Chapter 532

Chapter 532

Elsie's tone was calm, yet it carried a clear-headed awareness of everything.

Aline looked at her, and after a long pause, sighed. "That's what you say, but I always feel like you... you seem a bit unsettled."

She leaned in closer, lowering her voice. "Olivia, tell me honestly, do you really have no feelings left for Ronald at all? I know you sound firm about it, but back then you gave so much for him. Those feelings—are they easily buried like that? All these years you haven't shown any interest in starting something new. In your heart, are you..."

Elsie's fingers holding the water glass paused slightly.

"No." Her answer came almost without hesitation. "Aline, I'm not the same Elsie I used to be. It's been five years. What I couldn't let go of before, I've completely moved on from now."

She put down the glass and stood up. "I'm tired. I'm going to my room to rest."

Aline watched her receding figure, lost in thought.

Night deepened.

Ronald downed glass after glass of hard liquor.

"Elsie... Elsie..." he murmured in a low voice, his tone filled with endless regret.

Albert sat across from him, watching his friend in this lost and dejected state and shaking his head helplessly.

"Ronald, drink less. This isn't helping anything."

Ronald ignored him completely and threw back another big gulp.

As the alcohol hit him, his vision began to blur, his mind filling entirely with Elsie's cold, resolute face.

"Why... why won't you give me a chance..." he mumbled to himself, his voice carrying a sob.

Albert sighed, pulled out his phone, and found Elsie's number.

After a moment's hesitation, he made the call.

The phone rang for a long time before being answered. Elsie's voice carried a hint of just-woken hoarseness. "Hello?"

"Ms. Forbes, it's me, Albert Davis. You..." Albert never imagined that Olivia was actually Elsie—the change was so dramatic, she could even speak now.

He hesitated for a long while. "Mr. York... he's drunk and keeps calling your name. Do you think you could..."

Silence on the other end for a few seconds.

"Just send him home, or get him a designated driver." Elsie's voice revealed no emotion.

"In the state he's in, I'm worried..." Albert seemed troubled. "And besides, there are some things I think he might want to say to you in person. Ms. Forbes, when Mr. York divorced you back then, there were actually... reasons he couldn't help."

Another stretch of silence.

"What reasons?" Elsie's voice remained flat.

"Back then, he was actually trying to protect you." Albert took a deep breath. "I don't know the specifics, but since your divorce, Mr. York has been quietly helping you. He's never let go of your relationship..."

Elsie's fingers gripping the phone unconsciously tightened.

To protect her? How absurd that reason was, how ironic.

"The damage is already done. And this protection thing you're talking about—I don't believe it." She spoke word by word, clear and cold. "His reasons have nothing to do with me. You deal with it. I can't help."

With that, she moved to hang up.

"Ms. Forbes!" Albert said urgently. "He's in bad shape right now, you..."

Elsie still hung up, tossed her phone aside, and closed her eyes.

But in her mind, Ronald's pained face appeared uncontrollably.

She turned over irritably.

A few minutes later, she still sat up from bed, put on a jacket, grabbed her car keys, and went out.

At the bar, Ronald was completely wasted, slumped over the table, still mumbling something unclear.

Elsie walked over, looked at his miserable state and was unable to describe what she felt.

"I called a car. Get him up." Elsie turned to Albert.

Before she finished speaking, Ronald's body suddenly lurched, violent coughing tore through the bar's noise, and then a mouthful of dark red liquid sprayed out, spreading into a dark stain on the carpet.

"Mr. York!" Albert's voice changed pitch as he scrambled to support his swaying body.

Elsie's steps halted, that patch of wet dark red made her breath got caught.

She strode over in a few steps, placed her fingers on Ronald's wrist, then after a moment pulled open his tightly closed eyelids.

"Hospital, now!"

The corridor bench was ice-cold. Elsie sat there all night, cold seeping into her bones, the smell of disinfectant on her clothes drilling into her nose, rather sharp.

Ronald was still inside—acute gastric bleeding, alcohol poisoning, unconscious.

The phone screen suddenly lit up, vibrating non-stop, Harold's name jumping on the display.

She swiped to answer.

"Hello." Her voice was a bit hoarse.

"Olivia! Where are you? Where are you right now?" Harold's usually gentle voice rarely carried such urgency. "Quick, check social media—someone set you up. Right now, many of your studio's partners are calling to cancel contracts."

"Harold, what about Missy? Any new information from her end?" Elsie's voice had little fluctuation, it was so calm it made Harold on the other end pause.

"How did you know it was her?" Harold asked back, suppressing his anger, then continued, "She hijacked an important company contract, specifically asking to see you, saying if you're willing to show up, the contract won't be a problem. I didn't agree, and then today..."

The rest went without saying.

Elsie lowered her eyelids, her long lashes casting a shadow beneath her eyes.

It really was Missy. Her methods were as despicable as ever, but also more direct now.

Using public opinion to force her to appear.

"I understand, Harold. I'll handle this. Sorry, seems like I've dragged you into trouble again." She reassured him.

"Olivia, after all these years we're family. Why are you being so formal? Right now those people online are saying the most awful things, your photos—old ones, new ones—the fact that you're Elsie Forbes, it's all out there for everyone to see." Harold's voice was full of anxiety and heartache. "You're a young woman..."

"I'm fine." Elsie interrupted him, her tone carrying an unquestionable calm. "They want to see me in a mess, want to force me to bow my head—I won't give them what they want. Harold, keep the company steady on your end, don't panic. Leave the rest to me."

After hanging up, Elsie opened her phone browser.

All kinds of sensational headlines appeared:

"Deep Dive into the York Group's Former First Lady's Scheming Rise to Power!"

"Mr. Ronald York's Ex-Wife Returns with New Identity, Entangled with Mr. York, Forcing Out His First Love?"

"Pinnacle Bank President's Sister Replaced—Olivia Glover Is Actually the Long-Missing Elsie Forbes!"

The accompanying images showed her blurry figure following behind Ronald years ago, her pale and thin profile sitting at a piano, and even some deliberately cropped old photos making her expression look obsessive.

Malice surged like a tide, and the comment section was even more filled with vile language too obscene to read.

Elsie scrolled through expressionlessly, her fingertip sliding across the screen, finally stopping on an anonymous tip. That tip "detailed" how she used Elsy to gain sympathy, and how even after the divorce she continued to cling desperately.