On our third anniversary, a single phone call from her "best friend" was all it took.
My girlfriend didn't just cancel our plans—she dragged me straight to a bar and ordered me to peel three thousand crayfish for said best friend.
"Are you blind? Can't you see Kevin and the others are waiting to eat?"
Elisa Fox leaned into Kevin Gilbert's embrace, her gaze slicing over me like frosted glass.
"Kevin has delicate hands. He's not built for rough work." She flicked her wrist toward me. "You, on the other hand, have plenty of experience. Hurry up and peel them."
She wasn't finished.
"An orphan like you should be grateful. If Kevin's in a good mood later, he might toss you a red packet worth a year of your salary."
Kevin surveyed the cluster of wealthy heirs he'd summoned, his expression oozing servility.
"Gentlemen, I know you're used to being served." He swept his arm toward me like a ringmaster presenting a trained bear. "This is my good sister's boyfriend. He was born to serve. If you need anything—just bark."
They had no idea.
I am the sole heir of the Mason family. The lost son of the capital's most powerful dynasty.
Staying with Elisa served one purpose only: repaying her mother—the woman who pulled me from the orphanage and reunited me with my biological family.
Protecting Elisa for three years had been her mother's dying wish.
And that wish would be fulfilled in exactly two hours.
1.
"If you don't want to peel, then break up and get lost." Elisa's voice sliced through the din. "And stop looking at everyone with those dead, listless eyes. It's bad luck."
Her lip curled. "Honestly, I don't know how someone as shameless as you has managed to cling to me this long."
The mountain of crayfish shells before me stood nearly half a meter high.
I said nothing. My hands moved on autopilot.
*Pinch off the head. Twist away the tail. Strip the vein. Drop the glistening white meat onto the plate.*
Elisa's patience frayed. Her stiletto cracked against my shin.
"Adam Mason, why are you dawdling? Can't you see Kevin's plate is empty?"
Elisa Fox. The "Iceberg Beauty" of the capital's elite circle. My girlfriend in name only.
For three years, an unknown orphan had shadowed her every step. In the words of her inner circle: *"Elisa really found herself a good dog. Obedient to a fault."*
Everyone believed I loved her miserably—a simp willing to swallow any humiliation just to breathe her air.
Right now, she was practically draped across Kevin's lap, her eyes glazed with adoration as he spun tales of his "glorious achievements" on Wall Street.
The fabrications were so laughable my head shook before I could stop it.
"You damn simp. Peeling shrimp is just peeling shrimp—what kind of expression is that?"
A cigarette butt arced through the air and landed on the back of my hand. The ember seared into skin. The crayfish slipped from my fingers.
The man humiliating me was Evan Whitney, Kevin's number-one lackey.
He squatted down, his fleshy face invading my space. "Do you know how expensive these are? Can a stinking shrimp-peeler like you even afford to replace one?"
Elisa laughed.
She lifted one lazy eyelid, sweeping a glance my way. "Evan, don't tease him."
"Kevin's family runs a massive business—a world someone like Adam can't even imagine." She stretched the words like taffy. "As for him? His only value is his utility. If he can't even peel shrimp properly, why would I keep him around?"
Yes.
For three years, everyone in the capital knew the truth: Adam Mason was a dog kept by Elisa Fox.
On call twenty-four-seven. Never fought back when hit. Never talked back when scolded.
I didn't refute her. Didn't even look up.
If this were the Adam Mason from three years ago, I would have flipped the table and sent that plate of shells flying into their faces.
But now, I kept my head down, eyes locked on the time glowing on my phone screen.
Three hours remaining.
I inhaled slowly, picked up another crayfish, and let their jeering laughter dissolve into white noise.
My mind drifted back three years—to Elisa's mother clutching my hand on her deathbed.
The once decisive, iron-willed businesswoman had looked fragile as a child in her final moments.
"Adam... I know this isn't fair to you." Her grip was fading, each breath a wheeze. "But Elisa... her pride will be her downfall. The collateral branches of the Fox family are circling like wolves. If you don't protect her, they will swallow her alive."
"Three years. Just give me three years. Help her secure her position. Shield her."
Tears had carved rivers down her hollowed cheeks. "I'm shamelessly begging you... treat it as repayment for sending you back to the Masons..."
