Chapter 5

Chase lowered his gaze. Strangely, he wasn't sad. He remembered a childhood incident when Harrison had framed him, and his mother struck him for it. Serena had rushed out to defend him, saying, "Chase would never hit anyone! He's a good person!" Back then, she had believed in him unconditionally. However, she didn't have that basic trust in him anymore. Serena felt an inexplicable moment of panic. She pushed away the strange feeling and stared at Chase. "Apologize." Chase didn't bother with any futile struggle and turned to Harrison. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit you." Harrison turned his back to Serena and gave Chase a mocking smile as he said, "Let me punch you once, and we'll call it even." Both Harrison and Serena expected Chase to refuse. To their surprise, he kept his head down and agreed calmly, "Alright." Serena felt even more unsettled. She hated this feeling of being out of control and turned to pull Lucian toward the house. "It's freezing out here. Let's go inside!" She and Lucian walked hand in hand toward the villa. Harrison stepped forward and drove his fist hard into Chase's abdomen five times in succession. Chase let out a muffled grunt, his face turning pale. "Is that enough?" he said quietly. Harrison burst into laughter. "That'll do! I'm feeling generous, so I'll let you off easy! Lucian's already made himself at home, so I can't wait to see when you get thrown out on your ass. "A lapdog is still just a dog, and when people don't want you anymore, they can kick you aside anytime. You are, quite simply, nothing!" He walked away laughing. The beating had triggered Chase's stomach condition, causing him severe pain. He went back inside, took his medication, and quickly washed up before trying to rest. In the middle of the night, the pain woke him up. He sat up abruptly and coughed up blood. Fighting through the agony, he called his doctor and got up to head to the hospital. As he left the guest room, he noticed the master bedroom door was slightly ajar, light spilling out from within. Along with it came the unmistakable sounds of intimacy between a man and woman. He had prepared himself mentally for this when Lucian moved in. However, when it actually happened, he couldn't tell what hurt more—his body or his heart. To get downstairs, he had to pass by the master bedroom door. He bit his lip until it bled and slowly walked past. Lucian's husky voice came from inside the room. "I think Chase is outside..." Serena's voice was thick with barely contained desire. "He's such a psycho! Ignore him! Lucian, just do it..." When the pain reached its peak, it almost felt numb. Chase quickly passed the master bedroom door, went downstairs, and got into the taxi he'd called. The internal bleeding in his stomach was severe and required hospitalization. The doctor told him to find someone to stay with him, but when he picked up his phone, he didn't know who to call. When he had agreed to the engagement with Serena, Kendall thought he was trying to use it to oppose the Knight family. When he refused to break off the engagement, she disowned him from that point on. If he had called Serena before, she would definitely have come. However, everything had now changed. Chase finally called his personal assistant, Andrew Savan, and offered to pay him five times his usual rate to accompany him. After the medication took effect, Chase finally managed to fall asleep. He was soon woken up by the continuous buzzing of his phone. The caller ID showed Serena, so Chase pressed the "Accept" button. He first heard Lucian's somewhat muffled voice that said, "Sisi, speak nicely. Don't lose your temper. Chase only acts this way because he loves you too much." Then Serena's familiar yet strange voice came clearly through the phone, "Chase Hutchinson, are you actually psychotic? "It's bad enough that you got up in the middle of the night to eavesdrop, but then you left a pool of fake blood in your room to scare people? If you pull another stunt like this, you can pack up and get out!"