Dylan froze.

His tall frame stiffened as if struck by lightning, remaining completely paralyzed for a full three seconds.

Slowly, a piercing chill began to spread from the depths of his heart.

He stared at Elise in shock.

What did she just say? Telling him to go find someone else outside? Telling him she didn’t mind?

But she had never been like this before.

Once upon a time, whenever she looked at him, her eyes were always filled with nothing but adoration and trust.

Now, not only did she loathe his touch, but she was even pushing him into the arms of other women.

She really didn’t love him anymore. Her eyes told the whole story.

The strength in Dylan’s grip faded.

Seizing the opportunity, Elise yanked her hands free, shoved him away with all her might, and scrambled up into a sitting position.

Caught off guard by her sudden push, Dylan stumbled backward a few steps before barely managing to steady himself.

Elise snatched a pillow and hurled it straight at him.

"If you don’t want me going to the hospital tomorrow to get an abortion, get the hell out of here right now!"

The soft pillow struck Dylan before bouncing off and landing on the floor.

He didn’t bother to pick it up.

He only stared silently at the pillow on the ground for a moment. Then, carrying a bitter chill around him, he turned and walked out of the room.

The door closed behind him with a sharp thud.

The room finally returned to complete silence.

Elise’s frayed nerves slowly began to unwind. She raised a hand to press against her forehead.

It looked like she needed to put her plan into motion as soon as possible.

...

Despite the pre-bedtime argument with Dylan, Elise wasn’t heavily affected.

After he left, she switched off the lights, lay back down, and drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

She slept soundly through the night.

When she woke up, the duvet on the other side of the bed remained folded exactly as it had been the day before.

Dylan hadn’t returned.

Elise lay in bed, staring at the ceiling to clear her morning grogginess before finally getting up to wash her face and brush her teeth.

As she stepped out of the bathroom, her phone on the nightstand was vibrating.

She walked over and picked it up, surprised to find it was a call from her older sister, Rina.

...

By 10:00 AM, Elise arrived at the restaurant where she had agreed to meet Rina.

Her sister had arrived early and was already seated by the window.

The moment Elise stepped out of the car, she spotted her right away. Telling her driver to head back first, she turned and walked toward the café.

Inside, mellow indie music echoed softly through the space.

Catching sight of Elise, Rina waved her over. "Over here."

Elise walked over and sat down across from her, placing her handbag on the empty seat beside her.

The sight of her sister made her smile. "How do you have free time to ask me out today?"

"We just wrapped filming two days ago, so I wanted to come back, unwind a bit, and check in on you." Rina scrutinized her.

Elise’s complexion looked noticeably rosier than the last time they had met at the Harper family estate.

"Yeah, you look like you’re doing much better than last time. Your face has filled out a bit too." Rina was very pleased with the change.

Elise touched her own cheek. "Once I passed the twelve-week mark, the morning sickness slowly started to taper off. My appetite over the past week has been much better than before."

"That’s good." Rina opened the menu and asked, "Would you like juice or milk?"

"I just had milk this morning, and I shouldn’t drink too much juice either, or I might fail my glucose tolerance test later." Elise smiled. "Just get me a warm lemon water."

"Fair enough." Rina signaled the waiter, ordering a warm lemon water for Elise and an iced Americano for herself.

Elise frowned. "Autumn is setting in... You should really drink fewer iced beverages."

Rina paused for a second, then smiled. "Alright, I’ll listen to you. Change that to a hot Americano, please. Thank you."

"Of course." The waiter finished taking the order and headed back to the counter.

Ever since the two sisters had opened up and bared their hearts to each other during their last encounter at the Harper residence, their relationship had grown significantly closer.

Though they hadn’t met up in person over the past few weeks, they kept in constant contact over social media.

Just last week, Rina had even mailed Elise several boxes of premium supplements, mentioning she had pulled some strings locally to buy authentic ones, as they were excellent for pregnant women.

"What is the situation between you and Dylan right now?" Rina suddenly asked.

"We’re just keeping up appearances." Elise’s tone was flat. "It’s a relationship where we’ll get a divorce the moment the child is born."

Rina pressed her lips together, observing Elise’s expression closely.

To her dismay, Elise remained perfectly calm; when she uttered those words, there wasn’t a single ripple of emotion left in her.

Rina sighed. "Who would have thought that both of us sisters would end up so heartbroken the first time we genuinely fell in love?"

Elise offered a small smile. "It’s fine. I’m still young. After I give birth, I’ll have plenty of time to love myself and my child properly."

"I know you’re talented and independent, but the child in your belly does carry half of Dylan’s bloodline after all. Aren’t you worried he’ll fight you for custody?"

"We signed an agreement. Before the child turns three, they must stay with me. After three, if he still wants custody, then we’ll just see who has the stronger case."

"Good, as long as you have a plan." Rina took a sip of her coffee.

Setting her cup down, she looked at Elise and said, "If there is absolutely anything I can help with, you must let me know, understood?"

Elise smiled. "I will, thanks."

"I won’t be staying long this time either. There’s an intangible documentary waiting for me over in Stormside. It’s being made with the intention of winning awards. However, we still need a popular influencer to participate in the shoot to help build up some hype for the documentary."

"Do you have anyone in mind yet?"

"You know ’Red Bloom,’ who recently blew up online, right?"

Red Bloom?

Elise searched her memory and remembered!

"I stumbled upon her videos by chance once. Back then, didn’t she have around five million followers?"

"She has way more than that now; she’s about to break ten million. The account was only started last year and hadn’t been particularly popular before. But the cover video she posted recently was beautifully atmospheric, and her techniques were incredibly expert. You can tell at a glance she isn’t just putting on a show—she has real skill. Let me find it for you; after this video dropped, her account completely exploded..."

Rina pulled up the video and handed the phone over to Elise. "Take a look and you’ll see how incredible she is!"

Elise took the phone and pressed play.

As she looked at the familiar visuals on the screen, her brow knitted together slightly.

Once the video finished, Elise handed the phone back to Rina.

"You want to get her for the shoot?"

Rina shook her head, expressing a hint of regret. "My assistant already reached out to negotiate with her, but she refuses to participate no matter what. Her reason is that she just wants to make videos in peace and doesn’t want to show her face—mainly because she doesn’t want to be recognized when she goes out."

Elise curled her lips. "It’s a good thing you didn’t manage to get her. Otherwise, you would have ended up in a massive scandal."

Rina was baffled. "Why?"

"Because all of her videos are plagiarized from an overseas content creator."

"What?" Rina was completely shocked. "How do you know..."

Mid-sentence, Rina cut herself off abruptly, staring at Elise as a sudden realization dawned on her.

"You’re not about to tell me that you are that overseas content creator, are you?"

Elise smiled faintly. "Yes, I am."