Chapter 4

"Never mind. Once this is all over, I'll buy you a better one."

Serena answered her own question, cutting off the breakup speech on the tip of my tongue.

I scoffed, pulled my hand away, and headed toward the garden party.

I walked right up to Austin's side, took the microphone, and spoke the hypocritical lines they wanted to hear.

"Austin is my half-brother."

"His mother wasn't a mistress; she was my father's second wife."

"I voluntarily gifted this estate to Austin as a welcome-home present from an older brother."

...

Down below, Serena was the first to applaud, officially sealing Austin's social standing.

Just as I was about to walk away, Austin caught the hem of my jacket.

"Thank you, brother, for clearing my mother's name and mine. Since I got back, we haven't had a chance to catch up properly. Do you have a minute?"

With all eyes on us, I couldn't refuse.

I followed Austin to a secluded courtyard by the pond. The moment the crowd was out of sight, Austin dropped his innocent act.

He sneered at me mockingly:

"Did you really think forcing Dad to ship me overseas back then would work?"

"The second I come back, everything belongs to me! What if I'm a bastard? With Serena backing me up, who in this city dares look at me the wrong way?"

"Liam, soon you'll end up just like that dead mutt—crushed under my feet!"

My gaze drifted up toward the hidden surveillance camera mounted beneath the roof eaves.

I smirked, deliberately baiting him:

"The Sterling family would never allow a crippled man to marry their heiress."

Just as I expected, Austin wasn't rattled.

Instead, right before my eyes, he slowly stood up from the wheelchair.

Smug and triumphant, he sneered:

"Surprised? I faked the whole thing."

"Just wait and see. The best part is yet to come!"

"I stole your family estate. And your woman? She's about to be mine too!"

Before the words completely left his mouth, Austin stepped onto the edge of the railing and threw himself into the pond, shrieking:

"Help! Somebody save me!"

Hearing his cries, Serena sprinted over in an instant.

Without a second thought, she dove into the water and pulled Austin out.

Soaked and pale, he curled weakly in Serena's arms, crying out in terror:

"Liam, why did you push me?!"

"I know you hate me, but I'm like this! Pushing me into the water is basically trying to kill me!"

Serena wrapped Austin tightly in her arms, glaring at me with murderous fury.

"Liam! I thought you were just cold-hearted, but you're vicious! Do you have any idea that if I'd arrived a minute later, Austin would have drowned?! How could you lay a hand on a disabled man?!"

"Apologize!"

I frowned. I hadn't expected Serena to convict me without even letting me speak.

"He jumped in himself!"

Serena erupted into a scream of pure rage:

"Bullshit!"

"Austin can't even stand without a wheelchair! How could he possibly jump in on his own?!"

I pointed up at the security camera in the courtyard, my voice firm:

"There's a camera right there. Whether I'm lying or not, just check the footage."

I turned to call the security staff.

Infuriated, Serena lunged forward and shoved me hard into the pond.

Splash!

I fell backward, splashing wildly in the cold water.

"Check what?! Since you were brazen enough to do it, you must have rigged the footage anyway!"

"Instead of forcing a half-assed apology out of you, why don't you experience drowning yourself? Let's see if you ever dare touch Austin again!"

The pond wasn't deep. I scrambled desperately to find my footing.

But Serena was determined to teach me a lesson.

The second I broke the surface to gasp for air, her hand clamped down on the back of my head, shoving me violently back underwater. Murky pond water rushed down my throat. My lungs convulsed in agonizing spasms, burning like they were about to burst.

Just as I was suffocating, she yanked my head up. Before I could inhale for more than two seconds, she shoved me under again.

Over and over.

She waterboarded me until every drop of strength drained from my limbs.

By the end, I didn't even have the energy to fight back. Consciousness began slipping away into pitch-black darkness.

Finally, Serena showed a shred of "mercy" and hauled me out, tossing me onto the muddy grass like a discarded rag, leaving me to cough uncontrollably.

"I hope you learn your lesson this time. Go home and reflect on what you did!"

"Tomorrow morning at nine sharp, I expect you to be on your knees, apologizing to Austin."

With that, Serena pushed Austin away in his wheelchair.

The onlookers' eyes lingered on me—pity, ridicule, amusement—before the crowd slowly drifted away.

I lay curled on the cold ground, unable to even stand.

"Cough... hack..."

I threw up a mouthful of stagnant water.

Wiping away the tears that had blurred my vision, I let out a hoarse laugh, followed by uncontrollable, silent sobs.

Thank God.

Thank God Serena was so brutally decisive.

Her unquestioning suspicion, her abandonment, her cruelty—they stripped away the very last shred of lingering affection I had for her.

In the end, I started laughing out loud.

Here's to letting go. Here's to finally being free.

At nine the next morning, I stood at the airport boarding gate, my phone blowing up with texts from Serena:

[Apologize to Austin! Don't you dare try to run away.]

[Where the hell are you?!]

[Liam Vance, pick up the damn phone!]

I didn't reply to a single one.

Instead, I deleted her number and blocked her on every platform.

A notification popped up from an investigator:

[Mr. Vance, per your instructions, the courtyard surveillance footage of Austin jumping into the pond has been uploaded online. It's expected to hit over a million views within twenty minutes and trend in the top three on Twitter and TikTok.]

[Good.] I replied.

The plane lifted off into the sky, carrying me away from this toxic city.

I silently swore to myself:

The next time I set foot here, I will take back everything that belongs to me.

Meanwhile, back at the office, Serena stared at the red exclamation mark beside her sent messages, stunned. Assuming I was just being petty and throwing another fit, she reached for her desk phone to call me.

Suddenly, her assistant burst through the door, holding up a phone and shouting:

"Ms. Sterling! Look at social media! Yesterday's incident... something is seriously wrong!"