"I’m heading back immediately."

The moment Dylan ended the call, he slipped his phone back into his pocket with a swift, tense motion. Lowering his gaze, he looked down at Elise. She was still frozen in place, her eyes wide, visibly stunned into silence by the sudden, terrifying news.

When he spoke, his voice was clipped and left absolutely no room for discussion or debate. "We’re returning to North City now."

Elise’s eyelashes trembled slightly as she pulled herself out of her shock. She looked at him, searching his face, and after a brief, heavy pause, she gave a single, quiet nod.

The battle between them wasn’t over, but the ghost of a bleeding child had just rewritten their priorities.

Two hours later, their private plane touched down on the tarmac in North City.

A sleek black car, arranged in advance by Oliver, was already waiting just outside the terminal, its engine idling.

The moment Dylan and Elise exited the terminal doors into the cool night air, they climbed into the rear seat without a word. The driver immediately pulled away, heading straight for the hospital.

Neither of them spoke during the entire journey.

Forty minutes later, the car screeched to a halt at the hospital’s main entrance.

Oliver was already waiting on the pavement, pacing anxiously. As soon as he spotted the vehicle and saw them step out, he hurried over, his expression grim. "Mr. Bennett. Mrs. Bennett."

Dylan bypassed any greeting and got straight to the point. "What did the doctors say?"

Oliver fell into step beside him, answering immediately.

"The injury caused significant bleeding from the back of his head, and the impact resulted in a minor skull fracture."

He paused, taking a breath before offering the saving grace. "However, they have just completed the full CT scans. So far, there doesn’t appear to be any intracranial bleeding or neurological abnormalities."

The rigid tension in Dylan’s shoulders eased by a fraction.

Oliver added, "Young Master Robin has already been transferred out of the ICU and into a private room. His vitals are stable for now, but he still hasn’t regained consciousness."

A faint, controlled breath escaped Dylan’s lips. At least the situation wasn’t as catastrophic as it could have been. The boy was alive.

"Let’s see him first."

"Yes, sir." Oliver turned sharply and led the way through the sterile, white corridors.

Elise followed silently beside Dylan, her mind racing. As they walked, the chaotic pieces of the puzzle began to tumble through her thoughts, and a glaring question surfaced. She looked past Dylan, her eyes locking onto the assistant.

"Oliver," she called out softly, causing him to look back. "How did Robin actually fall down the stairs in the first place? He was perfectly fine. He knows those stairs."

Oliver’s footsteps faltered—a movement so slight it was almost imperceptible, but Elise caught it. A strange, deeply uncomfortable expression crossed his face.

Instead of answering her, he glanced sideways at Dylan, his eyes fraught with hesitation.

That sudden, evasive reaction immediately caught Dylan’s attention. His brows knitted together, a dangerous edge returning to his demeanor.

"If you have something to say, Oliver, say it."

The man cleared his throat awkwardly, his eyes flickering briefly toward Elise before darting away. "Perhaps... it would be better if Mrs. Lander explained the details once we are inside the room, sir."

Dylan’s frown deepened into a harsh line, but he didn’t press further, accelerating his stride instead.

Meanwhile, Elise quietly studied the back of Oliver’s head, a cold sense of unease settling deep into her chest. Something was fundamentally wrong, and Nathan was actively hiding it.

When they finally arrived at Robin’s private suite, both Dylan and Elise went directly to the bedside.

The sight that greeted them was heartbreaking. The little boy lay completely motionless beneath the heavy white blankets, looking devastatingly small in the oversized hospital bed.

His eyes were closed tightly, his face an unnatural, paper-thin pale. Thick white bandages were wrapped securely around his head, making him appear even more fragile and defenseless than usual.

Elise’s chest tightened painfully, and a soft, sorrowful sigh escaped her lips. Despite everything, she couldn’t help but feel a profound wave of pity for him.

Just last week, the poor child had been viciously bitten by a dog, and those trauma wounds hadn’t even fully healed yet.

Now, he had suffered something far worse. For a child so young, he had endured far too much pain in such a short span of time.

A few feet away, Mrs. Lander stood in the corner, clutching a tissue and wiping fresh tears from her swollen eyes. Her entire face was a mask of suffocating guilt and lingering fear.

Dylan stepped forward and picked up the medical chart hanging at the foot of the bed. After carefully reading through the physician’s notes line by line, he clicked it back into its slot. Then, he turned around.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop to freezing instantly. His dark gaze landed squarely on the trembling housekeeper.

"What exactly happened?"

The cold authority in his question made Mrs. Lander burst into a fresh wave of tears.

"I’m sorry, sir. This is all my fault," she sobbed, her voice shaking violently as she bowed her head. "I failed to take proper care of him. I am so sorry..."

Tears streamed down her lined face as she struggled to find her voice. "I... I saw how incredibly kind Miss Quinn was to Robin, and how much the boy trusted her. I never thought to guard against her."

Her shoulders shook as she confessed, "I never imagined she would actually do something to hurt him."

Quinn?

Elise’s brows furrowed immediately, the name striking a discordant chord. Instinctively, she turned her head toward Dylan, her voice dripping with sudden suspicion. "Quinn was staying at Bennett Manor?"

Dylan looked genuinely surprised. His eyes snapped back to the housekeeper, his voice darkening. "Why was Quinn at Bennett Manor?"

Mrs. Lander nodded rapidly, gesturing in panic.

"Miss Quinn arrived yesterday afternoon, sir. She said she knew you were overseas on urgent business and that she was worried about Robin being lonely. She came straight to stay with him the moment she was discharged from the hospital."

She swallowed hard, her voice growing smaller and more defensive under Dylan’s piercing stare.

"I... I tried to call you to inform you, and I sent multiple messages. But your phone didn’t answer. And since Robin trusted her so much, I didn’t think... Last night, she was even the one who put him to bed."

A cold, sharp laugh escaped Elise’s lips before she could stop herself.

"So, the moment my back was turned, she moved right in," Elise said, turning to look at Dylan. Her eyes were bright with a bitter, mocking amusement that didn’t reach her heart.

"You see, Dylan? Your marital home never suffers from a shortage of children or eager women."

The smile on her lips turned sharper, cutting like glass. "With options like that readily available, why are you still so desperately determined to hold on to me?"

The crease between Dylan’s brows deepened into a valley. This time, however, he didn’t rise to her provocation. He didn’t defend himself, nor did he argue.

His entire focus remained locked onto Mrs. Lander, his expression darkening until it was completely unreadable.

"Where," Dylan asked, his voice dangerously low and quiet, "is Quinn right now?"