“Apologize.” Eliana’s tone was cold, the command in her voice brooking no refusal.
I clenched my bleeding hand. “Why should I?”
In an instant, she snatched the diamond pendant from my neck, the only keepsake my grandmother had left me.
“No!” I lunged forward, desperate to grab it.
The pendant struck the floor, splintering into pieces before my eyes.
“Next time,” she said, helping Jovan to his feet and looking down at me from above, “it won’t be this simple.”
I clenched my fists.
For the next week, the entertainment headlines were flooded with photos of Eliana shopping arm in arm with Jovan.
I acted as though I had never seen them.
Late one night, as I worked overtime in my office, the door suddenly burst open with a violent kick.
Before I could lift my head, an icy hand clamped tightly around my throat.
With a heavy thud, Jovan dropped to his knees, his voice shaking with barely contained sobs.
“Louis, my parents are just ordinary workers! Please, I’m begging you, let them go!”
He raised his phone, and on the screen, a middle-aged couple’s faces were smeared with blood as they bowed toward the camera.
“Louis! Please, have mercy. Our son will never dare to compete with you for Eliana again!”
Eliana wrenched the phone away, her eyes burning with rage.
“Louis! Have you lost your mind? You actually sent people to hurt Jovan’s parents?”
“I don’t even know them.” My tone was cold as I met Jovan’s gaze. “Great acting.”
“You’re still denying it!” Eliana slammed the phone down in front of me.
On the screen, the couple struck their own faces in desperation.
“They’re calling you by name, begging you!”
I inhaled slowly. “I didn’t do it.”
Jovan lunged forward, clutching my wrist.
“Louis, my parents are still lying in the hospital! They’ve lived honest lives, they would never….”
“Enough!” I yanked my hand free. “If you’re going to frame me, at least make it believable.”
“Louis, you make me sick.” Eliana’s voice was frigid, her eyes colder still.
“If you intend to marry me, you shouldn’t be doing something so mindless.”
“Take him away!”
Four bodyguards stepped in at once, their grip brutal as they wrenched my arms behind me.
They shoved me forward, and behind us, Jovan sniffled softly. “Eliana, my parents…”
I was slammed down onto the cold tiles of the ancestral hall, pain shooting up my legs as my knees bruised instantly.
Eliana tossed a share transfer agreement in front of me.