Divorce Denied! The CEO Wants Me Now

Karen had invested her last penny in the business she had recently established and was eagerly awaiting the promised funds from her benefactor to take it to the next level.

"Maybe he forgot. I should remind him," she thought and promptly sent a text message: ‘I hate to sound desperate, but my finances are tight.’

After sending the message, she realized she had used the wrong number. She quickly started typing, ‘Please ignore the...’ when an alert popped up on her phone: ‘Five billion dollars transferred to you by Roger Dawson.’

Roger? The first name sent a chill down her spine, but the last name left her puzzled. "Roger? Could it be Tonia's bodyguard?" That was his number, but when did his last name change?

Her phone rang immediately, and the name she had feared for months echoed in her ears, his voice filled with emotion yet calm like a winter breeze. "Karen, stay put, I'm on my way to you."

The call ended before she could process it. He was the reason she had fled, refusing to sign the divorce papers.

Her love for him was unrequited, his heart belonging to her adopted sister, but what hurt more was the feeling of being traded between friends like a commodity.

She would rather die than return.

༺❀༻

Karen Fletcher felt a lump in her throat when she saw the two red lines. “No, it can’t be,” was her silent cry.

These home pregnancy kits can be wrong, so she rushed to the hospital to confirm what she was seeing in front of her after experiencing bouts of dizziness.

After thirty minutes of waiting anxiously, with prayers and promises to be a better person and to move on from the man who only had eyes for her adopted sister, her hopes were shattered by the doctor's confirmation. “Congratulations! You are pregnant.”

This news would have been a cause for celebration if the father of her child had any interest in her, but his heart belonged to her adopted sister, Tonia.

Tonia possessed a captivating beauty that could enchant any man she desired, and she had also won the hearts of Karen's parents.

Tonia was considered their lucky charm, as they believed that if it weren't for her, Karen would not even be in the picture. Years ago, unable to conceive, they had adopted a sweet five-year-old girl whose parents tragically perished in a farm fire.

Despite Tonia's lack of education and rebellious nature, her stunning beauty and impeccable manners, along with her striking blue eyes, had a mesmerizing effect on everyone who saw her.

She not only possessed physical beauty but also seemed to bring good fortune, as exactly a year after she entered their lives, Karen's mother, Katherine, became pregnant with her.

However, her position had long been replaced by her adoptive sister, who already had the heart of her parents in the palm of her hands.

She wasn't educated, but it wasn't a big deal. She was quickly enrolled, but nobody is perfect. Tonia didn't have an academic brain, consistently repeating her classes.

Karen, despite her academic intelligence and skipping a few grades, never managed to win her parents' heart due to being perceived as a nerd.

In her silence, a tear slid down her cheek. "It can't be. It was just once. A mistake," she heaved, wiping a tear after taking off her eyeglasses.

It was clear to the doctor that the baby in the womb was unwanted at the moment, prompting him to make a suggestion.

"Well, there are couples ready to adopt newborns. We can channel this to the appropriate quarters and..." he was saying when she softly cut him off. "No, it's my child. I'll keep him or her."

She might not have the love of the father, but this was her reward for giving love a chance, even if it was one-sided.

Before the doctor could say another word, she had already left his office, giving room to the next patient.

"With my savings, I can put my education on hold and relocate to where I can have this child in peace," she thought to herself. It would be better for her to escape than to face her parents' wrath, especially since they had hinted at the possibility of an arranged marriage for her.

She had one place in mind, but she needed to go home to get her passport and a few items.

Her flawless plan was to give birth to the child and then enroll in another university. However, she didn't expect the slap that greeted her as soon as she entered the house, delivered by her mother, Katherine.

"How could you? Didn't you say he gave you a morning-after pill? What is this? Getting pregnant during your final year of college?

"Karen was stunned, not expecting her parents to be home at this time. Seeing Tonia with the pregnancy test kit she had carelessly left on the vanity before rushing to the hospital, the fingerprints couldn't lie.

She cursed herself for not discarding it before leaving. Now she knew her secret plan had ended before it even began.

"I'm sorry, Mom, but it is what it is," she said through tears. Another slap landed on the same side of her cheek, causing a wave of dizziness that threw her to the floor.

