Hiding Behind Her Superficiality by Kyla Olson

Chapter 534 Not Fit for a Child
Callum and Elspeth ignored each other for three days. When it first began, Callum hadn’t realized what he had done wrong. He
hugged Elspeth from behind, and he had been rubbing his face against her shoulder when he noticed how her whole body
tensed up in response. It was then that he realized that something was wrong between them. “Are you mad?” he asked.
Elspeth turned around. “I’m going to bed,” she uttered without bothering to conceal the fatigue in her voice. Callum stared at her
for a while, and his gaze darkened before he went into their room to grab his pillows. He ended up sleeping in the guest room
that night, and they had started sleeping separately since then.
Callum and Elspeth were the only two people at home in the daytime. Usually, Callum would wake up earlier to prepare
breakfast for Elspeth. However, Elspeth was surprised when she woke up to find that Callum hadn’t cooked anything the next
morning. She sighed at the sight of the empty table. It seems like we really have some unresolved issues. Well, I’m not going to
be the one to give in this time. I’m the one who’s pregnant here—Callum should be the one apologizing to me!
Elspeth ended up waiting for three whole days. Callum didn’t show any signs of remorse throughout this period—he didn’t seem
like he wanted to give in, either. Elspeth received a call while she was waiting for Callum’s apology. “It’s been a while, Elspeth.”
Arthur’s voice was clear and firm. “There’s something I’d like to tell you. Is Callum beside you now?” His voice sounded like a
warm summer breeze.
“No,” Elspeth responded in a rather curt tone as she felt frustrated upon hearing Callum’s name. “That’s great. Could we meet up
for a meal?” Arthur asked.
“I’m busy,” she replied. “I know you’re pregnant now, and I understand how you might have mood swings. However, other people
might not understand what you’re going through,” he stated.
Does he know that I’m pregnant? “How did you find out about this?” Elspeth clenched her fists. “You don’t need to know how I
found out about it, but you might be more worried if others find out about it.” He was obviously threatening her. Even though
Elspeth didn’t know how he found out about her pregnancy, she knew that he could hold it against her.
If others learned about her pregnancy, the McGraths would be the first to send someone over to hurt her. On top of that, all the
other people she had offended in the past would definitely seize this opportunity to harm her. Elspeth was confident that she
could protect her own child, but she felt uneasy after knowing that Arthur was involved in this matter.

Arthur knew that she was Helia’s daughter, so he would definitely take advantage of this piece of information to cause a fuss in
the public’s eye. He would change the narrative and make it seem as if her child with Callum was a product of incest—he would
make it seem as if she was bearing her cousin’s child. Elspeth could ignore all these matters, but she didn’t want her child to
have to deal with the consequences of such rumors.
Elspeth felt especially troubled whenever Arthur held something against her. She wanted to reject him, but she knew that she
couldn’t be too harsh when the man held such an important piece of information in his hands. “I’m really busy,” she replied.
“It seems like you’re not worried about this at all.” Arthur swirled the wine in his glass as he smirked. “Well, that’s okay. If you
don’t want to come over, I can always go to you.”
“You must have lost your mind. I’m in the Winthrop Residence now,” Elspeth uttered with a frown. “I know that. I also know that
Callum isn’t home now,” Arthur added. He talked for a while more before Elspeth heard the sound of a car engine coming from
his end of the line. “Alright. Don’t come over,” Elspeth uttered before taking a deep breath to calm herself down. “Name a place.
I’ll go over to meet you.”
“I knew you’d agree to meet up eventually.” Arthur let out a grin of victory. “Let’s meet at Damoria Delicacies. They serve pretty
good Damorian food, and I remember how much you love local food.”
Elspeth felt her head throbbing. “You must’ve remembered wrongly. I don’t like Damorian food.” She felt disgusted whenever she
had to interact with Arthur.
“Well, you should take your time to get ready since you’re a pregnant woman. I’ll see you in an hour.” Arthur ended the call after
that. Elspeth freshened up, but she didn’t bother to put on any makeup. She headed over to the restaurant they had agreed to
meet at. Arthur was already inside by the time she arrived, and a glimpse of fondness surfaced in his gaze when he first saw her.
However, he quickly wiped the look off his face. He stubbed the cigarette in his hand and opened the window a little wider when
he noticed the woman’s baby bump.
Elspeth took a seat in the spot that was farthest away from him. “Why did you want to meet me in person, Arthur? Are you going
to drug me the way you did the last time?” she asked.
Arthur shook his head before chuckling and admitting to his faults. “I know I acted a little too rashly the last time, but I genuinely
miss you this time. I just wanted to have a chat,” he said.
“I’ve said this a ton of times, but I really don’t have much to say to you,” she replied.

“No,” Arthur said while shaking his head. “I asked you out today because of your pregnancy,” he explained. Elspeth immediately
went into fight-or-flight mode as she pressed a hand against her belly while eyeing the man cautiously. “You’re not going to find
ways to torture the baby in my belly, are you?”
Arthur flashed her a bitter smile. “I know I’m not the nicest man around, but I’ve never wanted to harm you. You don’t have to be
so careful around me.” Even though Arthur had a rather horrible personality, he was right when he claimed that he had never
done anything to harm her directly.
Elspeth nodded. “What do you want to know, then?” she asked.
“I found out about your pregnancy because Jethro told me about it,” Arthur explained. Elspeth was then reminded of what
happened in the pharmacy. She contemplated the whole situation for a while, and she felt a sense of displeasure toward Jethro
after she finally made sense of the whole situation.
“I don’t think you should keep the child.” Arthur got straight to his point. He made it sound as if the world would end once she
gave birth to the child.
“I don’t think you’re in any position to tell me what I should do with my baby.” Elspeth was aware that she had considered
aborting the child, but she didn’t want others to tell her what to do. “You’re a smart woman, Elspeth. I’ve always known this about
you.” Arthur paused for a moment, then he sighed at the sight of her emotionless face. “But... Do you know how much you might
be affected by the birth of this child?” he asked slowly.
Elspeth kept the same blank expression on her face as she spoke in a hard voice. “I know.”
“You don’t. If you knew how much you’d be affected, you wouldn’t be so stubborn now.” Arthur knew how stubborn the woman
was, so he tried to switch to a gentler tone as he continued explaining the situation to her.
“Firstly, the child came at a bad time. Both you and Callum are focusing on developing the business now. Do you think you can
bring yourself to give up on Azure Corporation just to care for the child? You’ll have to put in a lot of effort to care for a child on
your own. Would you be able to do that? Secondly, you still don’t know where your real father is. Even if you manage to prove
that you’re not blood-related to Callum, the public will still make comments on this matter. If you give birth to your child now, the
child will carry the name of being born out of incest. Are you sure that this is what you want for your child?” Arthur asked.
“Lastly, and most importantly... You’re not fit to have a child now,” he said.
“What did you just say?” Elspeth’s gaze darkened.