I was still surprised—Ryan was really testing how much Edward could take.

Edward had no clue about any of this yet. If he saw Ryan flaunting our hand-holding pic on Instagram, everything we’d agreed on would go up in smoke.

I pressed my hand to my aching forehead. Things had been out of control for a while now, like a car with no brakes.

“Ryan!” I called out, running over to the couch where he was sitting.

Ryan was editing a photo on his phone. He looked up at me and asked gently, “What’s wrong?”

“Uncle Ryan seems to know about my situation. He promised he’d help me deal with Nathan and the Chancellor family. But if you post that picture on Instagram now, he probably won’t help me anymore. He said he could fix everything with just one phone call. What about you?” I wasn’t letting love cloud my judgment–real-life benefits still mattered to me.

Ryan gave my arm a gentle pat and said reassuringly, “Relax. I’ll have Uncle Ryan make that call. For him, it’s just a word and everything’s settled.”

“You… you’re really going to ask your uncle for this favor?” My mind just blanked out, and I could feel my face twisting in disbelief.

Ryan nodded. “What, you think I can’t pull this off?”

“No, it’s just… what if your uncle thinks I’m a bad woman?” I asked nervously.

“How are you bad? If you were really bad, we’d be doing a lot more than just holding hands,” Ryan said, actually pretty good at comforting people.

I couldn’t even explain myself to him anymore. I turned and headed back to the kitchen, my mind a mess.

‘Should I tell Edward that Ryan’s known about all of this from the beginning?’ I hesitated.

Ryan seemed to have finished posting on Instagram. He strolled over to the kitchen, leaned against the counter with a puppy-dog look, and asked, “Did you forget to get me my lucky year gift?”

I shot back, “Of course I didn’t forget. I’ll buy it for you this afternoon.”

“Okay, but what do you want?” Ryan suddenly asked. “You’re giving me a present, so I should get you something too, right?”

“You don’t have to get me anything. It’s just a birthday gift for you,” I said.

“No way, I’ll pick something myself,” Ryan replied with a mysterious grin.

“Is that your phone ringing?” I asked, catching the sound with my sharp ears.

Ryan shook his head. “No, that’s your phone.”

A chill crept down my back—I had a bad feeling about this. I quickly shoved the spatula into Ryan’s hand. “Here, you stir.”

“Wait… I don’t know how,” Ryan said, sounding nervous.

“Just move them around a bit so the dumplings don’t stick,” I said quickly, then dashed into the bedroom.

When I saw the caller ID, it popped up as “Fox“—the nickname I’d given Edward.

I’d saved his contact as that when I was pissed at him.

I gripped my phone, took a deep breath, and tried to sound calm. “Mr. Jennings!”

“Did Ryan just post a picture of you two holding hands on Instagram?” Edward demanded, his voice full of anger.

I couldn’t lie. I admitted, “Yes, Mr. Jennings. He knows everything. He even guessed that you’d force me into a fake marriage.”

Edward was silent for a few seconds, then let out a helpless sigh. “Alright. Ryan’s always been a deep thinker–he probably did figure it out. Looks like he really likes you. Because of you, he’s even trying to outsmart me now.”

“So what about our agreement…” I asked.

“It’s off,” Edward replied coldly. “You didn’t hold up your end, and you still want the perks?”

I knew this was coming.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Jennings. I didn’t expect things to turn out like this,” I said, pretending to be remorseful.

“Did he take that clip from you?” Edward asked, completely ignoring my apology.

I nodded. “Yeah, he handed it to me this morning and told me everything.”

Edward’s voice suddenly went cold. “You two… you’re not already together, are you?”

I felt my heart skip a beat. “Not yet,” I replied.

“Don’t even dream about pulling some low-life stunt like getting knocked up with a Jennings baby just to cash in. If you think having our kid will set you up for life, you’re delusional. You might never lay eyes on that child for the rest of your days,” Edward said, his voice suddenly icy and chilling.

My heart clenched. This wasn’t some empty threat–this was the brutal reality staring me in the face.

I felt looked down on, so I lifted my chin and said, “Mr. Jennings, trust me, I’m not dying to have kids. I’ve been through childbirth once, and I know exactly how much it hurts. I’m not the type to forget the pain and rush into it again, so you can chill.”

Edward hung up on me, just like that.

I stared at my phone, half thinking it had glitched out.

Turns out, my phone was fine–it was just Edward showing his true colors.