Expelled, Betrayed, and $100M Richer

Chapter 2

The tangled bedsheets rustled softly as Chloe clumsily gathered her scattered garments from the floor. Her trembling hands hurried to pull the cloth over herself under the lamp glow.

Beside her on the mattress, Marcus swung his legs over the edge with an irritated sigh, looking unbothered by the intrusion as he casually retrieved his trousers.

Across the doorway, Ethan remained frozen in absolute silence. The raw weight of the betrayal severed all connection to his senses, leaving him trapped in a cold numbness.

His fingers unclasped numbly inside his pocket, and the scuffed velvet anniversary box slipped from his grasp, dropping to the floor with a hollow thud.

“What are you...?”

Before he could finish his words, hot tears spilled down his bruised cheeks, stinging the fresh cuts Julian had left behind. His vision blurred into a wet haze as he took two unsteady steps forward.

He closed his burning eyes in a desperate prayer to awaken from this nightmare. But when he opened them back, the bitter reality remained completely unchanged before him.

Chloe sat clutching the blue sheet while staring at his broken face while Marcus buttoned his white shirt without showing the slightest trace of shame or guilt.

Seeing Ethan break down completely, Chloe instantly forced her eyes to fill with fake tears. Her bottom lip trembled softly as she put on a helpless, heartbroken face for him.

Wrapping the bedsheet tight around her shoulders, she stepped off the mattress and approached him, her trembling posture conveying a desperate plea for his understanding.

"Ethan, please let me speak before you judge me," Chloe pleaded, her voice shaking with fake tears. "You do not understand what has been happening in my life lately. Since you walked in and saw this, you deserve to know the truth!"

Ethan could not form a single word. A thick lump choked his throat, and he stood completely frozen, staring at the girl who had promised to love him forever.

"Our final exams are in just a few days, Ethan, and I am failing my classes," Chloe cried, waving her hands in a desperate plea for pity. "I got caught up with parties and could not focus on my studies. You know what happens if I fail—it means an extra year in school. I had to do whatever it took to stop that from happening."

Taking another step toward him, she let fresh crocodile tears roll down her cheeks.

"I only went to Marcus for help because he has influence in the school board," she sobbed, offering a sickening excuse. "He has the power to change my grades if things go wrong. I knew I could never pass on my own, so I had to use his help to save my future."

When her hand reached out to steady him, Ethan recoiled in visceral disgust. He felt a deep sickness rise into his throat at the sight of her bare skin.

Ethan aggressively struck her arm away to prevent any physical contact.

“Do not touch me!" he yelled, his voice cracking with pure agony.

Chloe's gentle act vanished in an instant. Her face turned cold, and her voice became sharp and angry as she rubbed the red mark on her skin.

"Why are you screaming like a fool over a little mistake, Ethan?" she snapped, glaring at him with pure disdain. "We only had three rounds, and it lasted for just forty-five minutes. Why are you making such a big deal out of nothing?"

Marcus stepped between them, tightening his belt with a smug, arrogant grin. He looked down at his bruised son with cold, mocking eyes.

"Listen to her, Ethan. She's telling you the truth about how the world works," Marcus said, his voice dripping with disgust. "If she failed her exams and you passed, you two would drift apart anyway. As your father, I only did this to keep your relationship strong. What I did was for your own good."

Marcus took another step closer, laughing cruelly as he crossed his arms.

“I solved your problem for you, boy. You should be thanking me instead of standing there crying like a baby."

He turned to Chloe, giving her a vulgar, mocking grin. "She's a very wild girl. She almost broke my back."

Ethan stared at them in sheer disbelief, his breath catching in his throat as he looked between his father and the girl he loved. His voice choked with the agony of every single sacrifice he had made for her, while the memories of long, exhausting nights rushed through his aching head all at once.

"I loved you with everything I had, Chloe," Ethan whispered, his voice trembling as fresh tears trickled into the cuts on his cheeks. "In a school full of rich, cruel bullies who treated me like dirt every single day, I thought your love was the only pure, true thing in my whole world. I gave you my whole heart... and actually did this?"

He clutched his aching chest, his voice breaking entirely. 

"Chloe, you stab me in the back with my own father? How could you do something so cruel to me?"

Marcus cut short his outburst with a cold, dismissive gesture, waving his hand toward the door as if Ethan were nothing more than an annoying fly.

