FROM ASHES TO BILLIONS.

"I'm sorry to bother you sir, but if you don't want to order something else, I suggest you leave. This table needs to be cleared for another customer,"

Adrian looked up from his glass of wine to the waitress who was trying so hard to maintain a smile. He exhaled deeply, trying to recollect his thoughts.

"Sir…"

Adrian didn't reply, instead, his eyes shifted to the papers in his slightly shaky hands. It was divorce papers that his wife, Layla had persisted him to sign for a week now.

One might think that he should be grateful for an opportunity to finally get out of a toxic marriage where he wasn't receiving any peace of mind. But Adrian felt different. He felt that it was still possible for Layla to change the way she felt towards him.

To Layla, their marriage was just a business merger between their families. He was not even the husband she was supposed to marry. She was supposed to marry his handsome, perfect brother, Ryan, but when he disappeared on the day of their wedding, she had no choice but to settle for Adrian.

Hell, but that didn't excuse the way she treated him like a piece of rag doll meant to be discarded the next minute. The years of unjust abuse he had to put up with because he longed for their marriage to be more than mere family affiliations.

"Sir?!"

The waitress' voice came a little sharper this time and irritated, Adrian slammed a grimy dollar note on the table and walked out of the bar. Feeling a bit tipsy, he rubbed his tired eyes with the palms of his hand.

It was time to confront Layla.

He was done feeling like a degraded substitute shit for his long-lost brother.

This time around, he was going to do something he never dared to do before. He was going to confront his wife to reveal the real reason why she wanted divorce all of a sudden.

It took him a few minutes to reach the house, and once he was inside, he saw Layla on the floor sobbing uncontrollably while her mother was at the side comforting her.

Adrian's self-defense flew out of the window and he hurried over, hoping something bad hadn't happened. "Layla! Are you okay?!"

"Get the fuck off of me!" Layla screamed and pushed him away.

"How dare you come close to my daughter after all you've done, you psychopath!"

"Mum…what are you talking about? Layla?" Adrian stuttered in confusion, but on a closer look, he noticed that Layla's right thigh was wrapped in a heavy bandage.

She seemed to be in great pain.

"Did anybody hurt you, Layla…?"

"Officers, what are you still doing when you should be arresting this murderer?!"

Adrian froze immediately as his body recognized that voice. He turned around slowly to stare into the burning eyes of his long-lost brother, Ryan.

What?!

Ryan was back after all these years? Not only that, he had called the police on him?

Great news or terrible news?

"R…yan?" Adrian's brows scrunched in confusion. "You're back?"

"Of course, I came back, idiot. Did you expect me to die so you could keep on treating Layla like a punching bag?" Ryan spat. "And all these years I thought I had a brother, I never knew you were an animal that beats up women,"

Two officers walked up to Adrian and pushed him to his knees. He tried to resist the unlawful arrest, but he was held down roughly and handcuffed.

"What in the hell is going on here?!" Adrian was on the verge of crying. His head felt like it was ready to explode at any moment.

"Don't play innocent, you slime. All Layla did was ask for a divorce yet you went ahead to pay thugs to beat her up? Look what you reduced her to?!" Ryan hissed.

Adrian hurried to shake his head. "Brother, I swear I didn't do it! I would never hit Layla," He turned to his wife. "Tell him, Layla, tell the truth! Why are you even doing this? Is it because he's back?"

Layla looked up with teary eyes. "Officers, that bastard threatened to kill me if I kept on insisting that he sign the divorce papers," Her sobbing grew louder. "I'm tired of this abusive marriage. He is a monster!"

As the police pushed him forward, Adrian kept pleading. "Officers, please don't believe them. This is all a scheme. I'm innocent, please…!"

Adrian received a hard slap from his mother-in-law. "Have you no conscience? Huh? There's fucking evidence that you paid the thugs that beat up my precious daughter. I promise you'll rot in jail, you god forbid of a man!"

No matter how hard Adrian kept crying and pleading, the family ignored him and watched without remorse as the officers aggressively dragged him away. Once he was gone, Layla jumped to her feet, stared at Ryan for a moment before bursting into a loud laugh.

"The bastard is gone. I told you it'd be easy to get rid of him!"

"Your acting was spectacular, my love!" Ryan smiled, placing a hand over her shoulder.

"Of course! What do you take me for? That fool was not to stay in my life a minute longer!" Layla chuckled.

******

"Prison uniform looks good on you," A smug grin formed around the corners of Ryan's lips as he accessed Adrian through the glass door that separated them.

Adrian didn't reply, not that he didn't know what to say. He just couldn't get the words out.

"You know you should have just signed the divorce papers. Layla made it that simple,"

"You're my brother, damnit!" Adrian fired, his breath bursting in and out, fast and furious. "I've missed you all these years, thought about you a lot and this is how you repay me?"

"Save me the empty fantasies!" Ryan chuckled. "I disappeared years back does not mean Layla and I are not a thing. You were just a piece of scum she used to comfort herself while I was away, you feel that, yeah?"

Adrian clenched and unclenched his fists as the words sliced through his heart.

"Enjoy your stay in prison, buddy! Don't worry, I might talk to the judge to reduce your sentence by a few years, well, depending on my mood." Ryan winked sinisterly before walking out of the room.

*****

"From the evidence presented before this court, the defendant, Adrian Lancaster is found guilty of sexual, emotional, and domestic violence and is hereby sentenced to six years imprisonment without option of fine!"

The judge's final words as she slammed her gravel.

"Wait…what?!" Adrian's head spun uncontrollably as he looked first at the judge, and then at his adoptive mother. She had promised to help him regain his freedom!

"But I didn't do it…!" He exclaimed shakily, but no one was paying attention to him, instead armed officers stepped forward to drag him away.

His eyes locked with Layla and Ryan who both wore a devilish smirk. They were mocking him with fake smiles that made him cringe.

It all made sense now why Ryan was back.

"Move it!" A rough voice said behind him and Adrian shuddered.

"You'll rot in jail, you deceptive abuser!" Another officer said, hitting him painfully with his baton.