Trick Him Into Divorce, Then Flee With His Unknow Kid

Chapter 263: Chapter 263 Three Months Until the Wedding

Rose hadn’t expected things to unfold this way.

Her decision to marry Trevor was supposed to remain a secret, so she instinctively reached for the document.

Ryan effortlessly raised his arm, keeping it just out of her reach.

"Give it back!" Rose snapped.

His dark eyes remained fixed on her without blinking, his voice cold enough to send chills down her spine.

"The prenuptial agreement..." he said evenly. "Is it between you and Trevor?"

There was almost no emotion in his voice.

Yet his unnerving perceptiveness was enough to make anyone uneasy.

Especially that gaze—dark, piercing, and overwhelmingly oppressive.

Rose knew he had already seen everything clearly.

She simply pressed her lips together, her face expressionless, refusing to answer.

Ryan’s eyes seemed coated in ice.

"Trevor went abroad," he continued. "Was it to take care of the marriage paperwork?"

Rose hated the way Ryan always seemed to know everything.

He knew Trevor had left the country, and the moment he saw the prenuptial agreement, he had pieced everything together with frightening accuracy.

If it weren’t for Ryan’s relentless habit of uncovering the truth, she wouldn’t have spent the past seven years living in constant fear that Ariel’s existence would be discovered.

Rose couldn’t deny that Ryan’s discovery had caught her off guard.

They had agreed that if she remained unmarried for a year, the Bennett family’s antique shop—which Ryan was currently holding on her behalf—would be transferred back into her name.

Now everything had changed unexpectedly.

She was getting married.

And Ryan had caught her red-handed.

There was no point trying to deny it.

Taking a deep breath, she met his eyes without flinching.

"Yes."

Then she added calmly, "And I should thank you. The night you took me to Ocean Star, Trevor and I officially decided to get married."

Ryan stared at her silently.

For a long time, he didn’t say a word.

His deep-set eyes grew even darker.

Perhaps he hadn’t expected that answer.

He had personally driven his ex-wife to another man.

In a way, he had even helped bring about her wedding.

Absentmindedly rubbing the edge of the document with his thumb, he finally spoke again.

"When you flipped over the table at the Knight family’s cocktail party that night... was it because you’d already decided to marry Trevor? Was that where all your confidence came from?"

Rose hated how effortlessly he saw through everything.

Every hidden thought.

Every carefully concealed motive.

Yet she also felt a strange sense of relief.

Back when Ryan discovered she had given birth, if Grandma Alice hadn’t found out first—forcing Rose to lie and claim she had miscarried—Ryan might never have believed her when she said the child belonged to someone else.

After all, she had carried the baby to term.

Yet she had deceived everyone by claiming she’d had a miscarriage, hiding the child’s very existence.

She had spent years concealing the fact that she had given birth during their marriage.

By anyone’s logic, if the child had been Ryan’s, that baby would have been the strongest bond holding their marriage together.

She should have proudly told the world instead of desperately hiding the truth.

After all, everyone believed she had once loved Ryan deeply.

Only recently had she realized something.

The more guilty a person felt, the more elaborate their lies became.

It was only natural that Ryan no longer believed the child she’d claimed to have miscarried was his.

He had no idea that former Chairman Knight had forced her to sign the divorce agreement seven years earlier.

Nor did he know the truth about everything that had happened afterward.

Without knowing those facts, it made perfect sense for him to doubt whether she had ever given birth to his child—and to wonder why she had gone to such lengths to hide it.

Everything fit together seamlessly.

It formed a complete circle.

Rose stood on tiptoe and swiftly snatched the prenuptial agreement from his hand.

Carefully smoothing the wrinkles his grip had left behind, she said, "That’s right. I’d already made up my mind before I came here. Trevor is willing to stand behind me. What do I have to be afraid of?"

Ryan’s gaze remained ice-cold.

There was no obvious anger, only the faintest trace of a mocking smile at the corner of his lips.

