Chapter 5

I didn't want to waste any more breath on them. I quietly told them to leave. But only Dylan heard me. Alyssa was too worked up—she just stared at me like she wanted me dead.

"Connor, don't kick her out. If you're angry, just hit me instead!"

Dylan seemed to know exactly what he was doing. As long as he played the victim, Alyssa would come to his defense. So he lunged at me, grabbed my hand, and tried to make me hit him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

This was insane. I tried to pull my hand away, but Dylan held on tight.

"Connor, if you promise not to blame Alyssa, you can hit me, yell at me—I'll take it!"

Dylan pulled me away from Alyssa, creating some distance between us. And in the middle of all the tugging, he shot me a smug little grin. Then he let go of my hand and threw himself down the stairs.

Alyssa snapped out of her rage and came running down after him.

"Dylan!"

Dylan tumbled to the bottom. There was blood on his head. He looked up at me with a pitiful expression and said in a weak little voice, "Connor, now that you've pushed me down the stairs and gotten your revenge, please don't be mad at Alyssa anymore…"

Alyssa rushed to his side, cradled him in her arms, and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Dylan, Dylan! Are you okay?"

She was crying her heart out. Dylan reached up and wiped the tears from her face.

"Alyssa, please don't be mad at Connor. I'm not mad at him either. If anyone's to blame, it's me. I had bad thoughts about you. I wanted you all to myself… But I know you and Connor are meant to be together. I should have never shown up in front of you and caused you to fight…"

Dylan lay there on the ground, barely breathing. Every word he said sounded like a goodbye.

But I was the only one who saw it. When he fell, he didn't hit anything important. And it was only five steps. There's no way he'd be this banged up.

I looked more closely at the blood on the back of his head. The color was way too light—it looked more like spilled red ink. And I didn't smell any blood. But the ink smell was so strong it made me sneeze.

Totally the wrong moment.

Alyssa's grief turned into pure fury. She was holding Dylan in her arms, but her eyes wanted to tear me apart.

"Connor! I've told you so many times—don't you dare touch Dylan! And you pushed him down the stairs! I'm going to make you pay!"

"I didn't push him. He fell on his own. And he's not even hurt!"

"Shut up! Connor, I swear I'll make you pay a thousand times over for what you did to Dylan today!"

Alyssa had completely lost it. She wouldn't listen to anything I said. She frantically called an ambulance and left with Dylan as soon as it arrived.

I let out a long sigh. What the hell is wrong with these people? I'd never seen anyone cheat so blatantly and still act so self-righteous.

I went downstairs and looked at the spot where Dylan had been lying. My custom bottle of red ink lay shattered on the floor, completely innocent.

I couldn't drag this out with Alyssa any longer. I needed to take back my company and get these lunatics out of my life.

I called my lawyer. "Jasmine? It's been a while. I need your help with something."