“He’s one cold bastard… got the news and didn’t bother calling the cops or even trying to come up with the ransom…”
The whispers behind me were sharp, but I couldn’t bring myself to care anymore.
Since the case was still under investigation, they wouldn’t release the body for burial. I signed a stack of paperwork and by the time I walked out of the station, night had already fallen.
I took a cab to see my brother.
He’d ended up fully paralyzed after getting beaten over one of Dad’s gambling debts. Aside from being conscious and able to twitch his fingers a little, the rest of his body was useless.
Doctors said his organs were shutting down. There wasn’t much point in keeping him alive.
He lay there in the bed, eyes half-closed, already asleep.
I tucked the blanket around him and sat beside him, speaking softly. I talked about Dad. About myself. About him. All the things we’d been through, all the pain I’d buried—once I started, I couldn’t stop. I stayed there talking until daylight broke and flooded the room.
God, I was exhausted.
A whole day and night—and Luna hadn’t even bothered to call.
When I got home, she was in the living room, laughing with a group of her students, casually discussing their upcoming business trip. The atmosphere was light and carefree.
I pulled the divorce papers from behind my back and slammed them on the table. The laughter stopped instantly.
Luna’s eyes snapped to me, blazing like fire through steel. “You disappear for a full day and this is what you come home with?”
She sneered. “What now? How exactly did you manage to get that four hundred fifty thousand dollars yesterday? Sell yourself to some rich man?”
Luna’s words were sharp and brutal—each syllable like a hooked blade. I didn’t even have the strength to argue anymore.
“I saw Cyrus get into a woman’s car yesterday morning,” Seth chimed in, resting his chin in his hand with a grin. “Looked like Professor Crawford—you know, the one who just got back from overseas?”
He glanced between me and Luna, eyes dancing with amusement.
The next second, Luna shot to her feet and slapped me hard across the face.
“This is why you want a divorce?”
“Vega comes back to town and suddenly you can’t keep it in your pants? That night at the gala—was that it? You saw her and couldn’t wait to throw divorce papers in my face, right!?”
I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours. Add that slap to the mix and my head was swimming. Her words barely registered. My heart, long dead, just felt… numb.
“I even saw him kiss Professor Crawford,” Seth added casually, like he was commenting on the weather—but every word hit like a dagger.
I clenched my teeth, holding myself back. I truly tried to stay grounded, but something finally snapped. Without thinking, I grabbed the nearest chair and slammed it crashing down toward Seth’s head.
Everything went still.
“Professor Luna... Help me…”
Blood rushed to my eyes as I stared at Luna, her arms wrapped protectively around Seth, glaring at me like I was a monster.
Everyone else in the room huddled together, eyes wide with horror. They looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
“Cyrus, you’ve completely lost it!”
I sat motionless in the living room, numb and hollow, until Luna came back and stood over me.
“You think you can just sit at home after attacking someone? Seth says either you serve him while he recovers—or he presses charges.”
I stared at the blood still drying on the floor. My throat tightened.
“Let him,” I said flatly. “I don’t care if they sentence me to death.”
That pushed Luna over the edge. She dragged me out of the house and shoved me into the car, taking me straight to Seth’s hospital room.
And so began the next few days—me, playing caretaker to the man I hated most.
“This apple tastes like crap. Go buy new ones.”
“I want lotus cream broth—only from Maison Verdant and it better be slow-cooked for two hours.”
“What’s wrong with you? Can’t even slice a damn pear properly?”
I lost count on the slaps landing on my cheeks. I didn’t flinch every time. I didn’t fight back.
