Love Beyond the Mask

Chatper 239

“It’s yours! Whitney went into premature birth right here! I’m so sorry. Ludwik. I’m late. Whitney’s

disappeared, leaving this tiny thing behind with no one to cry for it. It’s so small, barely crying or

breathing.”

Blood seemed to drain from Ludwik’s veins.

Whitney had given birth prematurely? And she was gone? She left their child here?

The onslaught of information pummeled his mind.

His heart sank as he sprinted to Elaine’s side. The woman, her face marred by injuries, was holding a

flashlight, desperately shining it on the ground. “The baby’s too small. I didn’t dare touch it. Ashton

called and said he got through to you, so I just waited for you.”

Ludwik’s gaze fell to the stone beneath which lay a bundle of fear and vulnerability, his pupils

reddening with a murderous rage.

How pitiful was this wrinkled little being, not even wrapped in a swaddle, just abandoned like trash

beneath the stones, shivering in the bone–chilling spring night and the piercing sea breeze.

At that moment, Ludwik’s heart, no matter how cold or.tough, crucified Whitney for her sin.

The child he and his mother had so eagerly anticipated.

Even after Whitney’s betrayals, he still wanted this child, wanted it to live.

Now lying there, small enough to fit in his palm, covered in blood, nearly transparent, quivering slightly

in the cold wind.

Ludwik’s eyes turned red.

His hands trembled as he slowly bent down, gingerly picking up the newborn, placing it securely in the

expanse of his fatherly arms, wrapping his coat around its frail body, his lips pressed in a grim line, his

voice damp with emotion, “Daddy’s here now, I’m sorry, kiddo.”

“Mr. Lippert…” Felix said, noticing his stunned and frightening demeanor..

“Get the doctor from the cabin over here, now!” Ludwik bellowed, his temples throbbing with rage as he

stood up, like a lion gone mad, scouring the woods.

“Felix, find her. There’s another one; they’re twins; find the other one!”

Felix sensed his desperation. A towering man, yet there were tears in his eyes.

“Mr. Lippert, keep it together. I’ll find Ms. Valentine right away!”

“Ludwik, stop looking!” Elaine came over, sobbing, “When Jaxon and I got here, we only found this

child. Whitney is gone. Jaxon followed some bloodstains on the road for dozens of meters before they

vanished.

What scares me the most is that part of the blood trail goes down the slope. It might mean Whitney

threw the other child off the cliff.”

Ludwik stared icily at Elaine.

He could not understand a word she was saying.

While Felix had already turned pale, illuminating the slope with his phone, indeed spotting a 6–foot–

long blood stain.

Ludwik, his gaze fiery, dragged the doctor down the slope, his chilling voice asking. “Is this the other

child’s blood? Is it?”

“Ludwik, calm down,” Elaine feigned concern.

“Shut up,” he snarled.

The doctor, with his equipment, took a sample of the blood and tested it on the spot, then looked down.

“Mr. Lippert, I’m sorry. It’s infant blood, still fresh.”

Ludwik was numb, holding his surviving child, staring blankly at the edge of the cliff beneath which lay

the endless sea.

The chill of early spring, the biting sea wind, the white waves crashing against the cliffs, a distant ship

twinkling with lights.

He could not believe it.

His handsome lips turned pale, and he chuckled bitterly, shaking his head in denial.

Elaine, with a cold glint in her eye, kept feeding him lies. “The blood on the roadside is substantial. I

think it’s Whitney. She… she ran away. Maybe she was trying to escape the sanatorium in a hurry to

save Bryce? She didn’t even care about the child!

Or maybe she hated you for keeping her in the sanatorium and, in a fit of rage, threw the child away.

Either way, to abandon one and discard the other is just heartless. She doesn’t deserve

to be a mother.”

“Felix, confirm if there’s really a blood trail of someone escaping!” Ludwik’s eyes were livid.

Felix and his men rushed to the scene, returning with an unnatural tone, “Mr. Lippert, there indeed is a

dragged blood trail, along with a woman’s messy footprints.”

What they did not know was that those were Whitney’s footprints from her earlier escape.

Elaine shot a venomous glance down the cliff. Whitney, having jumped with the child, was unlikely to

have survived.

All evidence was buried, and it was up to Elaine’s storytelling. She did not want Ludwik to know

Whitney was dead. By convincing him she was alive, she could fuel his hatred.

With a smirk hidden inside, she set her trap and sobbed. “Ludwik, she left you and ran away. Don’t be

angry. It’s just that this child is truly pitiful, abandoned by its mother right after birth.”

2/1 NôvelDrama.Org holds this content.

1C.14

“No, my child isn’t dead.” Ludwik murmured.

The man, once strong and tall, now knelt powerless at the edge of the cliff, his back etched with hatred.

His eyes, sharp as blades, were vulnerable as he stared at the sea, hating with a voracity that pierced

through the calm.

He clutched the child in his arms and roared, “Whitney, give me back my other child!”

Where is my other child? Where! You heartless witch, you’ve killed my child, and no matter where you

flee, to the ends of the earth, I will never let you go!”

His cold roar shattered the quiet night, tearing at the stillness in his gaze.

It made sense now; the wretch only knew she was carrying a single child. He never disclosed the truth,

and the hospital reports were always doctored.

So, when she gave birth prematurely, not noticing the silent child, she assumed there was only one. In

her rush to save Bryce, to avenge her confinement, to rid herself of this inconvenient preemie, she

abandoned the child, throwing it off the cliff into the sea.

Her betrayal, her infidelity, no matter how much she wounded him, none compared to this indelible

mark of hatred.

She abandoned their child, and with that, Whitney ceased to be human in his eyes.

He had thought, even in hatred, to entangle his life with hers. But now, the betrayal was too deep.

But she could not wait to cast him aside, to erase him and their children from her heart completely!

Panic flickered in Ludwik’s eyes, and a torrent of hatred swelled, leaving him as vulnerable and fragile

as a child.

Unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable!

He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“Ludwik!” Elaine rushed over with concern.

Felix helped the dazed man to his feet. His handsome face was too pale, his body stiff as a board, and

Felix could not help but feel pained by the sight. “Mr. Lippert, don’t let rage cloud your judgment or jump

to conclusions. I have a feeling Ms. Valentine wouldn’t just run off and leave the child.

She’s just had a premature delivery, and she wouldn’t risk everything for Bryce. Is it possible that she

and the baby might have accidentally fallen into the sea?

I’ll immediately seal off this area and call the police. We need to find Tiana and get to the bottom of this.

But right now, we have to get the child to the ICU! Mr. Lippert, let the doctors…”

“Nobody is touching my son!” Ludwik protectively held the tiny bundle in his arms.

His child had been heartlessly abandoned by its mother, and had he arrived a minute later, it surely

would have perished.

With tenderness and a chilling resolve, he looked down, gently stroking his suit, not daring to touch his

son. He paid no more attention to the situation at hand and strode with purpose to the airplane. Before

boarding, he cast a dark glance at the ocean, “Get the Coast Guard to search. I want them scoured

every inch! If she’s truly dead, I want to see the body, to ask her why she could be so cruel.”

Felix let out a heavy sigh. “I’ve already contacted the maritime search and rescue teams.”

Elaine clenched her hands, weighing the situation once more. The cliff was so high that Whitney and

the preemie could not possibly have survived.

She boarded the plane with a sense of relief.