"Shut up and stop pointing an accusing finger at me, boy," Marcus ordered sharply, stepping closer to his son. "Your endless whining is giving me a headache, and nobody wants to hear it. You were always too soft, crying over every little scratch like a weak child who cannot stand up. You look and sound just like your pathetic mother."

The agonizing mention of his mother sent a sharp, physical pang tearing straight through Ethan's chest. A cold shiver ran down his spine, robbing him of his breath.

The sudden weight of his grief forced him to grip the wooden edge of the study desk. His knees shook violently, threatening to buckle beneath his battered body as he stared at Marcus through burning tears.

"Do not speak her name! You do not get to utter a single word about my mother!" Ethan roared, his voice cracking with pure, agonizing grief. 

The agonizing mention of his mother sent a sharp pang tearing straight through his chest, bringing back the overwhelming anguish of her tragic death. He felt sick to his stomach hearing her memory invoked by the heartless monster whose cruel neglect had driven her to her grave. 

Trembling with rage, Ethan leaned heavily on the desk, gasping for air as tears burned his eyes.

Marcus merely rolled his eyes, brushing off the accusation with callous indifference. He casually adjusted his watch and smirked down at his son. 

"The officers closed the case years ago, Ethan, so stop digging up dead history. The law declared me completely innocent, so your pathetic crying doesn't mean a single thing," Marcus added, his lips twisting into a vile sneer. "She died because she was weak and fragile—just like you."

Chloe stepped up right beside Marcus, coldly crossing her arms over the white sheet.

“Ethan, we took proper safety measures tonight, so stop throwing a dramatic tantrum. You don't need to worry about an unwanted pregnancy," Chloe stated with an easy roll of her eyes, stepping closer to him with absolute disdain. "It was just a harmless, satisfying encounter between two adults. Grow up, kid”.

Her callous, sickening remarks shattered the last remaining thread of Ethan's sanity. A blinding wave of uncontrollable fury erupted from the deepest depths of his soul, consuming every ounce of pain in his body. 

In a burst of absolute anguish, his arm swung out violently. He slapped her reaching hand away before her skin could even touch his clothes, a primordial scream tearing from his throat.

Trembling with monstrous rage, Ethan shoved her backward with every ounce of strength left in his body. The violent force sent Chloe flying back across the room, her bare feet skidding helplessly across the floor.

Chloe slammed forcefully against the bedroom wall with a sickening, heavy thud that rattled the entire room, her breath ripped instantly from her lungs as she gasped in sudden shock.

This instantly stripped away her fragile composure, shaking her to her core. 

Straightening herself up while rubbing her bruised shoulder, Chloe glared at him with cold malice. Her eyes narrowed into slits, burning with pure disdain as she stepped forward.

“How dare you lay your filthy, broke hands on me!” Chloe spat, her voice ringing out like a sharp slap. “Look at you—a pitiful scholarship rat simping around with the campus beauty. Do you really think a girl like me could ever truly love a penniless loser like you? You were nothing more than a convenient dog to carry my bags and pay my bills! We are completely finished, Ethan. Get out of my sight and out of my life forever!”

She kicked his soaked velvet box across the floor, watching it hit the wall.

Chloe spat, kicking his wet coat aside.

“You are utterly worthless and totally useless to me now!"

Marcus chuckled softly, leaning back against the wooden dresser. He patted her shoulder approvingly, thoroughly the humiliation.

“Listen to her, boy,” Marcus sneered, looking down at Ethan with cold, heartless eyes. “You were born a failure, and you will die a failure. And if you want the honest truth? She was ten times sweeter and more alive in bed than your weak, pathetic mother ever was. Your mother was a boring, fragile waste of space—just like you.”

"The girl speaks the truth, boy," Marcus laughed, looking Ethan up and down, sneering at him without shame. "You were born a failure, and you will always stay a failure. To tell you the honest truth, Ethan, she was much tighter and sweeter in bed than your mother ever was. Your mother was very boring."

The repulsive taunt snapped the final thread of Ethan's sanity completely. A loud roar tore from the depths of his chest as his vision went entirely red.

His mind plunged into a blinding rage that consumed every ounce of pain. He forgot his exhaustion, and his bruised ribs.

Ethan lunged forward with a raised fist, his boots slamming hard against the floor. He aimed his fist straight at his father's smug, smirking face.

Only for the door to burst wide open with a deafening bang. The wooden door slammed hard against the wall, and a swarm of people flooded the room with illuminated phone screens held high. Dozens of camera lenses flashed in the dark, recording every second of Ethan's actions.