Chapter 70
No.1
The penthouse was dead silent.
The security guards stood awkwardly in the foyer,unsure of their orders. Germaine, sputtering with rage, finally realized that physically forcing Elisa onto a plane would create an even bigger scandal if she fought back. She stormed out, vowing to freeze every one of Elisa's accounts.
Elisa stood in the walk-in closet. Her breathing had finally slowed. The nausea had receded, leaving behind a cold, hollow emptiness.
She walked over to the two black suitcases by the door and pulled the telescopic handles up. It was time to leave.
Suddenly, the lock on the guest room door clicked.
Elisa frowned. She had thrown the deadbolt, but August had the master key to every door in the penthouse.
The door pushed open. August stood in the frame.
The explosive rage from the living area had vanished,replaced by a dark, brooding, incredibly arrogant calm.
No.2
In his right hand, he held a small, expensive tube of Arnica bruise cream that Agnes, the housekeeper,had hastily procured from the medical kit.
He walked into the room, his eyes scanning her packed bags, but he completely ignored them. He walked straight toward her.
As he approached, his gaze dropped. Because Elisa was wearing a loose silk top, the violent movement of her slapping the guard earlier had caused the fabric to slip. A massive, horrifyingly dark purple bruise was clearly visible on her lower back, blooming angrily against her pale skin.
A flicker of intense annoyance crossed August's eyes. He hated imperfections, especially ones that reflected poorly on his domain.
He tossed the tube of cream onto the vanity counter next to her. It wasn't an apology. It was a cold,aesthetic command.
"The housekeeper prepared this cream," August
said, his voice a low, authoritative rumble, dripping with disdain. "Deal with that disgusting bruise. Don't walk around looking like a battered stray and embarrass me."
He actually believed it. He actually believed that his wealth and his name were so intoxicating that she would accept physical abuse and public humiliation just to keep them.
No.3
Elisa looked at his hand gripping her wrist.
She didn't slap him this time. She simply reached up with her free hand, dug her fingers into his thumb joint, and applied a sharp, agonizing pressure to the nerve.
August hissed in pain, his fingers instantly releasing her wrist.
"Your charity," Elisa whispered, stepping back, "is more repulsive than your perfume."
Before August could recover his temper, a sharp,cheerful ringtone shattered the tension in the room.
It was August's private cell phone. The custom ringtone was exclusively set for Allena.
August instinctively reached into his pocket and pulled the phone out. He looked at the screen. He looked at Elisa standing right in front of him.
He didn't step out into the hallway. He didn't decline the call. His pathological need to soothe his mistress completely overrode any basic human decency.
No.4
He swiped to answer and pressed the phone to his ear.
"Allena, baby, what's wrong?" August's voice instantly transformed. The cold dictator vanished,replaced by a soft, sickeningly sweet, panicked lover.
Through the quiet room, Elisa could hear Allena's high-pitched, hysterical sobbing through the speaker.
"August, the internet is so mean!" Allena cried."They are saying I faked the fall! They are saying l'm a liar!You have to fix it! You promised you would protect me!"
August turned his back slightly to Elisa, hunching his broad shoulders as he spoke into the phone.
"I know, baby, I know," August cooed, his voice thick
with desperate devotion. "I'm fixing it right now. My mother is handling the press. No one is going to hurt you. I'm leaving right now to come see you, okay?Just breathe."
Elisa stood perfectly still.
No.5
She watched her legal husband stand in her bedroom, whispering sweet, protective promises to the woman who had destroyed her life.
A month ago, this sight would have shattered her heart. A week ago, it would have ignited a blinding rage.
But right now? In this exact second?
Elisa felt nothing but a massive, overwhelming,glorious wave of absolute relief.
The heavy, suffocating chains of the last seven years simply evaporated. She saw August Chambers for exactly what he was: a weak, easily manipulated,incredibly stupid man. He wasn't a monster to be feared. He was a clown to be pitied.
He wasn't worth her anger. He was only worth her strategy.
Elisa turned away from him. She grabbed the handles of her two black suitcases.
The loud clatter of the plastic wheels rolling across the hardwood floor made August spin around.He pulled the phone away from his ear, his brow furrowing in deep, arrogant confusion.
No.6
"Where do you think you're going?" August demanded, his voice hardening back into a command. "I didn't say you could leave."
Elisa didn't stop walking. She didn't even turn her head.
"I am going to a world where you don't exist,August," Elisa said. Her voice was calm, steady, and incredibly light.
August let out a harsh, barking laugh. It was the sound of a man completely blinded by his own ego.
"A world without me?" August mocked loudly,following her into the foyer. "You have nothing, Elisa!You are a nobody! Without my money, you won't last three days in this city. You'll be back here on your knees, begging me to let you back in!"
Elisa reached the heavy front door.She opened it.
She finally stopped and looked back over her shoulder. She looked at the billionaire standing in his empty, cold penthouse, clutching his phone like a lifeline.
She didn't argue. She didn't tell him about the fifty million dollars. She didn't tell him about Faye.②
No.7
She just gave him a soft, incredibly pitying smile.
Elisa stepped out into the hallway.
Bang.
The heavy oak door slammed shut, the sound echoing like a gunshot in the quiet corridor. The physical barrier fell, permanently severing Elisa Wilder from the Chambers empire.
Inside the penthouse, August stood completely alone. The silence of the massive apartment suddenly felt incredibly heavy. A strange, cold spike of panic pierced his chest, a terrifying, irrational thought that he had just made the biggest mistake of his life.
But then Allena's voice whined through the phone
speaker, and he pushed the panic down, burying it under his own arrogance. He was August Chambers.He was untouchable.