“Mom, it's not right to hit a pregnant woman," Tonia reprimanded her adoptive mother, casting a sympathetic glance at her sister.

She was relieved that the bodyguard had been dismissed, though the true reason remained known only to her.

"Karen, how did this happen? You told me nothing happened that night," she asked innocently, her long blonde wavy hair cascading behind her, her designer dress accentuating her model-like figure.

Tonia's sparkling blue eyes made Karen ponder who including their parents wouldn't love her elder sister, despite her dissimilarity to them.

Tonia was the ideal older sister, always looking out for her younger sibling, secretly in exchange for academic assistance.

She was already at Karen's side, helping her up from the maple wood floor and wiping away her tears. "Sis, was there another man?" concern laced her words but her expression, which no one noticed, was distant.

The events of that night remained a mystery to Karen, as she was certain nothing had occurred before she blacked out. However, there was no use dwelling on the past. "I..."

Before she could finish her sentence, her mother lunged at her, grabbing her by the hair. “Enough, Kate. Assault will not solve the problem," her father intervened, his eyes cold. He sounded indifferent as he spoke, but Karen could only massage her burning cheek through tears.

It was the first time her mother had slapped her, and it stung deeply, though not as much as what her father said next.

"Prepare for an abortion," he declared. Karen's tears flowed uncontrollably as she hurried up the stairs. "No. I can't abort it...I..."

Her last words were lost in tears as her father revealed, "Don't waste your chance. Hector Davis has shown interest in marrying you."

The news hit her like a tidal wave. While it wasn't the first time she had heard it, the discussions were now in progress, and she never imagined someone like her would attract someone from such a powerful family.

What went unnoticed was the way Tonia paled. "Dad, are you sure? I could marry Hector," she said with one of her enchanting smiles. Karen felt a glimmer of happiness, but her father shook his head.

“Age difference is a factor. You are refined in every aspect but also five years older than him, although you do not appear so. Hector was brought up in a traditional manner and believes that his partner should be younger than him, following the notion of carrying his rib.

The Davis family was one of the most prominent families in the United States, second only to the world's wealthiest family, the Dawsons.

Rumors suggested that they were very close friends. Karen's affections were directed towards someone other than Hector.

When no one was looking, she hurried up the stairs and slammed the door shut behind her, only to hear her father's voice echoing through it.

"If you do not have an abortion, you will no longer be a part of this family," her father's stern words rang out.

"I don't understand what he sees in her. Tonia is a better match, she follows all my beauty advice unlike Karen. Karen doesn't care about her appearance," her mother lamented downstairs, while her husband offered an explanation.

"Well, Hector's father mentioned that Hector has been interested in her for years, and I honestly don't know why," he added.

Upon hearing this, Tonia appeared despondent. Despite her age, her beauty concealed the fact that she was seven years older than Karen. Karen may be petite, but Tonia possessed the grace of a top model.

“Now that she's pregnant with the bodyguard's child, what should we do?" Karen asked, her concern evident but not in the way they thought.

"I suggested meeting him when you first mentioned it, but you refused, and now she's pregnant."

She was convinced that Hector would abandon his principles and fall in love with her at first sight because, in her opinion, Karen was not worthy of a man of his stature.

Upstairs, Karen continued to sob after removing her eyeglasses. The frame had been carefully chosen by someone special to her, who had passed away from cancer. It was her only memento of him, aside from the memories he had left behind.

"Dexter, I wish you were here," she silently lamented. Dexter had taught her that intelligence was more important than beauty. With him, she had felt confident, but he had passed away two years ago, taking that confidence with him to the grave.

Then Roger appeared. Karen despised her heart for falling in love with him so recklessly. Her love for him was unrequited, and not all love stories have a happy ending.

Despite this, she decided to keep the pregnancy as a reminder of her love for a man who would never be hers. However, everything changed when she saw him at the hospital.

Roger Douglas, the man who had captured and shattered her heart, was not alone. He was not with her sister Tonia either.

Instead, he held the delicate hand of a beautiful girl, gazing tenderly at her, a look evocative of her sister, Tonia.