Chapter 5

A week later, a tabloid story about Elara went viral.

The article was packed with screenshots, a full grid of posts Asher had made on social media over the course of the week.

On day one, it was Asher sitting at Elara's bedside with red-rimmed eyes while Elara smiled up at him, soft and reassuring. Her expression overflowed with tenderness.

On day three, Asher's caption read, "You are my forever". The photo showed Elara's peaceful face as she slept, and below it, a shot of their fingers laced tightly together.

The last post was a video. Elara was being discharged from the hospital under Asher's attentive care. Reporters swarmed the entrance, calling out to her. "Ms. Waverly, is it true that Rhys Lockhart forced you to jump and caused you to lose the baby?"

Elara said nothing. It was Asher, standing at her side, who answered, his voice trembling as if from nerves. "It was an accident on Mr. Lockhart's part. Please don't blame him."

It sounded like he was defending Rhys, but it was confirmation all the same.

And Elara, who would normally have shut entertainment reporters down with a single icy word, simply shielded Asher and walked away, deliberately leaving all the room in the world for the story to spiral.

Rhys closed the page, but he couldn't shake the look in Elara's eyes from that video, and the sting of it wouldn't leave his chest. He had never cared what the rest of the world thought of him. He'd been used to standing alone long before any of this, right up until Elara came along.

She was the one who had pulled him out from under all of it. But the moment he started to rely on her, she told him it had all been a dream and let go, watching him sink without a trace of feeling in her eyes.

At least there was only one more week. After that, he and Elara would have nothing left between them.

But just when Rhys thought he could wait out the remaining days in peace, Asher showed up at his door with two bodyguards.

Asher had come to settle a score. "I hear you got hold of the Waverly Corp security footage and tried to use it against me.

"Too bad for you. Elara trusts me so completely that I didn't even have to explain myself. She decided on her own that it was just an accident."

He let out a mocking laugh. "Where did you find the nerve to bring that up to her? Don't you know me by now? I never let a grudge go."

He waved a hand. "Teach him a lesson."

The bodyguards moved on command. One locked Rhys's limbs in place while the other pressed down on his back, trying to force him to his knees.

Rhys fought back hard. "Let go of me! You lay a hand on me, and I'll make sure none of you ever work again!"

The bodyguards hesitated for a moment, but pushed down anyway. "Sorry, Mr. Lockhart. Ms. Waverly told us to follow Mr. Keene's orders. She said that as long as Mr. Keene is happy, we can do whatever it takes, including hurting you."

His knees slammed into the floor with an audible crack. Rhys looked up in disbelief, and the next second, Asher drove a kick straight into his stomach.

"Did you hear what they said?" Asher covered his mouth as he laughed, looking down at Rhys's shock and humiliation like it was a show put on for his entertainment.

"I will always come first in Elara's heart. You're just trash she shoved into a corner."

The second kick came, then a third, then more than he could count, and the searing pain tore through every nerve. A heavy, blunt fog dragged his vision into doubles, and Rhys's body went limp, barely clinging to consciousness.

Then Asher stopped. He held his phone out in front of Rhys's face, smiling brightly. "I uploaded a video of your little beating online. It's doing really well."

Rhys's eyes widened. On the screen, he saw himself on his knees, clothes wrinkled and torn, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Asher had captured the most degrading, most humiliating version of Rhys imaginable. He'd taken his dignity, thrown it on the ground, and stomped it to nothing.

And then, just to twist the knife, Asher read the comments out loud in a lazy, casual drawl.

"Which hero did God's work here? This is so satisfying."

"Honestly, that pathetic beaten-dog look suits him. Isn't he supposed to sleep around? This is probably how he hooks women."

Rhys let out a roar, raw and guttural, like a cornered animal, and threw every ounce of strength he had into trying to break free. "Asher! You're a dead man!"

But it was useless.

Asher delivered one final kick that sent Rhys crumpling flat to the ground. He scoffed. "Rhys, I'm giving you three days to file for divorce from Elara.

"If you don't, this is just the appetizer. The real fun hasn't even started."