His Belated Love for the Abandoned Ex-Wife Chapter 199: No Way Back

Iris didn't raise her voice, but there was no room for doubt in it. "I'm not getting married again, and I'm not dating anyone. I appreciate how you feel, Arthur, but you need to respect what I want."

The firmness in her tone landed harder than anything else could have. Zoe let out a quiet sigh, then gave Arthur's shoulder a light pat, half resignation, half warning. "You heard her. That's a no. Just drop it, okay? And don't put me in this position again."

Arthur brushed her hand off like it didn't matter, his attention never leaving Iris. There was something stubborn in the way he looked at her, something that refused to back down. "I'm serious about you," he said, his voice steady, almost resolute. "I'm not walking away just because it's hard. I'll keep trying, no matter what it takes."

Under the table, Iris's fingers tightened slowly into her palm, pressing against her thigh as she held herself together. She bit down lightly on her lip before finally looking at him again. "Are you really going to pretend none of that happened?" she asked quietly.

Zoe immediately caught the shift, her brows pulling together as she turned toward Arthur. "Wait. What is she talking about?"

Arthur didn't even glance at her. His eyes stayed on Iris, calm to the point of indifference. "I liked you," he said, as if that explained everything. "That's why I did it."

Zoe stared at him, completely thrown. "Did what?" she asked, her voice rising slightly. "Can someone actually explain what's going on?"

Iris had avoided this conversation for as long as she could, but there was no way around it anymore. She let out a slow breath, her gaze dropping briefly before she spoke, each word measured and controlled. "The night I helped him edit his thesis," she said, "he drugged me. Took pictures, then sent them to Julian so he'd get the wrong idea."

The table went still.

For a second, Zoe didn't react at all, like her brain hadn't caught up yet. Then her expression changed all at once, disbelief snapping into anger so fast it was almost physical. She swung before she even thought about it, her fist landing hard against Arthur's arm.

"Are you kidding me right now?" she snapped, her voice shaking. "She helped you, and that's what you did?"

Arthur stumbled back from the hit, knocking into his chair as he tried to steady himself. "Hey, relax," he shot back, irritation breaking through. "What are you doing?"

But Zoe was already past that point. Her eyes were red, her breathing uneven as she went at him again, not holding back this time. "I trusted you," she said, her voice cracking. "I introduced you to my best friend, and you said you weren't interested. Then right when she was about to get married, you pull something like that? No wonder Julian treated her the way he did for two years. This was you. All of it."

Arthur kept retreating under the blows until he finally turned and bolted for the door.

Zoe didn't stop there. She grabbed a vase from a nearby table and hurled it after him. It shattered loudly against the floor just as he made it outside.

Breathing hard, she stood there for a second before turning, walking straight to the counter, and paying for the damage without hesitation.

When she came back, Iris was still sitting where she had been, her gaze lowered to the untouched coffee in front of her. The surface had gone cold, but the heaviness in her chest only seemed to settle deeper.

She had never wanted Zoe to find out. Not like this. Not ever. She had been afraid Zoe would blame herself, afraid it would fracture something that mattered too much.

But once Zoe started pushing her toward Arthur, there hadn't been another choice.

Zoe sat down across from her, and this time there was no holding it in. Her eyes were already shining with tears, guilt written all over her face. She bit her lip hard, like she was trying to stop it from spilling over.

Iris reached out and took her hand gently. "This isn't on you," she said, her voice soft but steady.

That was all it took.

Zoe broke completely, dropping her head down onto the table as her shoulders started shaking. "I'm so sorry, Iris," she said through tears. "This is my fault. If I hadn't asked you to help him, none of this would've happened. Julian wouldn't have treated you like that, and your marriage wouldn't have ended like this..."

Iris let out a quiet breath, something faint and bitter in her expression. "Zoe, the divorce wasn't because of that," she said. "It was mostly his dad."

Zoe lifted her head, her eyes swollen and red. "Then we should tell him," she said quickly. "We should go explain everything right now."

Iris shook her head and pressed her hand down gently over Zoe's, stopping her. "He already knows."

That only made Zoe more confused. "Then why not get back together?" she asked. "He still cares about you. That's obvious."

Iris didn't answer right away. She just shook her head slowly, like there wasn't a simple way to explain it.

"Can't you give him another chance?" Zoe pushed, her voice softer now.

Iris let out a quiet breath, her hand instinctively pressing against her stomach as a dull ache surfaced again. "You know what his family is like," she said. "His grandmother was the only one who ever accepted me. The rest didn't, especially Frederick. He didn't just pressure us to divorce. He threatened me to make it happen. That wasn't something I could ignore."

Zoe fell silent after that.

There wasn't an argument for something like that.

"I'm already divorced from Julian," Iris continued, her gaze dropping as her fingers lightly twisted the edge of her sleeve. "Frederick still thought we might get back together. He came to see me and gave me money. If I hadn't taken it, he would've assumed I still had feelings and kept pushing. So I took it, just to make it clear there's nothing left."

Zoe nodded slowly, her voice quieter now. "You did the right thing. Someone like him would absolutely think that way."

Iris drew in a slow breath, then looked up at her with a small, composed smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Julian and I... that's over. Completely."

Zoe's eyes reddened again, and this time she didn't even try to hide it. Seeing Iris act like she was fine only made everything feel worse.

They stayed there for a long time after that, talking in fragments, trying to settle something that couldn't really be undone. Eventually they left, walked around for a bit, grabbed something to eat, and then headed their separate ways.

By the time Iris got off the train, the discomfort in her stomach had already built into something she couldn't ignore.

She stood there for a moment, pressing a hand lightly against it before turning and heading straight to Riverfront Hospital.

Sitting across from the doctor, she kept her voice calm. "I've had stomach pain for a few days. Can you prescribe something?"

The doctor reviewed her test results, then shook his head. "I can't give you medication for that," he said. "You're likely pregnant. You should go to OB-GYN."

The words didn't register at first.

Iris just stared at him, her mind going completely blank.