“Carson, you’ve finally come around?”

I stared at her, surprise flickering in my eyes. “Come around to what? Isn’t this an Archival family matter?”

“Don’t just talk about officially recognizing your family’s eldest grandson, since Gideon fathered the child but has no legitimate standing, he should be the one marrying you.”

I returned her smile with calm confidence. “As for me, I’m more than willing to step aside and make way for him.”

The room fell into a heavy silence.

Eyes darted nervously between each other, tension thick in the air.

Primrose’s face drained of color. Panic seized her as she grabbed my hand tightly.

“Carson, what nonsense are you spouting? I told you, we will never divorce.”

“Even if the child is Gideon’s, I would never marry him.”

My gaze shifted instinctively to Gideon. He lowered his head, a pitiful look softening his face, but beneath it, a flicker of smoldering resentment glimmered in his eyes.

Right. She wouldn’t divorce me, but she would keep sneaking behind my back into Gideon’s bed.

She’d keep using overtime as a mask, reuniting with Gideon and their child like some little happy family.

“Carson, what foolish talk is this, divorce talk, during a family dinner?”

Elizabeth’s glare cut through me, heavy with disdain.

“By our Archival traditions, you didn’t even have to be invited today. It was only because my daughter respects you.”

“This child, Alec, arrived at just the right time. You should raise him as your own. That’s your duty.”

Her father, Vincent, joined in. “Exactly. If you don’t raise him, our precious grandson becomes an illegitimate child. Our family’s bloodline wandering aimlessly, what would the world think? We’d be the joke.”

Dinner felt like chewing on wax, each person was lost in their own agenda.

I glanced at the calendar. Three days left.

No matter if Primrose signed or not, it would all end soon.

After dinner, Gideon came into my room holding the child.

“Brother Carson, don’t argue with Primrose anymore. The one she loves is you. Even though we have a child, she never once thought about marrying me.”

Gideon forced a bitter smile and carefully placed the child into my arms.

“I’ve decided to go abroad. I’m leaving the child with you. From now on, you’re Alec’s father.”

I froze, stunned. “You’re leaving?”

“Yeah.”

Gideon’s eyes were red-rimmed. “This child and I were never meant to be.”

He patiently showed me how to hold the baby and how to settle him for sleep. But just as I cradled him, the child suddenly screamed out loud.

I frowned, and then I noticed a needle stuck in the back of his head.

Gideon’s face drained of color, turning deathly pale as he shouted, “Brother Carson, I know Alec isn’t your real son, and you have no bond with him, but you can’t be this cruel! If you have a grudge, take it out on me! He’s not even two yet. How could you stab him with such a thick needle?”

The noise startled the Archival family outside.

They rushed in to find me holding the child, a bloody needle clutched in my hand, my face frozen in shock.

Gideon was sobbing on his knees before me.

“If you have a grudge, take it out on me. Use the needle on me instead! Don’t hurt my son...”

Primrose’s parents hurried to help him up, their faces etched with sorrow.

But when their eyes fell on the bloodied needle in my hand, their expressions twisted into something cold and hateful.

“What crime have we committed? Carson, you can’t have children, and now you want to kill my only grandson…”

Primrose snatched the child from my arms, trembling as if I’d become a danger.

“Hurry! Call the private doctor!”

I stared dumbfounded at the needle in my palm.

Only then did the chilling truth hit me: I had walked right into their trap.

“I didn’t do it, Primrose. That needle wasn’t mine...”

Her face hardened like ice.

“Carson, I believed you were upright and honest. A refusal meant a refusal. I even spent days trying to persuade you. But I never imagined you could be so cruel, trying to kill my son.”

A wave of helplessness crashed over me. “I swear, I really didn’t do it.”

“You didn’t?”

Primrose stepped closer, her eyes sharp and unforgiving.

“That thick needle was lodged in Alec’s head. Today, only you and Gideon held him. And you still deny it?”

“You expect me to believe it wasn’t you, then that Gideon, his own father, tried to hurt his son?”

Disappointment darkened Primrose’s gaze.

“If you can’t accept this child, then go to the mountain resort for a few days. Calm yourself.”

That very day, bodyguards escorted me away. Primrose said I could return once I’d come to my senses.

The rain poured relentlessly the day I left.

Inside the house, Primrose paced restlessly, her steps quick and nervous. Suddenly, she bit her lip, snatched an umbrella, and dashed into the storm.

“Carson, take this umbrella,” she called out.

“While I’m gone, take care of yourself. I’ll wait for the day you come back.”

I caught the familiar warmth in her eyes and smiled, but I didn’t reach for the umbrella.

“We’ll see.”

Without a glance back, I turned and walked away, every step firm and certain.

Primrose didn’t know, I had no intention of returning.

The next day, settled in the mountain resort, a message popped up, another video from that mysterious account, the same one from two years ago.

The screen showed a noisy KTV sofa, but their conversation cut through the clamor with chilling clarity.

“Did you wear one?”

Gideon chuckled darkly. “You didn’t again? Aren’t you scared you’ll get pregnant and your husband will leave you?”

Primrose snapped out of her reverie and let out a cold, bitter laugh.

“If I get pregnant, I’ll just have the baby.”

“Carson has always insisted on being childfree. We’ve been married for eight years and still have no children. My parents are pressuring me hard. How could I just stand by and watch the family line die out?”

“I’ll never divorce him. So I’ll have this child with you, for now, you raise him.”

She took a slow drag from her cigarette, her voice casual, almost indifferent.

“When the time comes, I’ll find some excuse, say the child was an accident.”

A shock like lightning hit me, freezing me from head to toe, my body trembling uncontrollably.

That night, two years ago, she insisted it was a setup, a mistake.

But it turned out she had planned it all along.

I sneered, my eyes drifting toward the window.

The resort sat on the far side of a mountain, part of the Archival family’s private estate, isolated and silent.

Rain pounded down in torrents as if trying to wash the whole world clean.

After a long moment of hesitation, I finally opened an umbrella and began descending the mountain path.

Primrose, I silently wished her a future overflowing with children and grandchildren.

As for me, I knew deep down we would never cross paths again.

“Primrose, look how much this child takes after you. Just like you were at his age as if he was carved from the very same mold.”

Elizabeth’s face lit up with joy as she cradled Alec in her arms.

The doctor had just finished the examination, and the needle hadn’t pierced deep, only grazing the surface. Thankful relief washed over us all.

Primrose stood watching the peaceful scene, her mind clouded and her chest tight with a strange irritation.

Her eyes flicked down to her phone. It was already eight in the evening.

She wondered if I had reached the resort yet.

With the rain pouring so hard tonight, was I afraid to be alone?

Just as she reached for her phone to call her assistant, the line rang instead.

“President Archival, something’s happened!”

“This storm is relentless! There’s been a landslide at the mountain resort. Your husband... he’s missing!”