The Seductive Pretty Boy of the Matriarchal World-Chapter 71: Perfect Timing

Chapter 71: A Twist of Fate

For one suspended beat, Liora felt her heart skip.

Something in Serena’s expression shifted too.

She truly hadn’t expected Liora to be into this kind of person.

Of course, Liora’s preferences were her own. Serena had no intention of interfering. If she did, she would’ve corrected Liora’s taste in partners a long time ago.

Still...

"Why did that sound so much like a man?"

Liora didn’t answer right away. Instead, she turned her head and looked at Serena, her composure flawless. "Sis, peeking at someone else’s privacy isn’t exactly a good habit."

Serena had just started to speak when Liora laughed. "She likes doing that on purpose." Then she openly turned her phone around and showed her the screen.

"Little Kitten?"

Serena remembered immediately. This seemed to be the same person from last time, the one whose call Liora hadn’t dared answer.

Then she thought of that sticky-sweet little mua from a moment ago, soft enough to make a person’s bones go weak, and just masculine enough to feel suspicious. Serena smiled without really smiling and gave her verdict.

"Well... she does sound pretty kitten-like."

Liora’s smile stayed light. "I thought so too."

"Looks like whatever issue you had with her is settled now." Serena lifted a hand and patted Liora’s shoulder. "So when are you bringing her back for us to meet?"

Liora lowered her gaze slightly. "I’ll try."

After that, Serena turned and left. She still had the venue to arrange. Even if Lucien himself wouldn’t be coming in person, she was still going to make sure he had a birthday grand enough to match the fantasy she’d built around him.

As Liora watched Serena’s back recede into the crowd, a chill slowly surfaced in her eyes.

Not because of Serena.

Because of Elias.

The rush from a moment ago had been real, sharp enough to leave a lingering throb in her nerves, but underneath it sat a flare of irritation.

She had come within a hair of being exposed.

If the screen had been tilted up even slightly, if Serena had seen the earlier messages, she would have identified "Little Kitten" as Elias on the spot.

The only thing worth being thankful for was that Elias had sent over nothing but a single mua instead of a full sentence. Otherwise, even if Serena had already convinced herself the person on the other end was a woman, she still would’ve heard his voice for what it was.

Liora picked up her phone and stood. After smoothly avoiding greetings from several members of the other prominent families, she made her way to a quiet corner by herself.

She and Serena were hardly the only ones there to celebrate Lucien’s birthday. The Hart family’s business empire had long operated under the protection of both the Blackwoods and the Frosts, so no one in the room dared look down on them. Any company with ties to the Harts had naturally come to offer birthday wishes to the family’s golden son.

Liora had never bothered with that kind of networking.

She had her own circles.

And even when she openly ignored people, no one interpreted it as a commercial signal. They all understood her actions represented only her personal stance.

The Blackwoods only needed one person in power.

Serena was enough.

Leaning back against the wall, Liora waited until Serena was gone, then opened her chat with the man entangled with her and sent him a message.

Liora: I’m not busy anymore. What, miss me already?

Outside the elevator bank at the hospital, Elias’s brow lifted.

Had Liora suddenly turned over a new leaf?

No. Anything this strange had a reason behind it.

He’d better see what she was planning first.

Elias: Of course I miss you. Where are you right now?

The message had the exact tone of someone ready to run over the second she dropped a location.

This, despite the fact that he was literally on his way to go charm a doctor.

Liora still gave him what he wanted.

Liora: The usual place. The Pinnacle Club.

Elias understood at once, and then he laughed under his breath.

So that was it.

Liora was clearly up to no good. She wanted to watch him make a fool of himself.

What exactly had he done to her? Why was she suddenly in such a rush?

The answer wasn’t hard to guess. Elias pieced it together almost immediately.

Could it be that the voice message I sent got overheard? By Serena?

He covered his mouth, trying not to laugh too hard, but it was a struggle.

Putting himself in Liora’s place, that moment had probably been thrilling as hell. Push it a little further, though, and it would’ve crossed straight into fatal territory.

Once he finally calmed down, Elias became even more certain he wasn’t going over there now.

When Serena fell for him later, that would be the perfect time to reveal the cruel truth, that he was nothing more than Lucien’s substitute.

Elias: Never mind. I still need to go see my dad. You can come find me later.

Smooth as ever. He’d even tried to flip the situation around and take control of it.

Liora’s lips curved slightly, but she didn’t refuse.

Liora: Fine.

Just then, the elevator doors opened.

Elias put his phone away, waited for the people inside to file out, then hurried in before the next wave could block him and squeezed himself into the corner as much as possible.

More people crowded in after him. The elevator kept growing tighter, and with no telling who had pressed what before he arrived, it seemed like almost every floor had been selected. The car stopped again and again on the way up.

Elias was long used to this. He didn’t get impatient.

Then, when the elevator stopped on the thirteenth floor, someone suddenly let out a small cry of surprise.

Elias looked up.

Three doctors stood outside the doors.

The moment they appeared, it felt like even the air inside the elevator had been scrubbed clean.

The woman in the center was the one who drew the eye first. She was strikingly tall, with gold-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of a straight, elegant nose. Her white coat was immaculate, not a single wrinkle marring the line of it. The whole image was restrained to the point of severity, all abstinence and polished control, and somehow that only made her more alluring. She looked like the kind of person people would want to drag down from her pedestal with their own hands, just to watch something so spotless finally break.

Elias’s eyes lit up at once.

This really was fate.

Yvonne noticed his stare too. She lifted her eyes and looked over, and for one brief instant, their gazes locked in the air between them.

Just as Elias thought he could finally start making progress with Yvonne, one of the doctors beside her glanced at the packed elevator and said, "There are too many people. Let’s take the next one."

Yvonne’s pale lips parted slightly.

"All right."

The next second, the elevator doors slid shut.

Because Elias was stuck all the way in the corner, he couldn’t even force his way out in time.

By the time the elevator reached the eighteenth floor, he stepped out with his head lowered and walked forward slowly.

[Do you need a moment?]

System Theta’s voice was flat as always, but there was a trace of concern in the timing of it.

Elias shook his head. Then he suddenly ground out through clenched teeth, "When I retire, I’m buying an elevator bigger than a thousand square feet."

[That sounds more like a morgue.]

Elias: ...

Yeah.

That really did sound like a morgue.

He let out a soft sigh. Even with that chance encounter, the odds of actually finding Yvonne now were still practically zero. He was about to head toward his father’s room and play the dutiful son for a while when he heard the low mechanical slide of another elevator opening nearby.

Three tall figures stepped out of the elevator across from him.

Elias froze, staring at Yvonne.

He looked like a child who had suddenly found the toy he wanted most, his eyes going bright all over again as he blurted out in disbelief, "Dr. Quinn!"