Chapter 764

"Of course it has to do with him."

Xenia let out a cold laugh. "Naylor truly saw you as a brother, but you wanted to hit on him! Maynard, what was Naylor supposed to do? He was afraid of hurting your pride by calling you out, so we came up with a solution that worked for everyone. Think back carefully. Wasn't it after that night that Naylor started telling you he was in love with me?"

Maynard stared blankly at Xenia. The memories, long since buried and dismissed as an insignificant part of his past, slowly resurfaced.

Yes, in his reckless youth, influenced by certain ideas he'd encountered abroad, he had mistaken his brotherly affection and dependence on Naylor for romantic love. But he had always thought of it as a brief, confusing phase. During that time, he had been in such turmoil, even believing he might never be able to marry a woman and have children, that he had done something incredibly foolish. He had secretly gone to a specialized clinic to have his sperm frozen.

Suddenly, it all clicked for Maynard. “You didn't..."

Xenia knew he had figured it out.

"That's right. I bribed someone at the clinic."

"Xenia Cooper!" Maynard lunged forward and grabbed her by the throat. "Are you fucking insane?!"

Xenia's face flushed red from the pressure, but she didn't struggle, only staring at him with reddened eyes.

Veins bulged on Maynard's forehead. He could never have imagined Xenia would be so crazy.

"What about Naylor? How much did he know?"

"I told him after I was successfully pregnant with Vernon," Xenia said, her voice strained. "It was supposed to be fraternal twins, but the baby girl wasn't developing properly and I lost her. I was heartbroken, and Naylor knew that if you found out, you'd never let me have the child. He couldn't bear to see me go through the pain of losing another child, so he chose to help me keep it a secret. I told him I had no plans to marry anyway and would take the baby abroad after it was born. He only agreed to the engagement so Vernon wouldn't be born illegitimate."

"Lunatics!" Maynard snarled. “You're both lunatics!"

He yanked his hand away from her throat and pointed at her, roaring, "That was just some drunken nonsense from when I was young, and you two took it seriously! Xenia Cooper, aren't you disgusted? If I really were gay, you'd have a baby for a gay man? Doesn't that disgust you?!"

"Maynard, you're the one with the prejudice," Xenia looked at him.

"Even if it was a misunnet

neither Naylor nor I ever looked

downon you. Back then, all we

wanted was to protect your t your dignity. Hetreasured you and brotter and wanted to preserve your friendship, and I... I had been chasing you for years. I would have accepted you no matter what."

Maynard was stunned into silence.

"But that's all

all in the past now," Xenia

said, her red-rimmed eyes now devoid of emotion as she looked at him. "For eight years, you stayed single thought that was how you were going to live your life, and I felt relieved that at least I had given you an heir. I was planning to bring Vernon back after I'd handled everything, and when he was a bit older, I'd find a chance to tell you."

"But I never expected you to fall in love with Briony."

Maynard frowned.

"Maynard, do you have any idea how I felt watching you so publicly pursue Briony?" Maynard's lips were a thin line, but he said nothing.

"I felt like a clown." Xenia laughed, but tears streamed uncontrollably down her face. "It wasn't that you didn't like women; you just hadn't met one who moved your heart. You made me feel like you could love Naylor, you could love Briony, but you could never, ever love me."

"I never loved Naylor!" Maynard gritted out. "I was young, I'd been studying abroad, I

met some people..... It was all a misunderstanding! I'm perfectly normal!"

"I know that now," Xenia said, lowering her gaze as a sharp pain pierced her heart. "The way you love Briony-so intense and public-I saw it. It just made all my years of devotion seem ridiculous."

"And now you're playing the victim?" Maynard laughed, a sound full of rage. “You stole my DNA, had my child behind my back, and you think you're the one who's been wronged? I'm the biggest victim here!"

“Yes,” Xenia said, looking up at him. "What I did was wrong. I apologize."

Maynard was speechless.