Chapter 9: The Habitual Offender

Julian snapped at our daughter, "What nonsense is this? Just eat your breakfast."

"Fine," Daisy muttered reluctantly, burying her head back into her food.

After breakfast, Julian left for the office.

Once I dropped Daisy off at kindergarten, I called Sebastian. "Mr. Sebastian, I need to see you. Is it a good time?"

He replied simply, "I’m at the firm."

Taking that as an invitation, I replied with a quick "Alright."

When I arrived at the building, I spotted him and Lydia standing outside the firm near a large planter. I parked, stepped out, and crept toward them, hiding nearby. I had to hear what they were discussing.

The timing was incredibly suspicious—Lydia was scheduled to meet my husband this afternoon, yet here she was seeing her fiancé in the morning. I was dying to know if she was there to call things off.

From my hiding spot, I could hear every word clearly.

Lydia looked at Sebastian with an uneasy expression. "Sebastian, truthfully... I’m not as good a woman as you think I am."

Sebastian was his usual cool and collected self, his emotions stable and his demeanor upright. He asked her calmly, "Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?"

"I was once a 'mistress.' I’ve had an abortion. If you mind... we can cancel the wedding next week."

That sentence hit me like a ton of bricks.

A mistress? An abortion?

It turned out Lydia was a habitual offender!

And the wedding was only a week away?

She was about to get married, yet she was still out here destroying my family. There seemed to be no explanation other than her and my husband being "true love."

How utterly pathetic.

A moment later, I heard Sebastian speak. "That’s all in the past. I don't mind."

Sebastian really was a good man. I could guarantee that if Julian found out, he wouldn't be nearly as forgiving.

If Julian knew his "pure as moonlight" goddess had been someone else's mistress and had undergone an abortion, he’d probably be livid—though knowing him, he might even feel a twisted sense of pity for her.

Lydia clearly hadn't expected such a response. I saw a flicker of guilt on her face, but she quickly pressed further. "What if I were pregnant right now? Would you still be willing to marry me?"

"Are you pregnant?" Sebastian asked, cutting straight to the point.

Lydia remained silent. In this context, silence was a confession.

Sebastian was even calmer than I had imagined. "When did it happen? Was it conceived after our engagement, or before?"

"What difference does it make? I'm pregnant either way."

"It makes a huge difference. If it happened before we were engaged, back when we weren't close or committed, I can forgive you—provided you’ve cut ties completely with the father. But if it happened after we got engaged, our relationship ends here."

Lydia blurted out instantly, "I... I got pregnant before the engagement."

I had been mentally applauding Sebastian for his logical, clear-headed legal mind, but hearing Lydia’s lie made me want to laugh out loud.

Just how thick-skinned could a mistress be?

I truly felt that Lydia was completely unworthy of a man like Sebastian.

Yet Sebastian seemed to care for her deeply. He didn't mind her past as a mistress or her abortion; he was even willing to be the "stand-in father" for another man's child.

But Sebastian was my lawyer. I realized I couldn't keep the identity of my husband’s mistress a secret from him any longer.

A voice suddenly broke my train of thought: "Come out now."

I gasped, instinctively looking toward the source of the voice. To my shock, Sebastian had already walked over and was standing barely a meter away from me.