Divorcing the useless son in law ; The return of the Tycoon

Public claim

"Whatever you have to say, Seraphine, you can say it right here," Caelum said, his voice quiet and completely steady.

The hallway was silent. The warm yellow lights shone down on them, casting long shadows across the floor. Thessaly stood calmly by Caelum's side, her arms folded across her chest, watching Seraphine with sharp, intelligent eyes. Barnaby stood half a step behind the chair, his face expressionless.

Seraphine looked at Caelum's calm face, then looked at Thessaly. Her heart felt heavy and bitter.

"It is about my family, Caelum!" Seraphine said, her voice rising slightly. "It is about our marriage! I cannot talk about our personal life in front of strangers!"

Thessaly let out a small, soft laugh. She stepped back slightly, holding up one hand in a polite gesture.

"I can step back into the office if you prefer, Mr. Caelum," Thessaly offered smoothly.

"No need, Thessaly," Caelum replied, not turning his head. He looked straight into Seraphine's eyes. "Seraphine, our marriage ended four months ago when you slid those papers across your desk. We have no personal life together anymore. If you came here to ask for money for your family factory, my answer is no."

Seraphine felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if Caelum had slapped her across the face. She bit her lower lip hard until she tasted blood.

"I am not here to ask for money!" Seraphine cried out, tears swelling up in her eyes. "Do you really think I am that shameless, Caelum? Do you think I only come to see you when I need cash?"

Caelum did not answer. He simply looked at her, his silent gaze saying more than a thousand words.

Seraphine reached into her handbag with trembling hands. She pulled out the white folded medical report from the clinic and stepped closer, holding it out toward him.

"I went to the clinic today, Caelum," Seraphine whispered, her voice cracking with deep emotion. "I am pregnant."

The word echoed through the silent hallway.

Barnaby's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Thessaly raised one eyebrow, her gaze shifting from Seraphine down to the paper in her hand.

Caelum looked at the white paper being held out before him. His face did not change. He did not jump with joy. He did not gasp in shock. His expression remained completely, terrifyingly calm.

"You are pregnant," Caelum repeated softly.

"Yes!" Seraphine nodded frantically, tears spilling down her pale cheeks. "I am six weeks pregnant, Caelum! It is a baby! Our baby!"

She took a step closer, kneeling down on the soft carpet right beside his wheelchair, trying to grab his hands. "Caelum, please... I know I made a terrible mistake. I know I hurt you. I was blind and stupid, and I let Lucian trick me. But we are having a child now! You always wanted a family! We can start over. I will sell the factory, I will stay at home, I will do anything you want! Just come back home to me!"

Caelum looked down at her kneeling by his side. For three years, he had loved this woman with all his heart. He would have given his life to protect her.

Standing before him now was not the brave girl who fixed his wheelchair with a hairpin. Standing before him was a desperate woman clinging to a child like a rescue boat in a stormy sea.

He slowly pulled his hands back, placing them neatly on his lap, away from her reaching fingers.

"Seraphine," Caelum said, his voice dropping to a low, quiet tone that carried no warmth. "Get up from the floor."

Seraphine froze. "Caelum..."

"Get up," Caelum repeated firmly.

Seraphine slowly stood up, wiping her wet face with the back of her hand, looking down at him with desperate, hopeful eyes.

Caelum looked at the medical paper in her hand, then looked up into her eyes.

"Six weeks pregnant," Caelum said slowly, calculating the dates in his head. "Four months ago, when you handed me the divorce papers, you had already moved into Lucian's apartment. You spent every single night with him for two months before our divorce."

Seraphine's face turned deathly pale. "No... no, Caelum! I was still coming back to our house sometimes! It could be yours! I know it is yours!"

"You don't know," Caelum said plainly. "You don't know because you were with two men at the same time."

The cold, simple truth hung in the air like a heavy block of ice.

Seraphine felt her knees turn weak. She stumbled back a step, her hand touching the cold glass wall behind her.

"Caelum, please don't say that..." she sobbed softly. "It is your baby... it has to be yours..."

Caelum looked at her with a quiet, sad look in his dark eyes.

"If the child is mine, I will fulfill every single duty as a father," Caelum said clearly. "I will pay for the best medical care, I will pay for the child's education, and I will ensure the baby never lacks anything in life. But I will not marry you again, Seraphine. A child is a blessing, not a chain to force two people into a dead marriage."

He turned his head toward Barnaby.

"Barnaby," Caelum ordered smoothly. "Arrange a private, certified medical facility for a paternity test when the time is right. We will do it properly, with full legal witnesses from both families."

"Understood, Young Master," Barnaby bowed his head deeply.

Seraphine stared at Caelum, her mind completely shattered. She had thought that telling him about the baby would make him fall on his knees and hold her in his arms. She had thought a baby would erase all her past mistakes.

Instead, Caelum was treating it like a calm, logical legal matter.

He was willing to be a father, but he was completely finished being her husband.

Thessaly Marwick stepped forward softly, setting her hand gently on the back of Caelum's wheelchair.

"We should head down to the harbor site now, Caelum," Thessaly said quietly, her voice full of respect and understanding. "The engineers are waiting for us."

Caelum nodded gently. "Yes. Let us go."

He gripped the dark rims of his wheels, spun his chair around in one smooth, graceful movement, and rolled down the wide hallway toward the executive elevator.

Thessaly walked beside him, her high heels clicking softly against the floor, while Barnaby followed close behind.

Seraphine stood all alone in the long, quiet hallway, holding the wet medical paper in her shaking hands.

She looked at Caelum's straight back as the elevator doors opened and closed, swallowing him from her sight.

She fell against the glass wall and slid down to the floor, pulling her knees to her chest, and cried bitterly in the dark, empty hall.