Chapter 7

Caleb's legs gave out beneath him.

Just as he was about to collapse, someone caught him from behind, and a cold voice sounded beside his ear. "Do you really want to keep fighting?"

Elena's voice was calm. The clean, floral-fruity scent that always lingered around her hadn't changed, yet it was no longer a scent Caleb longed for.

"Without your lawyer, how exactly do you plan to fight me? Besides, can you really bear to put your only friend in danger?"

Caleb felt as though an invisible hand had closed around his throat.

Countless grievances were bottled up inside him, but he had no way to voice them. And the very hands now choking the life out of him belonged to the person he'd once foolishly believed was his salvation.

'How ridiculous. How absurd!' At the thought of Alex's condition, Caleb's fingers began to tremble uncontrollably.

Elena was right. Caleb had never had much family in his life. Wherever he went, people treated him like a freak. Apart from his father, Alex was the only person he had left who truly mattered to him.

How could he keep fighting?

After a long silence, Caleb finally forced out three words. "I give up."

It wasn't an admission that he was wrong. It was a surrender. He had lost because he'd been blind to the people around him and because, already at his breaking point, he couldn't bear another blow.

He opened his social media account and, under Elena's watchful eye, typed out a clarification post word by word, despite every instinct screaming at him not to.

The moment he posted the statement, Jake was cleared of all wrongdoing.

The netizens who had originally supported Caleb immediately turned against him and tore him apart with vicious insults.

"Are you happy now?" Caleb held up his phone. Tears of despair streamed down his face as he shouted at Elena, "Where's Alex?!"

Elena's heart lurched. For the first time, an inexplicable sense of panic seized her, though she couldn't understand where it came from.

Was it because of Caleb's tears?

But she had no choice either. If Caleb hadn't imagined things and picked fights with Jake over every little thing, how could they have ended up here?

What she didn't know was that Jake had committed another unforgivable crime behind her back.

"An abandoned factory on the northern outskirts." Her voice turned hoarse.

She was about to explain further, but Caleb couldn't wait another second. He spun around, flagged down a cab, and rushed toward the outskirts.

…

An hour later, Caleb arrived.

He stormed into the factory. Just as he spotted Alex, his friend's body suddenly plummeted from above and slammed onto a pile of scrap metal.

A jagged piece of metal pierced straight through his chest.

"No!" Caleb screamed in horror and stumbled toward him.

Less than seven feet separated them, yet Caleb fell several times before he could reach his friend. In the end, he dropped to his hands and knees and crawled the rest of the way.

Alex's body was covered in wounds. Caleb wanted desperately to pick him up, but he didn't dare touch him.

"Alex..."

At the sound of Caleb's sobs, Alex struggled to open his eyes. With the last of his strength, he raised a hand and wiped the tears from Caleb's face.

Through his stitched-shut mouth, he forced out two broken words. "L-Live well."

Then, with tears still in his eyes, he closed them for the last time.

"No! Alex, don't!" Caleb immediately called 911, sobbing so hard he could barely breathe. "You're all I have left. Please don't leave me..."

By the time the ambulance arrived, Alex was already gone.

Caleb sat there in a daze, clutching his friend's hand. His expression was empty, utterly devoid of hope.

Then his phone suddenly rang.

Three messages arrived at once.

The first was from the courthouse.

[Mr. Wallace, your divorce application with Elena Coleman has been approved. Please come in at your convenience to collect your divorce certificate.]

The second was from Elena.

Elena: [Caleb, I've already arranged for the media to retract the statements made against you online. Too much has happened these past few days, and I haven't had time to explain everything to you. Grandpa's birthday is tomorrow. Don't forget to attend. You'll understand everything then.]

The last was from Jake.

Jake: [Wallace, there's no one left behind you now. What could you possibly have left to compete with me? Elena is mine! Once she successfully takes over the Coleman family, she'll divorce you immediately!]

As Caleb stared at the messages, a hatred unlike anything he'd ever felt before consumed him.

He had nothing left, but neither of them was going to get away with this. He would expose them, drag Elena down from her pedestal, and make Jake understand what it felt like to have every last shred of hope crushed.