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

Chapter 122: Chapter 122

That night, the black Maybach rolled into the driveway of the Bennett Manor.

The moment the driver brought the car to a halt in the courtyard, the rear door was flung open. A tall, elegant figure stepped out. His long legs, clad in black trousers, moved at a hurried pace as he headed straight into the villa.

The entire villa was brightly lit, yet the sprawling living room held only Mrs. Lander, who was pacing back and forth with an anxious expression. Even though it was only Elise who was missing, the house somehow felt as if it had grown desolate overnight.

Dylan slowed his pace, his eyes sweeping over the dining area. Perhaps remembering how terribly their morning conversation had ended, the heavy oppression in his chest only intensified.

"Sir!"

Seeing Dylan, Mrs. Lander immediately hurried over. She bowed deeply, keeping her head low. "Sir, I’m so sorry. This was a failure of duty on my part!"

Dylan looked down at her, his dark eyes cold and grim. "What exactly happened?"

Mrs. Lander was already sweating profusely from anxiety. "After you left this morning, Madam ate breakfast and told me she was tired and wanted to go upstairs to rest. I told her I would wait until she woke up to make lunch.

But then, she suddenly said she was craving something sweet and asked me to go out and buy her brownies from a French cafe on the other end of the city. So, the driver and I drove all the way to the west side..."

Under immense pressure, she recounted the day’s events to Dylan down to the last detail.

By the time she finished, Dylan’s face had grown a few shades colder. After a long silence, he finally asked, "How was her mood after I left?"

Mrs. Lander thought back. "Madam seemed to be in a very good mood because she felt the baby move."

Dylan froze instantly.

The baby moving...

In a daze, a distant memory rushed forth from the depths of his mind.

It was back when Elise was pregnant with the twins... It was late at night, and he had been holding an overseas video conference in the study. Elise had suddenly pushed the door open, one hand cradling her stomach, and trotted straight toward him without a word.

Before Dylan could even react, he heard her soft, tender voice: "Dylan, the baby moved!"

At that moment, Dylan had been stunned too. Ignoring the ongoing meeting, he instinctively reached out to touch her stomach. Through the slight bulge, the baby inside had graciously given him a few more kicks.

That was the first time he had truly felt the vitality of a new life.

The flutter of emotion that had hit his heart at that exact moment remained incredibly vivid, even now when he recalled it. It was also from that day onward that the reality of finally becoming a father had truly set in.

And back then, Elise had been so soft, bright, and beautiful, her tear-filled eyes sparkling with nothing but anticipation for their child.

Because the memory was so beautiful, recalling it now made that old flutter warp into a suffocating, knife-like pain in his chest.

Dylan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as his breathing grew heavy. Parting his thin lips, he asked in a low, raspy voice, "Did she say anything else to you?"

Mrs. Lander shook her head. "No. Seeing that she was in good spirits and had a healthy appetite, I didn’t think twice when she asked me to go out... Mr. Bennett, I’m sorry. This was my oversight."

Dylan raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. After a moment, he let out a quiet sigh. "I don’t blame you. If she wanted to leave, you couldn’t have stopped her anyway."

Mrs. Lander was taken aback. She looked at him anxiously. "Then... then what do we do now? Madam is still pregnant. If she’s out there all by herself and an accident happens..."

"She wouldn’t have left without making any preparations," Dylan interrupted her, his tone resolute. "Someone picked her up. You don’t need to worry about her safety."

Hearing this, Mrs. Lander finally breathed a small sigh of relief. "Then what do you plan to do now, Sir?"

Dylan sighed and simply muttered, "Go tend to your duties."

Recognizing his tone, Mrs. Lander refrained from asking further. When she first realized Elise was gone, her primary concern had been her safety. Now that Dylan had reassured her, she felt much more at ease.

As for whether Elise would ever return, that depended entirely on what Dylan did next. This was a matter between husband and wife; as an outsider, she didn’t dare pry.

***

Upstairs in the master bedroom.

Dylan pushed the door open. The room looked largely unchanged. The two comforters on the large bed were neatly folded, though the copy of The Complete Guide to Pregnancy on the nightstand was gone.

In truth, counting the days, Elise had only been back for a little over two weeks this time. And during these two weeks, they had gone from sharing a bed while harboring different dreams to living under the same roof in separate rooms. On regular days, they rarely even exchanged two words in a calm, peaceful manner.

Elise hadn’t been wrong at all. They had long since become a couple bound only by appearances, entirely estranged at heart.

Dylan walked into the walk-in closet. The clothes and suitcases Elise had brought back with her were gone. The wardrobe was only empty by a small fraction; she hadn’t taken a single piece of clothing, bag, or jewelry that he had purchased for her in his capacity as her husband after their marriage.

It was exactly the same as the first time she had moved out. She left cleanly, decisively, without taking a single thread of memory that belonged to them.

Looking at the entire closet, Dylan suddenly let out a low chuckle. The laugh carried a sharp trace of self-derision.

She always accused him of being cold-blooded and ruthless. But wasn’t she exactly the same?

Carrying his child, yet her mind was entirely consumed by the single thought of divorcing him—wishing for nothing more than to sever every single tie associated with him with a single stroke!

She was the one who said she loved him, and she was the one who said she didn’t.

Dylan opened the jewelry display cabinet and retrieved the ring box sitting at the very top. Opening it, the wedding band that had once never left her finger now lay there in solitary confinement. The diamond caught the light, sparkling brilliantly, but its owner seemed to have forgotten its existence long ago.

Dylan pulled the ring out, his thumb lightly tracing the inner band. Engraved there were two letters—EH.

***

By the time Oliver rushed over to the Bennett Manor, Dylan was sitting in the study. Oliver knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open and stepping inside.

The main lights in the study weren’t turned on; only the desk lamp cast a warm glow. The ring of light illuminated the man’s face, though his expression remained unreadable.

"Mr. Bennett," Oliver walked up to the desk and reported, "We haven’t found any record of Madam leaving the country. I’ve also questioned and looked into Zoey; for now, it seems she truly knew nothing about Madam running away this time."

"Elise wouldn’t make the same mistake twice," Dylan said, his voice cold and flat. "She is a very intelligent woman. One failure is enough for her to learn her lesson. She won’t use the same method to leave a second time."

Oliver frowned, completely at a loss. "Then where do you think Madam could have gone?"

"She’s still within the country," Dylan stated with absolute certainty.

Hearing this, Oliver breathed a small sigh of relief. "As long as she’s in the country, it will be much easier to track her down."

"There’s no rush to look for her just yet."

No rush?

Oliver looked at Dylan, thoroughly bewildered. "Sir, aren’t you worried about Madam? She’s a pregnant woman right now. Besides, even though the people from the kidnapping case have been captured, there have been new movements from the overseas faction recently... At a time like this, it’s better for us to be as cautious as possible."

Dylan didn’t reply to the warning. He remained silent, his fingers tapping against the desktop in a faint, arrhythmic cadence.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, his deep voice carrying a chilling weight. "If I haven’t guessed wrong, the person who picked her up should be Rina. Arrange a few men to go over there and protect her in secret."

As his words fell, he lifted his eyes to look at Oliver, his gaze icy. "As for the overseas side... send Aaron over to handle them."

Oliver nodded. "Understood. I’ll go arrange it right away!"