Walking Away While Pregnant: Dear Ex-Husband, I Don't Love You Anymore Chapter 63

Elise’s footsteps ca to an abrupt halt.

Raindrops struck the surface of her umbrella in a steady rhythm, the soft pattering echoing through the quiet cetery with unusual clarity.

Slowly, she turned around.

Dylan stood several paces away, dressed entirely in black.

Oliver held an umbrella over him.

Separated by only a short distance yet worlds apart, they looked at one another in silence.

His eyes were bloodshot. The vivid crimson staining them stood in stark contrast to the unnatural pallor of his face.

Even from where she stood, it was obvious that sothing was terribly wrong with him.

He looked exhausted. Broken, even. As though he had been drained of everything that once held him upright.

Yet Elise rely looked back at him calmly.

There was no anger. No tenderness. No visible emotion at all.

Only stillness.

Ti seed to stretch between them.

Finally, Dylan’s Adam’s apple bobbed with visible difficulty.

His lips, drained of all color, parted slowly.

"I’m sorry."

Those simple words were nearly swallowed by the sound of falling rain.

They were far too light, far too insignificant.

How could three words possibly erase everything that had happened?

How could an apology compensate for years of loss, heartbreak, betrayal, and graves that should never have existed?

Elise had no desire to discuss the past. No desire to revisit wounds that had never truly healed.

Her voice remained calm when she spoke.

"There is one week left before the waiting period ends."

The rain continued to fall around them.

"When the ti cos, be at the Civil Affairs Bureau to finalize the divorce."

She t his gaze directly.

"Dylan, I no longer expect anything from you."

A brief pause followed. Then she delivered the final request she would ever make of him.

"For the last ti, I hope you’ll keep your word."

When she finished speaking, she withdrew her gaze.

Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked away––step by step, further into the curtain of rain.

Her figure gradually blurred beneath the downpour until she beca little more than a fading silhouette.

The sight felt hauntingly familiar.

Just like that day years ago.

The day Dylan had turned his back on her and disappeared into the rain without looking back.

A violent cough suddenly shattered the silence.

The sound was harsh, painful, almost alarming. Imdiately afterward ca Oliver’s startled voice.

"Sir!"

Elise’s steps never faltered. She continued walking, as though she had heard nothing at all.

By the ti she erged from the cetery, Zoey was already waiting. The mont she spotted Elise, she hurried out of the car with an umbrella.

"The ground is slippery," she warned. "Be careful."

"Thank you."

They climbed into the car together.

Zoey handed her a dry towel.

"Here. Dry yourself off. This rain really picked its timing. It waited until the funeral was over before pouring down."

Elise used the towel to blot the damp hem of her dress.

"North City’s sumrs are short," she said quietly. "After this rain, autumn will arrive."

"Then you’d better be careful." Zoey started the engine. "Seasonal transitions are the worst ti for viruses. Until you leave the country, stay ho as much as possible."

Elise nodded.

"There’s only one week left before the divorce is finalized. We can start preparing the house overseas."

For the first ti all day, a trace of anticipation entered her voice.

"I’ll spend the next few days sorting everything. Whatever can be shipped ahead of ti should be sent first."

"Good idea."

Zoey glanced sideways at her.

"I spoke with lissa. She’s single and said she’d be willing to move overseas with you if you want her to."

A genuine smile finally touched Elise’s lips.

"That would be wonderful."

The thought of leaving North City behind lightened sothing inside her.

Not completely, but enough to allow her a single breath of relief.

Outside, the white Panara descended the mountain road through sheets of rain.

The windshield wipers worked frantically, sweeping away endless streams of water.

Then Zoey rembered sothing.

"Oh, right." Her expression shifted. "There’s finally news about Quinn."

Elise turned toward her imdiately.

Zoey kept her eyes on the road.

"She really was kidnapped by one of Dylan’s enemies."

A frown appeared on Elise’s face.

"According to what I’ve heard, by the ti Dylan found her, she was barely recognizable."

The car fell silent for a mont.

"She’s currently in a private hospital. I had soone look into it. Her face was disfigured, and one of her legs was permanently crippled."

Elise’s brows drew together.

"Who would go that far?"

"That’s the strange part." Zoey shook her head. "The only thing anyone has been able to trace is that the kidnappers were connected to overseas groups. Beyond that, there’s nothing."

Her expression grew increasingly puzzled.

"What’s even stranger is that they didn’t seem interested in money. They weren’t trying to negotiate. They didn’t make demands. From what I’ve heard, they abducted Quinn solely to torture her."

Elise listened quietly, but her heart was growing restless.

"They supposedly fild everything and sent the videos directly to Dylan."

Zoey exhaled sharply.

"If Dylan’s people hadn’t eventually tracked down the location, that woman probably wouldn’t have survived."

Elise fell into a deep thought.

"They never made any requests?"

"No."

"That doesn’t make sense."

She stared out the rain-covered window.

"If soone goes to the trouble of kidnapping a person, torturing them, and risking that level of exposure, there should be an objective. Revenge alone seems insufficient."

"Who knows?" Zoey snorted. "Honestly, she deserves every bit of misery she got."

Her voice filled with undisguised disdain.

"She repaid kindness with betrayal. She knowingly beca the other woman. Then she paraded around with soone else’s husband like she had won a prize."

Zoey shook her head.

"Now karma has finally caught up with her."

Elise remained silent. Sothing about the entire situation felt wrong.

Over the years, Dylan had certainly made enemies.

Power always ca with opposition.

Yet there were very few people willing to commit a cri this extre.

In fact, only one group ca to mind... The sa group responsible for the kidnapping five years ago.

The sa people whose actions had cost her children their lives.

But that theory made no sense. Those people had already been arrested years ago.

So if they weren’t responsible... Then who was?