Chapter 1043

Albert felt a little guilty, as he evasively said, “I’m in a meeting, so I couldn’t hear the ringing. Is everything okay?”

That sounded awfully familiar to Hylda. Those were the exact same lines Albert would say to fool Rainee whenever she called. At the time, he was actually lying on Hylda’s bed.

The words he used, and his tone were exactly the same.

Hylda trembled with anger and said without beating around the bush, “Why haven’t you brought her to get an abortion yet?”

Albert pursed his lips and answered, “The doctor told me that her current condition isn’t fit to undergo surgery. Her life would be in danger.”

Hylda’s face darkened. “When will she be fit enough, then?”

Albert said, “Give her some time to rest and let’s see what the doctor says. We can’t force her to do it if the doctor disagrees with the operation.”

Hylda clenched her fists, as she sneered inwardly. ‘When did he become such a righteous man? I can still remember how reluctant he sounded when I suggested taking action against Rainee. However, he did not hesitate at all once he found out that he might go to jail.’

She suppressed her anger and said in a calm tone, “Albert, be honest with me. Do you want to keep that baby?”

Albert paused and quickly denied it. “Of course not. I’ve promised you that I’ll handle this as long as you take good care of our baby inside you. It’s true that I like children very much, but you’ve been with me for so many years. I can’t just neglect your feelings like that. Don’t overthink it and just rest well.”

Hylda scoffed disdainfully inside, but she gently said,” Albert, maybe we should just forget it since the risk of having an abortion is too high.”

Albert was taken aback and thought that he had heard her wrong. “W-What did you say?”

Hylda then added, “You can keep the baby if you really want to. But, I want you to promise me one thing. Once that baby is born, get that woman out of Rivera forever, and you will not see her ever again. I’ll treat her baby as my own. If you can guarantee this, I’ll gladly accept her baby into our family.”

Sophia was stunned. “Mom, you’re crazy-“

Hylda shot her a glance, and she immediately stopped talking and gritted her teeth.

‘Is my mom out of her mind? How could she offer to raise someone else’s baby? Did her pregnancy make her go insane?’

Albert was caught off guard by Hylda’s sudden change, and he even began to feel a little cautious.

Based on his understanding of Hylda, she was never such a kind-hearted person.

“What… What made you suddenly change your mind?”

“What else can I do?” Hylda said as her voice choked with tears. “If I don’t give in, you’ll eventually leave me like how you left Rainee back then. I’m only doing this because I don’t want to lose you.”

Albert felt a little hesitant and regretful after listening to her tearful voice. After all, they had been together for more than twenty years, and the feelings between them were genuine. He knew very well how Hylda had treated him.

In fact, Albert also knew that Xenia was still very young, and she would never want to be someone’s mistress. He already had plans to distance himself from her if it weren’t for her pregnancy.

That baby in her was the exact reason why he could not make his mind up.

He had been troubled by this for the past few days.

However, he could not be any happier now that Hylda had thought it through.

Albert felt a lot more at ease as he thought about that. Then, he said gently, “It’s great that you can think of it this way. Don’t worry. I’ll get rid of her as soon as the baby is born, and I’ll never see her again.”

Hylda suddenly said, “Let’s have a wedding ceremony.”

Albert paused and frowned. “Why are you suddenly bringing this up?”

That was not the first time Hylda had talked to him about having a wedding ceremony. She mentioned it the most in the first months after they had registered as a married couple. However, their marriage was supposed to be a secret, and she understood that. So, she stopped bringing it up after talking about it a few times.

Albert was clearly a little upset now that she brought it up again.

After the news that Sophia was his illegitimate child broke out, almost everyone in his circle knew what happened between him and Hylda. Albert just thought that it would be very embarrassing for him to have a wedding ceremony with Hylda after cheating on his wife and secretly marrying his mistress.

So, he would always just brush it off whenever Hylda talked about it.

Hylda knew exactly what he was thinking as she said in a low voice, “Albert, hear me out. We can use the wedding ceremony as an excuse to announce my pregnancy and tell everyone that I’m pregnant with a pair of twins. That way, we’ll not raise any suspicions. I can accept that baby, but I can’t stand other people criticizing my marriage. Do you understand?”