Love Never Reached Us Novel by Natalia Love _ Novel




Love Never Reached Us Chapter 01

Christmas Eve, Olivia Sterling had just gotten her kid to sleep when the hospital called.
“Ms. Sterling, get to the hospital ASAP… A couple just came in. The woman’s pregnant and bleeding like crazy. It’s an emergency.”
Olivia frowned. She wanted to stay by her son’s side, but her job as a doctor pushed her to head to the hospital.
On the way, she called Julian Brown over and over, beggin’ him to go home and watch their kid.
But by the time she got to the hospital, Julian still hadn’t answered a single call. Helpless, Olivia gave up.
She changed clothes in a hurry and rushed into the operating room. The only weird thing was—the woman on the table looked familiar.
But she couldn’t place where she’d seen her, so she brushed it off. After the surgery, her assistant followed her out, mutterin’: “Ms. Sterling, you won’t believe how wild this couple was tonight. Otherwise, how’d a woman four months pregnant start bleeding that bad…”
Olivia didn’t care about other people’s drama. She took off her mask while walkin’ out, ready to tell the family the patient was okay.
She walked up to the guy at the door and said: “Are you the patient’s family? She’s out of danger now, she…”
But her words got stuck in her throat the second she really looked at his face. Olivia’s eyes widened, starin’ at the guy in front of her like she couldn’t believe it.
“Julian… Brown?”
Her face turned deathly pale as she said his name, shocked.
The guy she’d been tryin’ to reach all night was… the family of the pregnant woman inside?
Julian’s face twitched for a second when he saw her. He opened his mouth like he was gonna say somethin’.
But then he saw the person bein’ wheeled out, and his attention snapped to her. He tossed out a quick “I’ll talk to you later” and walked off.
Olivia stood there frozen. Right then, all she could think about was what her assistant had just said.
“How wild this couple was tonight.” “Four months pregnant.”
Every word felt like a sharp knife stabbin’ right into her heart.
Four months ago… Leo Brown had just been diagnosed with leukemia. Back then, she was losing her mind with worry, tryin’ every trick in the book to find a cure.
But now? She found out that in her darkest, most desperate time, Julian had been cheatin’ on her!
The shock made her body shake uncontrollably. She grabbed the handrail and slowly sat down.
Her eyes got red little by little. She thought of Leo at home—his face pale from being sick, but still waitin’ in the livin’ room for his daddy to come back.
Olivia clamped a hand tight over her mouth, tears fallin’ without stop.
Quiet sobs slipped out of her, bit by bit. She had no idea how much time passed before she pulled herself together and walked to the woman’s hospital room.
Right as she got to the door, she heard Julian’s voice inside. That super gentle tone made her zone out for a second.
“Emma Bennett, don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you or the baby. Nobody’s gonna hurt you…”
“You’re so bad. Tonight… I only started bleeding ’cause of you.”
“That’s ’cause you tempted me, baby. How could I say no when you seduced me like that…”
Bang!
Olivia slammed the door open. The loud noise made the two inside freeze for a second.
When Emma saw who it was, she let out a little scream and threw herself into Julian’s arms.
“Julian, I was so scared…”
Julian’s face turned cold right away. “Is that how a doctor acts? Don’t you know pregnant women get scared easy!”
Olivia said nothin’. She just set the medical papers on the nightstand and glared at him coldly: “All I know is—no need to be nice to a mistress.”
With that, Olivia turned to leave. But Julian caught up to her right at the door.
“Olivia!”
“What was that tone? You…” But Julian stopped short when he saw Olivia’s tear-filled eyes. His face softened a little.
Olivia thought maybe he’d say he had a hard time, or some secret. But Julian’s next words crushed all her hopes.
“Olivia, Leo has leukemia… A kid like that can never be my heir.”
“I’m just doin’ what the family elders want…”
Julian paused, then grabbed Olivia’s hand and said again: “Don’t worry. She won’t take your place as Mrs. Brown. I just need a healthy kid.”
Olivia pulled her hand away, frowning at him: “So you’ve given up on Leo? You’re abandoning your own son?”
Julian stayed quiet. Olivia’s heart sank more and more, and in the end, she never got an answer from him.
There was a noise from Emma’s room, and Julian walked back in without a second thought.
Starin’ at Julian’s back, Olivia dug her nails so deep into her palms they started bleeding.
She didn’t go home for the next two days. She knew Leo would find out sooner or later.
She had to plan ahead. She was gonna cure Leo—even if Julian didn’t want him anymore.
Once Olivia figured out her next steps at the hospital, she rushed straight home. No matter what, she wasn’t gonna keep livin’ in the Brown manor with her kid.
After all, who knew when that woman would move in? It’d be bad for Leo’s treatment.
But Julian was faster than she thought. When she saw the two of ’em being all cozy in the livin’ room, she had to dig her right hand into her left arm to stop herself from rushing at ’em.
Julian’s face flickered when he saw Olivia, but in the end, he just pulled Emma’s clothes back up.
“Why’s Ms. Sterling back?”
Olivia scoffed, glarin’ at Emma with disgust: “This is my home. Am I not allowed to come back?”
“You, though—what kind of lowlife shows up here uninvited?”
Emma’s face darkened for a split second, but then she hung her head, playin’ the poor victim.
The next second, Julian snapped: “Olivia!”
“I already explained this to you. Quit bein’ so hostile.”
Olivia ignored him, scanin’ the room for Leo. Right then, Emma’s eyes darted around, then she said casually: “If Ms. Sterling’s lookin’ for Leo, I can take you to him.”
Olivia had no idea what game she was playin’, but she had no choice but to follow. She hated someone like Emma with a passion, and didn’t care about her cheap little tricks.
But all her sense of calm flew out the window the second she saw Leo. Her kid’s hands and feet were tied, and he was submerged in water.
Olivia rushed over, totally broken. But the strong smell of disinfectant hit her—revealin’ another cruel truth.
The bathtub was filled with disinfectant!
Olivia frantically pulled him out and held him in her arms, her voice panicky: “Leo!”
“Leo, please open your eyes and look at Mommy, okay?”
Watchin’ this, a satisfied smile crept onto Emma’s lips.
“Ms. Sterling, Julian and I only did this for my unborn baby’s safety.”
“Leo accidentally brushed up against my dress earlier, and I was so worried about my kid… so we had to do this.”
Right then, Leo slowly opened his eyes, his voice weak: “Mommy… my toys…”
Olivia looked out the window, confused. Then she saw thick smoke billowin’ outside.
She gently set the kid down and glared at Emma, her eyes practically sparkin’ with anger: “What else did you do?”
Emma covered her mouth and giggled softly: “Not much. Julian decided to let me move in so I can rest easier while I’m pregnant.”
“But we were really worried your kid might hurt mine, so we burned all his stuff.”
“Oh, right, Ms. Sterling. Leo probably shouldn’t stay here for a while.”
“Julian just cleaned out the woodshed in the backyard, so…”
Slap!
Olivia slapped her across the face hard.
Emma stared at her, shocked. Olivia stepped forward, grabbed her jaw, and slapped her again—even harder.
Right as she was gonna hit her a third time, someone grabbed her wrist. A huge force pulled her backward.
Her forehead crashed into the corner of the table. Her vision blurred instantly, and blood trickled down her temple, drippin’ onto the floor.
But Julian’s eyes were only on Emma—who’d only gotten two slaps. He didn’t even glance at Leo before pickin’ Emma up and stormin’ out the door.

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