All Chapters of Against The Fire : Chapter 11 - Chapter 17

Eli sat in his apartment, thinking about his life and how things got to this level. He doesn't usually go to work again. He didn't know how to face his business partners and employees. The whole scandal has damaged his image. And now, the whole announcement of his “relationship” with Sabrina had been a strategic move by his family, a way of maintaining their image. But the weight of the lie was what he couldn't bear. He needed to see Adrian, to explain, to make things right. He picked up his phone, hesitating for a moment before dialing Adrian’s number. To his surprise, Adrian answered immediately, his voice tinged with a mix of hope and uncertainty. It was as if he was waiting for him to call. “Adrian,” Eli began, his voice slightly trembling, “everything you’ve seen and heard about me and Sabrina….it’s all a lie. A lie carefully planned by my parents to salvage their reputation. I never agreed to it. I never stopped loving you.”There was a pause on the other end, then a sigh.

The silence in the Chamberlin estate was suffocating. It wasn’t the kind of silence that brought peace; rather, it was the calm before a storm, loaded with unspoken threats and decades of tradition straining under the weight of rebellion.Eli stood tall in the drawing room, with his arms crossed over his chest as he faced his parents. The fire crackled in the hearth behind him, shining over the portrait of his ancestors..a long line of powerful, respectable men who all shared one thing: loyalty to the family legacy.Venita Moreau-Chamberlin sat poised in a high-backed chair, her expression was also unreadable, but her knuckles were white as they clenched the armrest. Across from her, Richard Chamberlin’s lips were a thin, trembling line.“You have until the end of the week,” Richard said coldly, his voice barely above a whisper. “Leave Adrian. Publicly. Cut him off. Or you will be disinherited and removed from everything. No trust fund. No home. No name.”Eli stared at his father, wit

Just as they lay on the bed, enjoying each other’s bodies and trying to forget their worries for the moment. The heaven rumbles. “It seems we’ll be having a downpour.” Eli nodded. Soon, the Rain tapped against the windows of the small apartment as Eli lay on his side, facing Adrian. Their bodies were tangled beneath a threadbare blanket, their skin was warm from shared heat, their hearts were still racing from all they had endured. The silence between them wasn’t awkward, but it was a rare kind of peace, the kind that came only after a war.Eli traced lazy circles on Adrian’s chest. “Do you ever think we’re insane?” he asked quietly.Adrian glanced down at him. “Define insane.”“Giving up everything for this. For… us.”Adrian gave a half-laugh, the kind that didn’t reach his eyes. “Every day.”Eli’s fingers paused. “Would you take it back?”Adrian hesitated. “Would you?”Eli looked up, met his gaze, and shook his head. “No. I’d do it all again. Even if I lost it all twice.”Adrian sw

It started with a broken window.Then a slashed tire.Then a fire.Adrian’s parents had lived quietly in their modest neighborhood on the outskirts of town, far from the glamor and venom of the elite. Managing their lives. But ever since their son’s relationship with Eli Chamberlin hit the headlines, their peaceful life had crumbled. And now, it was war. They hardly go out without people shaming them. On a rainy Tuesday night, the worst of it came.Two masked men broke through the back door. Adrian’s father had been dozing in his recliner when he heard the shatter. His wife screamed as one of the men shoved her to the ground. “Where’s your son, your good for nothing son?” one of them snarled. “Where’s Adrian?”“We don’t know! He doesn’t live here. please…” mr. Carter tried to shield his wife from harm.The second man grabbed a photo off the mantel. It was a picture of Adrian as a boy grinning, missing a front tooth. The man sneered, then dropped it to the floor, smashing it beneath