“No need to boil the water.”
I grabbed the intercom, my voice colder than steel, each word slicing through the air.
“Where’s the butler? Where’s the bodyguard? Tie this man up.”
Tyler Connor...
He had the nerve to mess with my sister and then get on my last nerve.
Mabel might have lived wild and careless, but that didn’t give anyone the right to toy with her feelings.
No one bullies my sister.
But when I pressed the intercom, all I got was the empty hum of static.
I pressed it repeatedly, but nothing happened. The security camera in the foyer didn’t even blink. No red light, no response—it was as if the whole system had gone blind.
Tyler let out a loud, mocking laugh, snatching the intercom from my hand and inspecting it like it was some cheap trinket.
“Where’d you get this?”
His eyes narrowed, and that smug look spread across his face as if he had just found something important.
“This is the outdated model the Ashcombes ditched years ago. Wait, are you a thief who snuck in?”
I didn’t respond to him. I built this security system myself.
A simple intercom?
It was connected to the most advanced network. Even a fly trying to squeeze through a crack in the window would alert the central control room.
So why was this useless now?
Then, suddenly, Tyler clapped his hands like a lightbulb went off in his head.
“I got it! You’re that loser ex who couldn’t let go of Eliza, huh? Got dumped by her a while back, and now you’re crawling back here?”
Before I could reply, his boot hit the back of my knee.
My legs gave out, and I fell hard to the floor.
“You really thought she’d take you back?” Tyler mocked. “She doesn’t even spare you a second glance! Go take a good look at the mirror. Do you really think you’re worthy of her?”
The pain in my knee was sharp enough to distract me, but his words resonated quickly.
During the three years I spent abroad, Eliza not only stole the Ashcombes' core technology but also cheated on me.
Tyler sneered down at me, pulling out a fresh intercom and calling for the bodyguard and butler.
The unfamiliar faces didn’t even acknowledge me as they went straight to his side and addressed him with deference.
“Mr. Connor, please calm down. You and Miss Blackwell already have a child together. People like him don’t deserve to be around. Just throw him out.”
“What? A child?” I shot to my feet, my gaze cutting through Tyler like a blade. “Mabel’s?”
Tyler spat on the floor, his disgust palpable. “Pfft! You think you’re the father of that trash’s child?”
A smug grin spread across his face. “The child, of course, is Eliza's. That useless thing? I just sweet-talked her into agreeing to be the surrogate. Of course, the child’s mine too. Mabel's just a breeding tool. Once the kid’s born, I’ll be a legitimate Blackwell. At that point, not just the Ashcombes, but all of Westbrooke’s industries will belong to me!”
Rage surged through me, boiling over like lava.
How dare he speak about my sister like this?
And Eliza too...
Just moments ago, I thought Eliza was just caught up in a fling.
But now? I was completely disillusioned.
The girl who once trailed after me, swearing she’d wait and marry me when I came back, had betrayed me. The woman I trusted to guard my family in my absence ended up pregnant with another man’s child.
“What are you staring at?” Tyler snapped, uneasy under my steady gaze. He shifted, trying to cover his discomfort with arrogance.
Then, jerking his chin, he barked at the bodyguards, “Punch him! Every time I think about this man being tied to the president, Mr. Ashcombe, it makes me sick!”
I didn’t flinch.
My voice cut through the air, cold and steady. “I dare you to touch me. I’m Patrick Ashcombe. Take a good look. Mabel and I are cut from the same mold. I’m her brother.”
The weight in my words froze the bodyguards and even the butler.
They faltered, uncertain, exchanging nervous glances.
Tyler’s smirk twisted into fury. “Pathetic. You let a worthless fool scare you? Does the great eldest son of the Ashcombe family walk around with just one man at his side?”
