The City Held Its Silence byIrel Knx 153

Posted by Adminj, ? Views, Released on January 19, 2026

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12/13

153 The gaslighting

DIANA’S POV

My head maid was outside in Marco’s mainbedroom keeping an eye out for any of Keiths men that might be listening in. I always find this when I had my private conversations

with him.

I occasionally had to train Marco on how to present himself publicly. I didn’t want people thinking I was abusing so I had to train him to smile and appear happy. Luckily, because my training was so good most people just thought he was just a shy but polite kid.

“If you listen to me I won’t have to smack you so keep that in mind,” I warned him.

“Yes, mum,” he fearfully said.

“Now say it again, and do it exactly like I said,” I

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gave him one more chance,

His lips curved into a smile and his eyes widened to give the illusion of excitement. “I’m going to have a sibling, Mum?” he repeated the sentence I

had said to him.

“Much better,” I congratulated him. After about an hour of training I then moved on to do the finishing touches.

When early evening came I then asked one of the servants to call for the doctor.

With Keith scheduled to arrive in a few hours later night I thought it would be best I then called for Acland family doctor Ivor.

He arrived at the house about an hour later and I was waiting for him in a sitting room on the first

floor.

“Miss Rockford, what’s matter?” the doctor asked when he walked into the room. The tall lanky

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middle–aged man with balding spot in the middle of his had and grey long hairs on the sides asked

me.

“I don’t know, doctor, I’ve been feeling nauseous lately, “I lied to him. The detox pills were in full effect so I did look dick and pale. I had a list of pregnancy symptoms I had prepared for him.

He checked my temperature with the palm of his hand. “Seems you have a bit of a fever going on.” he commented. “Any other symptoms?”

“Well, I don’t know if this is important but I have been feeling tired, bloated

“Have you had your period lately?” he asked me.

“It was supposed to come last week, but it

didn’t…” I said.

“And you have been sexually active in the last month?” he then followed. I internally smiled happy with the direction of the conversation.

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153 The gaslighting

“Yes,” I answered.

He then opened his bag and took out something. He then handed it to me and I saw it was a

pregnancy test kit.

“I think you might be pregnant, I have a test kit with me right now so we can confirm it,”

“I might be pregnant?” I said trying to sound shocked.

Taking the test from him I then told him I would return shortly after taking the test in the

bathroom. took it to the bathroom and took out the test tube that ‘he‘ had sent me which I had hidden under my clothes. Carrying out the test I when the two lines that indicated positive appeared on the device I put away the empty test tube and returned to the sitting room.

“Oh my goodness, I am pregnant,” I said trying to sound shocked once I reentered the room and showed Doctor Ivor the test.

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153 The gaslighting

“Just as I suspected,” he said as he inspected it. “Good news then, your recent illness are just early signs of pregnancy. Congratulations to you and the Chairman,” Doctor Ivor said.

“Thank you,” I said to him as I continued to try to seem surprised.

“When you’re ready in a few weeks you can come to the private clinic so we can perform an ultrasound on you to check the progress of your baby. I’ll be taking my leave now but if you have any issue don’t hesitate to contact me,” he told

me.

“I will doctor, thank you for coming,” I thanked him. He then left the room and made his way out of the mansion. I had hoped Keith would have arrived by now so he could see the doctor here and really sell my pregnancy to him. But no matter the maids and guards would let him know.

Imagine my surprise when Keith arrived minutes

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later and I knew he met the doctor.

I broke the news to him and he looked nothing short of mortified and even froze. I expected him

to be.

I didn’t hold back as I immediately piled on the factbynat I was excited for this baby our marriage. Maro came in as I had scheduled my head maid to let him come when Keith had

arrived. Marco put on a good perform as I had trained him.

I could tell Keith was conflicted but nonetheless he told me he was excited for the baby as well. In spite of his uncertainty he helped me get up, he made me have a soup to help with my nausea.

That’s right Keith. Care for me. I thought to myself. Your attention should be on me and only

me.

I knew he was going to be forced focus more on me now. That’s how Keith was. He wanted to help

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153 The gaslighting

people and wanted to treat people fairly. Due to his guilt for not being there for me when I had Marco, I knew he would feel more obligated to be there for this pregnancy. His self righteous attitude should put my pregnancy at a higher priority.

“I’m so glad we’ll be able to raise our child together this time, it was so hard for me and Marco alone in Kensington,” I told him later that night when we got in our room.

I was lying if course. I didn’t raise Marco alone in Kensington. I was mainly with ‘him‘. Just wanted to remind Keith why he had to choose me. Seeing the guilt on his face just put me at ease.

Why didn’t I think of this earlier? I thought to myself. I could have gotten his attention back much faster.

**

JASMINE’S POV

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153 The gaslighting

“What have you found so far?” I asked Louis as he showed me the folders on his desk. We were in his office at the HQ.

“My men are still looking into Diana’s routine but so far nothing seems out of the ordinary,” he told me. Louis and had been going over his schedule and some work documents in his office when he

received the an update from one of his bodyguards on Diana. We had put work aside temporarily to discuss the findings.

Louis had told me that he had been looking into Diana ever since the Gatwick incident, when tried to have me fired. However, he now had spies watching her from afar. After the incident in

Kensington it was now clear the enemy was

watching us, so it only made sense that we do the

same.

The problem was they knew more about us than we did them. We didn’t know who the other person Diana was working with was. But they

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knew us,

“If Diana is working with someone else then she should meet up with them at some point, right?” Louis asked me.

“Yeah,” I agreed with him.

Louis and I were hoping to keep track of where Diana went. Hoping something would stick out.

There were various pictures laid out of Diana among the documents of information compiled about her. In some she was attending events and others she was visiting friends‘ homes.

“It looks like she mostly stays at the Acland estate and occasionally goes out to meet with friends or attend events,” Louis said. “Unless of course she meets the person at these events. Then we would have trouble. My men can only watch her from afar, they risk getting caught if they try to get any closer.”

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“Mmhm, if she meets ‘her sponser‘ that makes things difficult. Another possibilty is that she also has servants that also do her bidding for her. When I was still in the in the house Keith had me stay in, Diana’s bodyguards were in on it when she assualted me. She definitely has helpers who must be helping her with the plan. However, she also bribes people to do her bidding so like the maids

“So perhaps we should expand our watchlist to her closest servants who are most likely to be in on it. Rather than your former maids for example,” Louis said.

“Yes,” I agreed.

“I’ll have some people look into her servants and see what we can find,” Louis said.

There was then a sudden knock at the offce door.

Louis called out for the person to enter. It was the marketing directer.

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“Sir, I’m sorry to dusturb there’s an urgent issue concerning the new menu launch today. Would you be able to pass by the marketing department to have a look?” He requested Louis.