Chapter 260
Chapter 260,
“Ellie, your hand!” Joanna’s voice broke through Ellie’s thoughts, and it was only then that she noticed the blood smudged across her palm.
She turned to glance at the railing she had just touched, and when she wiped it with her sleeve, she saw it was stained entirely with blood.
At that moment, she was certain Alex had been there. Taking the small red drum from Joanna’s hands, Ellie returned to he room in tense silence.
She rinsed the drum under clean water, but the bloodstains had soaked into the leather surface, permanently marking it. Feeling defeated, Ellie sat on the edge of her bed, absently staring at the drum in her hands.
A storm brewed within her. The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. This was clearly a toy for children, ye just moments ago, Whitney had said they had never bought such an item.
Around seven in the evening, Jason and Aaron returned home, which prompted Ellie to hurry down the stairs. “Ellie, let me show you something,” Aaron said, pulling out his phone to play a video as Ellie approached.
Noticing the odd looks from everyone, she sat down and opened the video. It showed Alex vandalizing a maternity store, stealing several items from inside.
Dressed in prison clothes, drenched in blood and limping awkwardly with one arm dangling, he looked severely injured and completely disheveled.
He frantically searched through the shelves, grabbing numerous baby products. Then, just as he reached the door, he turned back to grab the red drum and stuffed it into his pocket like it was a treasure.
The longer Ellie watched, the more her vision blurred. “I’m heading upstairs.” Ellie declared, standing up abruptly.
A chilling feeling gripped her: Alex knew about her pregnancy. Yet, she had shared this secret with no one–not even her family. ‘How could he possibly know?‘
The bloodstains on the railing and the deep red on the drum were all traces left by Alex. Closing her eyes, she pictured him storming out of the maternity store with the baby items. Overwhelmed, Ellie broke into tears.
She leaned against the headboard, curling her legs and wrapping her arms around her knees. Burying her head in her arms, her sobs were muffled. When she heard a knock at the door, she paused her weeping but couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
When Joanna and Whitney walked in with Aaron and Jason hanging back in the doorway, Ellie desperately tried to dry her eyes, but the tears only flowed more freely.
Joanna sat next to her and gently asked, “Ellie, are you hiding something from us?” Ellie met Joanna’s gaze, then glanced at Whitney. Gathering her courage, she nodded firmly.
“I’m pregnant, Mom,” she exclaimed. “He must know I’m carrying his child, and that’s why he escaped.” Despair washed over Ellie as she let her emotions flow, her sobs breaking the silence of the room.
Joanna looked at her, filled with a mix of compassion and helplessness, and then asked, “Sweetheart, do you want to keep the baby?”
Ellie’s response was hesitant. “I don’t know; I’m scared.” She wanted to keep the child but worried that if she terminated the pregnancy, she might never get the chance to be a Mom again.
Still, she also feared that keeping the child would mean Alex would keep coming after her. Neither choice seemed good to
her.
Whitney, unable to watch Ellie suffer, comforted her, “Ellie, he’s been sentenced to ten years. With his latest assault
guard and escape attempt, even if he behaves, he won’t be out for at least eight years.”
*If you can’t bear to lose this child, you can absolutely keep it. You don’t need to worry about his future interference. By the time he’s free, you might very well be married,” Whitney added.
“This is your life; take this decision very seriously. We will stand by whatever choice you make,” Aaron added solemnly from the doorway.
“You should rest; I’ll prepare some food,” Joanna said before leaving the room and calling everyone else downstairs. Ellie slowly slipped under the covers, but sleep was far away as her mind raced with thoughts.
Days passed in this chaotic state. Whitney asked, “Jason, any updates on figuring out who sent that anonymous letter to Alex?
Jason said, “The letter was sent via email with no sender info. The police found several fingerprints from staff members but nothing else. The handwriting was forged on purpose. The message simply read, ‘Ellie is pregnant.”
“If that’s true, it looks like someone purposely informed Alex about Ellie’s pregnancy to encourage him to escape. It must be someone close to him,” Jason concluded.
“B Ellie says she hasn’t told anyone about her pregnancy–she hasn’t even been to a hospital to check,” Whitney added.
As Ellie stood at the top of the stairs, she overheard them talking. A thought flashed in her mind. Although she had no proof, her suspicions centered on one person: Quinlee.
“Mrs. Warren, what brings you here?” Whitney’s voice pulled Ellie from her thoughts. Alex’s parents entered the living room. Approaching Joanna quietly, Ellie knew her family wouldn’t reveal her pregnancy to the Warrens.
In the living room, no one sat down; the atmosphere was thick with tension. Nancy stepped toward Ellie, taking deep breaths as if preparing for something big.
“Ellie, if my son can’t let you go even after he is released, will you accept him?” she asked.
Ellie shot back with a question, “Nancy, why do you ask?”
“Just answer me,” Nancy insisted.
“You want my answer, but I need to understand why you’re asking,” Ellie said.
Alex had shot Ethan in the church, trying to escape custody, and all this had happened within just a few days. It had only been a short time since his parents last visited the Thompson residence.
Looking at the heavy sorrow on the faces of Alex’s parents filled Ellie with dread; something serious must have happened.
Nancy’s eyes were red–rimmed as she said, “We just heard from the police that Alex has woken up in the prison hospital and tried to escape again. He almost got shot to death by a guard.
“He’s in the prison hospital, and we don’t know what will happen next.”
Nancy continued, “I can’t understand why he would risk everything to steal those baby things and see you. But, Ellie, I have only this one son, and I want him to survive.”
When she heard that Alex had tried to escape once again and nearly faced a deadly encounter, a jolt of shock coursed through Ellie. The room began to dim around her as she struggled to hold herself upright.
The atmosphere in the spacious living room was suffocating, only interrupted by Nancy’s sobs. Through her tears, she pleaded with Ellie, “If you still care for my son, I beg you to visit him in prison; encourage him to behave while he’s inside.”
Nancy kept going, “But if you decide to leave him, I will have to find a way to erase every memory of you from his mind so
he can live without being haunted by thoughts of you.”
With a steady gaze, she said softly, “Ellie, make your decision.”
