other baby. He... or she... didn't deserve to be taken from me like that. It could've been Alex's brother...or sister. But that woman took them from me."

"Mummy, am I going to get a little sister?" Alex asked innocently, glancing up from his toys. "I want a sister, Mummy."

Thalassa's heart broke into a million pieces. The emotions were too much for her to contain. Not wanting Alex to see her breaking down, she quickly kissed him on the cheek and got up to her feet.noveldrama

She rushed out of the room, and the moment the door closed behind her, brutal sobs overtook her. She covered her mouth, trying to stifle the heart-wrenching sounds.

A moment later, Betty appeared, pulling her into a comforting hug. "Oh, sweetheart. I'm so sorry you've been through all of this."

Thalassa shook her head, her voice breaking. "He doesn't know, Betty. He doesn't know what he just asked me."

Betty frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"The doctors told me I might never be able to have another child," Thalassa whispered, her voice laced with pain.