Chapter 4

Oliver's POV

In college, they stripped me naked, poured urine on me, and forced me to my knees to bark like a dog.

Cara was the first one there. She got hit with bottles and had three tendons torn in her hand just getting them off me. She then wiped my tears away with her crooked fingers.

"It's over. No one's ever going to bring it up again."

It took me three full years to claw my way out of that darkness.

I looked up in disbelief. "How would Dominic even know about that?"

Cara couldn't meet my eyes. Dominic walked over to me.

"She told me one night in bed, like a little bedtime story."

The blood in my veins went cold. The worst thing that ever happened to me, the pain I'd carry for the rest of my life, was just a story Cara used to keep him entertained.

I stared at her, my eyes burning. She looked away.

Dominic pointed at the group of men and put on his best righteous act. "But as your best friend, I figured I should help you get some closure. These lowlifes owe you an apology."

The three of them closed in, grinning with the same menace I remembered from all those years ago.

"Oliver, long time no see."

"I remember when you used to crawl around on the floor like a dog. Look at you now, all dressed up in a suit."

"We came all this way just to apologize, man. Don't be scared."

I lashed out blindly, swinging at anything near me. "Get away from me. Get the hell away from me!"

In the struggle, I accidentally kicked Dominic to the ground. Cara rushed to help him up, then turned back to me with pure disgust on her face.

"Dominic does something kind for you, and this is how you repay him?

"The baby isn't going to take anything away from you. When the child grows up, they'll still call you Dad. How can you be this heartless?"

Dominic shook his head with practiced grace. "Don't blame him. He's probably just too embarrassed to do this in front of everyone. Let them go up to a private room and talk it out. They can apologize, and maybe Oliver will stop having nightmares every night."

Cara's eyes softened with gratitude. "You always think of everything."

She waved for the men to take me upstairs to one of the private rooms. I fought with everything I had, begging her with my eyes. "They're not going to apologize!"

"Enough." Cara cut me off, already out of patience. "Dominic is trying to help. You can thank him after."

"Cara, please help m—"

The door slammed shut before I could finish. Something yanked me backward.

On the other side of the door, Cara paused at the muffled sound of my voice. Then she shook her head. "It's just an apology. He's making a scene just to make Dominic look bad."

Behind that door, my fingers clawed at the wood, leaving bloody streaks down the surface. Just like before, they tore the clothes off my body and ground a shoe into my mouth.

"You want us to apologize? Then we'll give you something to really remember."

I fought back as hard as I could, throwing punch after punch, but it was useless. They got more and more worked up, filming the whole thing and blasting it across every group chat they could find.

They didn't stop until my body was wrecked and covered in filth, with several ribs cracked under their boots. At some point, the room went quiet, and I was alone.

I lay there, my eyes hollow, tossed aside like a ragdoll on the floor of that private room, with my blood soaking into the carpet. Then I picked up a shard of broken porcelain and dragged it across my wrist.

"Cara, you will never see me again."

…

Third-Person POV

Three hours later, the banquet ended. Cara had turned down Dominic's dinner invitation.

Instead, she hurried into the elevator and headed up to the 20th floor. The door to the private room was slightly ajar, and the smell that hit her was a mixture of blood and something worse.

She pushed the door open, frowning. What she saw inside shattered her completely.