"You’re stronger than I imagined," he said quietly. "It seems our marriage didn’t disappoint you enough. You still have unrealistic expectations about marriage."

His tone was calm.

Yet every word stung.

Meeting his eyes, Rose replied, "We’re divorced. You no longer have the right to judge my life or my decisions."

Ignoring whatever Ryan might be thinking, she continued, "The wedding is in three months. Will you be attending? I can save you an invitation. Maybe you and Samantha will even beat Trevor and me to the altar."

Ryan looked at her.

"You picked a wedding date for me too?"

Rose replied coolly, "When you and Samantha decide to get married has nothing to do with me."

Ryan stared at her for several seconds before taking a step back.

His eyes were as cold and emotionless as ever.

"Then what does your wedding have to do with me?"

With that, he turned and walked away.

His tall figure gradually disappeared down the hallway.

He never once mentioned the future of the Bennett family’s antique shop.

Of course, Rose understood exactly what he meant.

"What does it have to do with me?"

In other words, there was no need to send him an invitation.

Lowering her gaze to the now-crumpled prenuptial agreement, Rose sighed inwardly.

This had always been the way things were between her and Ryan.

They never screamed.

They never argued hysterically.

Yet every calm sentence carried a quiet sting.

Ryan probably couldn’t understand why she and Trevor had suddenly decided to get married.

And perhaps it was better that he never did.

He wouldn’t interfere with her plans.

Nor would he stand in the way of her gaining custody of Ariel.

Rose tucked the agreement into her bag.

Just then, Diana called.

"The gossip is absolutely exploding right now," Diana said the moment the call connected. "Everyone’s talking about the Knight family. They’re right in the middle of a media storm. They’re trying to keep this love triangle under wraps, but honestly, there’s nothing to be proud of."

After the scene Rose had caused, the Knight family finally had something to hold against her.

"Rose... aren’t you worried they’ll retaliate?"

Rose slowly closed her eyes. "The fake divorce certificate crossed my bottom line. I had to burn my bridges to protect myself."

The Knight family had forced her into this.

After a brief pause, she added, "I’ve decided to marry your brother... for Ariel’s sake."

She hadn’t had the chance to tell Diana yet.

Just as she’d expected, Diana fell silent.

For several long seconds, there wasn’t a sound.

Then—

"I knew it!" Diana shrieked. "There had to be something going on between you two!"

Before Diana could recover from the shock, Rose calmly added, "Ryan already knows."

Diana immediately became even more excited.

"What was his reaction? Was he furious? Did he try to stop you from marrying my brother?"

Rose answered matter-of-factly.

"No. I think he practically gave us his blessing."

The excitement instantly vanished from Diana’s face.

It was replaced by pure frustration.

"Does he even have a heart? Things have gotten this far, and he still doesn’t care?"

Rose laughed softly.

"If someone doesn’t love you, then they simply don’t love you. Divorce isn’t going to change who they are."

Diana clenched her teeth.

"Ryan had better not regret this. We’ll see how calm he stays once he learns Ariel’s true identity."

Rose thought about it for a moment.

Ryan probably liked children.

But whether learning the truth about Ariel would drive him crazy...

She neither cared nor wanted to know.

By then, everything would already be settled.

She ended the call and prepared to return to the conference room.

But just as she rounded the corner, she came face-to-face with Samantha.

Rose kept walking as though she hadn’t seen her.

Samantha deliberately stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

Her expression was icy, her eyes filled with mockery.

"You’re quite the schemer," Samantha sneered. "You caused a scene at the Knight family’s party, humiliated everyone, and deliberately exposed what happened between Ethan and me. You did all of that because you were afraid I’d actually marry Ryan, didn’t you?"

Rose turned to look at her, already losing patience.

Samantha was furious because Rose’s actions had completely disrupted her plans.

With a cold smile tugging at her lips, Samantha continued, "You still can’t let Ryan go."

Then she looked Rose straight in the eyes and said, "Rose... are you really not going to give up until you see Ryan and me in the same bed with your own eyes?"