She lunged forward and grabbed at his trouser leg, her grip desperate, her cries muffled by despair. “Let Austin go. Let him go. Take my life instead. Just spare Austin... He shouldn't be raised by someone Like you..."

Nicole didn't want Austin to accept Jarrod's harsh and twisted upbringing. If her child, born amid such struggle, were to become cruel and heartless under Jarrod's influence, committing terrible deeds, then she would have preferred her child never existed.

"Let him go. Let him be free..." Nicole continued, her sobs violent and unrestrained.

Jarrod grabbed her out of the blue, his face intense. "Nicole, why did you decide to have this child? Was it to harm me, to deal a fatal blow?"

Nicole was baffled by his accusations.

"Then why have him, only to run off with another man?" Jarrod's eyes burned with rage. "You want my child to call another man father? Do you want to die?"

His hands tightened around her neck, choking her.

“I wish I could die. I truly do. Everyone I love is gone. I have no reason to live!" Nicole's emotions swung wildly between sobbing and hysterical laughter as if she had lost her mind.

"But he survived. He's just too resilient. In my frail, disease-ridden body, his vigor truly frightens me." Nicole was referring to Austin. Austin's birth process was fraught with danger. Yet, destined to be born, he miraculously made it through.

“Jarrod, I despise you. I wish you were dead. Why can't you just die? It would be better if you were no longer alive!" Nicole was getting more and more emotional.

"Done pretending?" Jarrod said with a cold scoff. "Too bad. I'm very much alive, thriving in fact. And should I die, I'll make sure you come with me, because I love you so much..."

After uttering these words, even Jarrod seemed surprised by them.

Then, he burst into mad laughter, looking up. "So, Nicole, turns out I damn love you, ha-ha..."

A towering figure at six feet two, laughing bitterly, tears flowing down his cheeks. He loves her, but her love for him has vanished...

Nicole felt only fear. “Is this what you call love? Driving me to the edge? This isn't love. It's a possessive obsession. You are utterly selfish, a scumbag, trash, a bastard..." Nicole threw caution to the wind. With him revealing her secret, she felt like wrecking it all. No need to pretend now.

Jarrod, far from angered by her outburst, actually began to chuckle.

"It's fine. I don't need your affection, I have my ways." He said firmly, "Nicole, I'm taking the child back."

This was an outright threat from Jarrod. He intended to take the child away from her.

On the verge of madness, Nicole exclaimed, “By what right? He's my child! How can you just take him away?"

Jarrod threw the paternity test at Nicole's face, his tone icy and merciless. "I'm the child's father," he said. "Nicole, you think you can challenge me? What makes you believe you can take the child from me?"