Chapter 16 #4
“She loves me,” Elias said firmly, though his voice sounded less certain now. “She wouldn’t even think about another man. I know her.”
His jaw tightened stubbornly.
“She liked me for years. That kind of feeling doesn’t just disappear because I was gone for three months.”
But even as he spoke, uncertainty slowly crept into his expression.
Cassian tilted his head slightly.
“Are you really one hundred percent sure about that?”
Elias’s face darkened.
Cassian continued mercilessly.
“With the way you treated her this past year? She didn’t even know whether you liked her or not.” He gave Elias a long look. “Do you honestly think a woman would never move on after that?”
Xavier snorted loudly from the side.
“This genius spent the whole year avoiding her like she was carrying some contagious disease,” Xavier mocked coldly.
Elias instantly glared at him.
“That’s because she was injured after the accident!” he snapped. “Do you think I’m an animal?”
His frustration rose immediately.
“I promised her family I wouldn’t touch her until she fully recovered. That doesn’t mean I didn’t want to kiss her.”
“Exactly,” Cassian said flatly. “You didn’t kiss her. You didn’t touch her. You barely even acted like her husband.”
He stared directly at Elias.
“And the problem is she had no idea why you were doing that.”
Elias froze.
“So what do you think she was supposed to assume?” Cassian asked bluntly.
The room fell silent.
Cassian answered the question himself.
“That her husband either wasn’t interested in her,” he said calmly, “or regretted marrying her.”
Elias’s expression slowly stiffened.
“So tell me,” Cassian continued mercilessly, “where do you think a woman who doesn’t receive love at home eventually looks for it?”
Lucius casually tossed his phone into the air before catching it again.
“In another man’s arms,” he answered lazily.
The words hit Elias like a truck.
His entire body tensed instantly.
For a second, he genuinely looked like he was about to lose consciousness again.
Jealousy, panic, and disbelief flashed across his face all at once.
Then he suddenly looked back at Cassian.
“You really think that’s possible?” he asked hoarsely.
Cassian shrugged.
“Do you want me to look into it or not?”
Elias’s jaw clenched hard.
The mere thought of Amara being interested in another man made his chest tighten painfully.
His fingers curled against the bedsheets as possessiveness and panic consumed him completely.
Finally, he spoke through gritted teeth.
“Fine,” Elias said coldly. “Look into it.”
A dangerous darkness settled in his eyes as he leaned back slightly.
Lucius raised a brow in amusement. “And if there really is another man, what are you going to do?”
Elias shot him a vicious glare that looked murderous enough to start a fight right there.
“What do you think?” he said in a cold, threatening voice. “I’ll make sure that motherfucker disappears from her life completely.”
Cassian let out a laugh under his breath and shifted on his feet before glancing at Elias again.
“There’s another problem you need to sort out too.”
Elias frowned slightly and looked at him questioningly.
Cassian pushed a hand through his hair before speaking seriously. “Maverick is digging into your and Amara’s lives. From what I can tell, he’s trying to find a weakness so he can force his way into Amara’s life somehow.”
His expression darkened as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“So you better decide whether you want to tell him about Zoe or not. Because if he keeps digging, it won’t take long before he finds out on his own.
” He paused before adding grimly, “And it’s going to be hell once that happens.
You know exactly what kind of mess this will become if he finds out by himself. ”
Elias fell silent for a moment.
Then he leaned back against the bed, resting against the pillow while staring at the ceiling thoughtfully. After a long pause, he finally lifted a hand and rubbed his forehead tiredly.
“I’ll tell him once Zoe wakes up,” Elias said at last. “I don’t want to give him false hope.”
His jaw tightened as anger flickered across his face.
“The only reason that motherfucker even went through treatment to fix his legs was because he wanted to find out what really happened and get revenge on me for marrying Amara and for that accident.” Elias let out a bitter scoff.
“Now that he can walk again, I’m not giving him another reason to lose his damn mind thinking there’s something else in his life he has no control over. ”
Xavier stepped closer to the bed, his hands sliding into his pockets as he looked between Cassian and Elias.
“Yeah,” Xavier muttered heavily. “Zoe is basically his only family in this world. That man would give up his life for her.”
He shook his head before continuing darkly, “If he finds out Elias lied to him about her being dead…”
He exhaled sharply and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
"He’s either going to lose his mind all over again and end up in another wheelchair…” Xavier muttered grimly, “or he’s going to murder a few people before he finally calms down.”