Elise remained silent.

Sometimes, silence truly spoke volumes.

"I never intended to conceal that I was the man from your eighteenth year," William confessed. "I asked you once if you hated him, and you said yes. I planned to tell you when our relationship felt more secure, when you no longer flinched from my touch. Perhaps... just perhaps, you might have learned to accept me."

Elise listened without interruption, her expression unreadable. Encouraged by her silence, William continued.

"That night, I had just returned from overseas and was drinking with Nathan and some friends. At the bar, I saw you—delirious and vulnerable. When another man approached you, and you weakly tried to push him away, I intervened. You collapsed against me, your skin burning with fever. I admit I took you to a hotel, but where else could I have taken you? You were incoherent, burning up. I asked for your address, but you couldn't form words. Then, at the hotel, you were the one who pushed me onto the bed, and..." William's voice trailed off as he watched Elise's reaction.

Elise pressed her lips together. After all these years, the blurred memories of that night began sharpening into focus.

"You claimed you begged me not to touch you, but you have no recollection of how desperately you clung to me that night. Had you not vanished before I woke, you would have seen the scratches and bruises covering my body."

Elise's fists clenched involuntarily. William's casual recounting of the past she'd tried so hard to bury ignited fresh anger within her.

"It's not that I didn't try to find you afterward. But pride... I was young, reckless. After what happened between us, then you disappearing... I felt used. I returned abroad briefly, but within a month, I came back searching for you. That's when my parents' accident happened."

William paused, clearing his throat before continuing slowly. "My entire family plunged into mourning. My grandfather fell ill from grief. Suddenly, I carried the weight of our family legacy. I buried myself in work, traveling constantly between countries. Finding you became... impossible. Later, my grandfather brought James home, claiming... you had abandoned him."

Elise felt her heart constrict painfully.

How could she have abandoned James?

The doctors and nurses had clearly told her the baby was stillborn. The grief had been so overwhelming she couldn't bear to look at the tiny body.

She had accepted the heartbreaking loss.

"So is this your revenge?" Elise asked, bypassing explanations. What was the point, when everything seemed so convoluted?

"I'll admit when I first saw James, anger consumed me. Revenge crossed my mind. But after冷静下来, I chose understanding. You weren't even nineteen—still practically a child yourself. And the shame you would have faced as an unwed mother..."

He wasn't wrong.

So William had believed she would abandon James. He'd never considered other possibilities—that there might have been misunderstandings.

Just as Elise never believed William's feelings could be genuine, assuming he sought revenge for her perceived irresponsibility.

"After that, I did try finding you again," William said. "In Astonia... But you were already with Samuel. I saw you walking together at sunset, and I couldn't bring myself to approach you."

Elise remained quiet, uncertain whether to trust William's words.

"Initially, I tried forgetting you. But when I returned to Crestwood to take over Levine Holdings, there you were again. Radiant in white on your engagement day. I stood so close, yet you never once glanced my way."

During Elise's engagement party with Samuel, her thoughts had been filled only with him. There had been no room for anyone else in her heart that day.