Nate rushed inside the office as soon as he heard the news.
He was on his way to another location and had just started watching the live stream after his previous meeting, just in time to hear Elara singing, feeling hella confused about why she chose a song that wasn’t hers.
Wasn’t she pretty much confident about her own lyrics?
Thus, he called Noah as soon as the live stream ended, demanding what went wrong. When he heard about the mishap, he couldn’t help but postpone his next meeting and rush to the office.
His gaze fell on Elara, who sat on the couch with an unreadable expression. It was hard to decipher what was going on inside her head at that point.
"We don’t know. I am looking into it too. How the hell did that song leak in the first place? We didn’t send the copy to Producer Li either," Noah said.
Elara looked up at Nate before standing..
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"I am hungry," she said.
A one-hour break was given to all the contestants so the judges could revise the rules and reach a decision that would benefit them the most and wouldn’t anger the audience.
Mate’s eyes softened at her innocent answer, and he was about to speak when Antonio volunteered to go out and bring takeout for her from the nearest outlet.
Once he was gone, Nate sat beside Elara.
"We have proof that you were the one who wrote this song and that you were recording it way before. The studio has CCTV footage. Don’t worry. We will prove your innocence if they try to disqualify you," Nate said.
Elara’s lips finally twitched at his words.
"They won’t," she said confidently.
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Nate asked.
"While your voice was truly exceptional, they might not want to face the audience’s wrath, Elara. After all, this publicity stunt is being pulled for the exposure of drama," Noah said with a grim expression.
Elara shook her head.
She wasn’t worried about it at all, not because she was so marvelous at singing, but because she knew they wouldn’t let it happen.
Elara smiled.
At the same time, in the nearby restaurant, Andrew sat before Carla and Beatrice.
"Brother, you’ll have to pull the strings to stop the scrutiny and make the judges decide based on the voting system," Carla said.
Andrew’s brows arched at his sister’s words.
He looked up briefly, just enough to let Carla know he was listening.
"I am trying to save our family some dignity. What if that bitch tried to pull the wife card before everyone and shame the family if she got called out? What will happen to your reputation? It will affect Beatrice too. Also, aren’t you guys filing for divorce now? What’s the use of announcing it now?" Carla tried to reason.
She looked at Beatrice for help, but the latter could only nod at her to let her know she would speak when the time was appropriate.
Andrew didn’t rush to answer. He pulled out a napkin and dabbed the corner of his lips before looking up.
"Or are you afraid of something else?" Andrew asked, his sharp eyes landing on Carla.
He had no intention of defending Carla in this. She has been using Elara’s talent for three long years without once crediting her. And while it didn’t bother him before, now that he could see how good she was but always suppressed herself, he felt guilty for some reason.
And maybe this was his way of dumping his guilt onto his sister, but he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of using the connections to get her way around, not when she stole so openly and wasn’t ready to admit it.
Beatrice sensed the change in Andrew’s tone and immediately knew something was wrong.
With the way he said that sentence... he knew Carla stole it from Elara.
But why did it bother him? Was he leaning toward Elara? Beatrice wondered before shaking her head inwardly.
Or maybe he was just angry because he was kept out of the loop, and Carla was outright lying to him to his face.
"Carla took the song from Elara," Beatrice broke the silence.
Carla’s pupils dilated, and she almost slammed her hand on the table in anger, but swallowed her anger, remembering her brother was here.
"Stole’ would be the right word." Andrew looked at Beatrice.
Beatrice sighed.
"I know this looks so wrong, Andrew. But think about it. Was it Carla’s fault? She was pushed into the corner because of the scandal, and this was her only chance to make up for the past things," Beatrice said.
She placed her hand over Andrew’s, giving it a soft squeeze.
"You have blocked the news in your house to prevent your grandpa from knowing what happened, but can you keep it from him forever? Carla just wanted to build something that she would be able to present to your grandfather before he finds out," Beatrice said.
Andrew looked at Carla, who nodded frantically.
He looked at the sincerity in Beatrice’s eyes before sighing, massaging his forehead.
It was so wrong. But Beatrice was right too. Their grandpa might throw Carla out of the house if he found out she got into a scandal—specifically, a bullying scandal.
Besides, Elara sang so beautifully earlier. Many people watched the stream. Companies would line up to work with her, no? Or he can pull some strings for her.
"But what if Elara asks the production to look into it?" Andrew asked.
Beatrice smiled.
"Clara was working with Noah earlier. We can always say that she got the song before she left. It was supposed to be her anyway. Since Elara has signed under Noah and not Nate, it makes things easier. I am not doing this to downgrade her but to save your grandpa’s health," Beatrice said.
When she noticed Andrew wasn’t moved by her words, tears welled in her eyes.
"Or do you not trust me?" She asked, then nodded to herself and stood.
"If you don’t trust me, I am just wasting my time." Beatrice stood, but Andrew quickly grabbed her hand to stop her, unaware that someone had taken a photo of the exact moment and that it would later bring them so much trouble.
"I trust you. But I need to make sure Elara is fine with it. I’ll go and talk to her," Andrew said, leaving the restaurant to go to Nate’s office, where he knew she would be.
Inside Nate’s office, Elara called George when she saw his missed call.
"Hey," she whispered.
"Don’t hey me! What the hell was that? That was pure fire. But what if people find out about you? We concealed your identity for four years. This can blow up," George said.
Elara shook her head.
"No one will know. That girl died so long ago," she said, looking at her fingers before taking a deep breath.
"Just keep Mom and Dad out of it. I’ll give them the good news myself," Elara said, tears brimming in her eyes as she felt one step closer to her dream, her dream of achieving something before she faced her parents, as someone who earned something, not a failed wife who got betrayed.
She was about to speak more when she heard the door open, and to say she was surprised to see who it was would be an understatement. She ended the call before looking at the man.
"What do you want?" Her expression turned sour in an instant, her earlier smile nowhere to be seen.
Andrew paused for a second before saying something that caught Elara off guard even more.
"Let’s have a baby," he said.