Dylan looked at Elise in silence.

As he stood there, listening to her accusations rain down upon him one after another, some of the rigid harshness finally faded from his expression.

"What happened with the plan..." he began, his voice dropping to a lower, quieter register.

"I was wrong to overlook your feelings. But the circumstances at the time left me with little choice. The person behind the kidnapping was a ticking time bomb. I couldn’t afford to think about anything else."

His gaze remained fixed on her, heavy and unblinking.

"Elise, for the sake of our child, stop fighting me."

Stop fighting?

After everything she had just poured out, after all the pain she had laid bare, that was all he had managed to hear. A bitter, hollow emptiness spread through her chest, chilling her from the inside out.

He still didn’t understand. Or perhaps, more accurately, he had never cared enough to try. What mattered to her had always been a footnote, an irrelevant detail compared to the grand scope of what mattered to him.

Surprisingly, she felt no anger anymore. The fury had burned itself out, leaving only a vast, bone-deep exhaustion. An overwhelming weariness settled over her, pressing down on her shoulders and seeping into every part of her body.

She suddenly realized there was absolutely no point in continuing this conversation. She and Dylan were speaking different languages; they would never reach an understanding.

Rather than waste another precious minute arguing against a brick wall, she wanted nothing more than to go home and figure out another way forward on her own.

With a numb hand, she reached into her bag for her phone.

The moment Dylan saw the movement, his eyes narrowed. He seemed to know exactly who she intended to call before her fingers even brushed the glass.

"Zoey won’t be answering your calls."

Elise froze. Her thumb hovered a mere millimeter above the screen. Slowly, she looked up, a sharp frown forming between her brows as a knot of dread tightened in her stomach.

"What does that mean?"

Dylan’s expression remained perfectly calm.

"You know the kind of people Zoey associates with," his voice was even, almost conversational, as if they were discussing business over dinner.

"Some of their overseas enterprise dealings aren’t exactly legal. If I choose to intervene, arranging for them to be thoroughly prosecuted and deported wouldn’t be particularly difficult for me."

All the remaining color drained from Elise’s face. Her grip on the phone tightened until her knuckles turned stark white.

"Dylan..." Disbelief and horror filled her eyes. "Are you threatening me with my friends?"

"I’m simply outlining what will happen if you insist on pursuing this divorce."

His tone remained infuriatingly casual, yet, Elise knew him well enough to understand one terrifying truth: he meant every single word.

If he was willing to use such underhanded, malicious methods against her, what earthly chance would Zoey and her friends have?

She stared at him—really looked at him now. This was the man she had loved unconditionally for more than a decade. And for the very first time in her life, a suffocating wave of regret surfaced. She regretted loving him. She regretted ever choosing him.

"Elise." His voice softened again, attempting to offer a gentleness that now felt entirely transactional. "If you come home with me, I promise nothing will happen to them."

A sharp, cold laugh escaped her lips, hollow and devoid of mirth. "Dylan, your promises aren’t worth the breath it takes to make them anymore."

His expression hardened instantly, the fleeting softness vanishing.

"I’ve explained the situation to you. I never cheated on you. You are pregnant with my child. There is no legitimate, logical reason for this marriage to end."

He paused, his gaze locking onto hers with absolute finality. "As long as you drop this talk of divorce, I won’t touch your friends."

Elise curled her lips into a bitter, mocking smile. "I want to see Zoey. Right now." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"No." The refusal came immediately, sharp and absolute. Before she could even attempt to argue, Dylan continued, "You won’t be seeing her again until after the baby is born."

The words struck her with the physical force of a slap. Her face turned entirely pale. "What do you mean by that?"

"She’s resourceful. Well-connected. Far too capable," he said, his tone leaving absolutely no room for negotiation. "If she stays by your side, you will only keep looking for ways to run from me."

A dangerous, unyielding certainty entered his eyes. "I will have her and her associates sent overseas. Until the child is safely born, none of them will be permitted back into the country."

Something inside Elise finally snapped. The fragile dam holding back her despair broke entirely.

"Dylan!"

All the suffocating fury she had been suppressing erupted at once. Driven by pure, unadulterated desperation, she lunged forward and raised her hand to strike him.

But before the slap could land, Dylan caught her wrist mid-air. His fingers closed around her delicate skin effortlessly, trapping her movement. He opened his mouth, about to speak, when his phone suddenly rang in his pocket.

The sharp, piercing ringtone cut through the suffocating tension of the room.

Dylan glanced down; the caller ID displayed Mrs. Lander’s name. Without releasing his grip on Elise, he answered it. At the same time, he used his leverage to pull her firmly against his chest, locking her body against his to prevent her from escaping.

Furious and humiliated, Elise struggled against him. But the iron strength of his arms was overwhelming. No matter how hard she twisted or fought, she couldn’t break free from his hold.

The moment the call connected, however, a panicked, breathless voice burst through the phone’s speaker.

"Mr. Bennett, something terrible has happened! Robin’s been hurt!"

Elise’s frantic movements stopped instantly. They were standing so close, her chest pressed against his, that she could hear every frantic word clearly.

Dylan’s hold on her remained tight, but his face darkened in an instant, the arrogance wiping clean from his features. "What happened?"

On the other end of the line, Mrs. Lander sounded as though she were on the verge of a total collapse, her voice trembling violently.

"I... I don’t know exactly how it happened. I was in the kitchen cooking when I suddenly heard him scream."

Her breathing became ragged, punctuated by a sob. "When I ran out, Robin was lying at the bottom of the staircase. His head was bleeding... oh God, there was so much blood..."

She gasped for air, terrified. "They’ve already rushed him into emergency surgery, but the doctors said the impact was at the back of his head. They said it’s incredibly serious..."

The moment those words left the speaker, Dylan’s grip on Elise loosened.

The cold, impenetrable confidence that had defined him just moments ago vanished entirely. For the first time since he had tracked her down at the airport, genuine, unscripted alarm flashed across his face.

"Have you contacted Oliver?" he demanded, his voice tight.

"Yes," Mrs. Lander wept, her voice shaking uncontrollably. "Assistant Grant is almost here already..."