It did not matter whether it was because of his feelings for her or because he genuinely loved Archie and Bennie. Either way, it was evident that he cared for the boys as much as he did Estella, especially when he had made their background public to protect them.
Roxanne recalled everything that happened, but the more she thought about it, the harder it was. for her to pinpoint when exactly Lucian found out the truth.
“I went to Colby to see if there was a way to save you when you fell unconscious. I was over the moon when I learned the boys are mine, but I was more worried about you at the time.”
Since Lucian already knew they were his sons, it did not come off as surprising for him when Roxanne revealed the truth.
“So, it was him…” A sense of resignation washed over Roxanne at the mention of Colby’s name. Reading her mind, Lucian said, “Colby really regrets what he did. Actually, he’s partially why you managed to recover this time, so I took the liberty of inviting him to return to work at the research institute after his jail sentence ends. Of course, I can always send him elsewhere if you don’t feel comfortable about it.”
Roxanne was astonished to hear the news. “Well, I definitely don’t mind if he is sorry for what he did. It’s just that…”
Roxanne intended to give Colby the benefit of the doubt and was more than happy to work with him again since they went a long way back, but she was unsure if Lucian would get jealous.
“I warned him I wouldn’t let him off the hook. this easily if he were to do anything to harm you or the children again,” Lucian asserted with a frown. Roxanne smiled at his reply. “I’ll make sure to be on my guard too.”
Now that she thought about it, she found it ironic that she-a doctor-had repeatedly been drugged. I bet Professor Lambert will say I need to go back to school. I need to hone my medical skills after I get discharged from the hospital to save more people and take better care of myself.
When Lucian saw that Roxanne was being critical of herself, he quickly changed the topic. “By the way, I might have come to terms with Archie and Benny’s relationship with me, but I’m still disgruntled by the fact that some other man was in the know before I was.”
The fact that Colby was the one who took care of her throughout her pregnancy made Lucian feel guilty, or more precisely, jealous.
Roxanne collected her thoughts the moment she sensed the jealousy in Lucian’s voice. Certain that the man was not upset about her keeping the truth from him since he pampered her too much to find fault in her, she turned the tables and argued instead, “Come on. Do you think we would have stayed hidden if we didn’t need to? I figured you would recognize them since they look so much like you. That’s why we never came back.”
Caught off guard by her questioning, Lucian was suddenly stumped for words. Now that Roxanne had pointed it out, he realized Archie and Benny did take after him in terms of looks. “Well, I was so caught up with getting you back I didn’t notice that.”
The thought of his oversight suddenly made Lucian feel guilty. “I thought someone else was their father. At that point, I even told myself that I would teach that irresponsible man a lesson if he were to go looking for you guys, but it turns out I am the guy.”
The hatred Lucian felt toward Archie and Benny’s unknown father had turned into self- recrimination ever since he learned the truth about the children.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all that. None of this will happen again. I promise I will make it up to you all.”
“It sure was tough back then. I wouldn’t have tried so hard to hide their existence if I had known you couldn’t tell who they were,” Roxanne complained, trying to pull his leg. “It’s all my fault. I should’ve found out who they were earlier and spared you all the years of hiding.”
When he thought about how the children and Roxanne could have lived differently if he had found them earlier, the ambiance in the room became tense as the guilt in Lucian’s heart grew.
Noticing that he had fallen for her act, she quickly said, “It’s okay. I should’ve known that a busy man like you wouldn’t have time to pay attention to people’s looks. In fact, I doubt you even know what you look like now.”
The expression on Lucian’s face showed her words had struck him as accurate, for indeed, he had never paid any attention to his own appearance. Caught by surprise by his reaction, Roxanne burst out in laughter, saying, “Estella actually looks a lot like you too.”
Her comments put a deeper frown on his forehead. “Well,” Roxanne added, shaking her head, “Estella might have my eyes, but the rest of her features take after yours. Also, you were still with Aubree then, and your mom kept saying Estella’s mom was somebody else, so I didn’t think much about it.”
Not to mention I was under the impression that my daughter had died, so I never once thought Estella could be her.
Because her daughter’s apparent death was a heavy topic, Roxanne did not say it out loud, but what she expressed was already enough to add more weight to Lucian’s guilty conscience.
“It’s all my fault. I should’ve told you I found out about it.” Lucian knew there was nothing else he could do but apologize, yet Roxanne smiled forgivingly at him.
“It’s okay. What matters now is that we still found each other when we didn’t know anything about the children. They are happy where they are now. That’s the most important thing.”
Having reconciled with one another now that they had opened up honestly about their feelings, Lucian and Roxanne looked into each other’s eyes lovingly and chatted till midnight. At that point, Lucian finally coaxed her to bed, after which he left to send off the visitors.
News about Damaris Group spread like wildfire the subsequent morning. When Roxanne woke up, discussions about the company had already dominated the online world after everything that unraveled the night before.
Many scrambled to cut ties with Damaris Group; some even leveled accusations against them. Insiders went on to reveal that Damaris Group had undergone a drastic change after Jack took over, as he would turn a blind eye to numerous illegal operations.
In fact, many drugs did not even go through proper testing before hitting the market at a price way higher than market standards. The profit-driven company could not care less about consumer safety, considering Jack even worked with unregistered drug producers, leaving product quality questionable.
On top of that, he was found to have bribed private hospitals to buy the drugs in at deliberate attempt to drive up the prices.
Following these revelations from company employees, patients began to disclose their consultation records online, accusing the company of disregarding human lives.
Patient A wrote: That guy has no conscience. I chose that hospital because of Damaris Group’s reputation, but I lost both my health and wealth because of an unethical doctor in that hospital. I went in with just a minor illness but came out with a serious disease!
Patient B added: Their medical consultations are all just an act. They would blow up the seriousness of senior patients’ conditions so that we would seek out treatment at their hospitals, where we often end up paying a high price for drugs.
Another customer shared: They also make false claims about their products, packaging regular supplements as miracle-makers that cure cancers. We bought the story because of the brand, and our health was jeopardized. Someone even died because of it, but nothing was done because they bought over all the media outlets to silence complaints. A netizen commented: The company got what it deserved!
In a short period, comments flooded in to accuse and rebuke Damaris Group, leaving the reputation of the century-old prominent medical family in tatters. Their fall from grace left Roxanne disturbed and confused.
To her, Jack should have grown up to be an honorable man, given the noble values that the family had upheld, but he turned out to be a selfish and devious man who would do anything to get what he wanted. As a doctor, it was apparent that he had not the slightest respect for human lives..
Speaking of, this reminds me that he intended to price the new batch of drugs at three hundred. That price was still reasonable, but from what I gathered online, I don’t think things would have ended up well for our research institution if we had worked with them. Who knows how much he would have wanted to sell our new products for? Worse still, we might even have lost our reputation because of him.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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