The Monarch Crown System

5. Just Die, Elias

“It was my husband’s idea, so the money belongs to our family, of course!” Susan snapped, her voice sharp enough to cut glass.

“At least use this money to compensate us for feeding you for almost four years now. Have some shame, Elias,” Celeste added with a disgusted frown.

Elias stood frozen, his mouth slightly open, his mind struggling to process the cruelty unfolding before him.

How… how had he let these people fool him again?

“But… but that’s my money,” he protested weakly, voice trembling. “People donated to help me. How can you just take it?”

Celeste ignored him completely as she turned toward her father, excitement glowing in her eyes.

“Dad, it’s up to a hundred million dollars now!” she squealed.

“I can’t believe we made this much in one night! I can finally buy a Lamborghini!”

“Hurray!” She clapped like a child receiving candy.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Elias,” Susan snapped, rising to her feet and glaring down at him. “We’re already done with you. It’s time you leave this family. After all, you’re just an errand boy here—not someone who calls the shots.”

Elias stared at her, dizzy with disbelief and betrayal. His knees weakened.

Without thinking, he dropped to the floor.

“I’m begging you,” he whispered, forehead nearly touching the ground. “I need that money for treatment. Just twelve million dollars from it. I’m… I’m trying to live long enough to see my baby. Our baby. The child Celeste will give birth to for me.”

“Oh, that?” Susan lifted her chin with a cruel smirk. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of that problem too.”

She signaled a maid, who hurried over with a small brown bottle. Susan twisted it open and tapped two pills into Celeste’s palm.

“What are those?” Elias gasped, scrambling to his feet to grab them—but Celeste had already tossed them into her mouth and swallowed.

“They’ll flush out the baby,” Susan said calmly.

“We won’t have to worry about another mouth to feed—especially one as expensive as you.”

“No!” Elias screamed, voice cracking. “You can’t do that! That’s our child! Celeste, please!” His voice broke. “Don’t do this…”

Celeste crossed her arms.

“It’s for the best, Elias. This family doesn’t need another burden. We already have one—you.”

Elias felt his world collapsing.

“No… no, no, no…” he cried, his chest tightening painfully.

Suddenly his hand shot to his ribcage. A violent, stabbing pain ripped through him.

He gasped.

Once.

Twice.

Then he collapsed onto the floor, his breath coming in harsh, ragged wheezes.

“Dad!” Celeste shrieked. “What if he dies here?”

“What are we going to do?” she panicked.

Henry remained disturbingly calm as he picked up his phone.

“Get your phone, Celeste,” he commanded. “I need you to record a video saying Elias asked you for a divorce the moment he received the donations.”

“What?”

“Post it immediately,” Henry said sharply. “So the public stays on our side—no matter what happens.”

Celeste fumbled for her phone and hit record, her expression flipping instantly into a perfect mask of sorrow.

“Hi fans,” she began, voice trembling. “I just woke up to a very heartbreaking message this morning…”

Elias, wheezing on the floor, could barely raise his head.

“My husband, Elias… after everything my family has done for him… has just served me divorce papers.”

Celeste sniffed dramatically.

“He said the one hundred million dollars he received from you all has made him richer than my family. So he’s leaving me, our child, and abandoning us for his lover.”

She let her voice crack.

“Surprisingly, none of us knew Elias was never sick. He was pretending, just to scam the public again—like he always does. We’ve been scammed by the man we took in when he had nothing.”

She broke into fake tears.

Henry smiled proudly.

“That’s excellent. Upload it immediately.”

A weak groan came from the floor.

“No… you can’t… you can’t do this to me… and go scot-free…” Elias whispered through clenched teeth.

“Oh, you’re awake?” Susan turned to him with an amused smirk.

“Innocent? You think you’re innocent?”

She scoffed.

“Who will ever believe your pathetic story?”

She leaned down close enough for him to smell her perfume.

“Just die, Elias. No one will believe you. Your life isn’t worth living.”

She spat in his face.

“Guards!” Henry barked.

“Take this useless thing to the street where he belongs.”

Two bulky guards marched in, grabbed Elias by his arms, and dragged him outside with all his belongings tossed behind him like trash.

“Is that not Henry’s son-in-law?” someone murmured from across the street.

“Isn’t he the heartless man who scammed everyone?” another asked as the guards dumped him on the ground.

“Yes, he’s the one.”

Within seconds, a crowd gathered—faces twisted with anger, hands clutching sticks, stones, and whatever weapons they could find.

“Let’s deal with him!” someone yelled.

“A man like this doesn’t deserve to live!”

“Please… I didn’t do… anything…” Elias struggled to speak.

“Liar!”

“Attack him!”

They descended on him like a pack of wolves.

He felt every kick, every blow, every insult.

His vision blurred.

A warm trickle slid down his face—blood.

Eventually, someone shouted, “Enough! Leave him before he dies here.”

One by one, the mob dispersed, leaving him broken on the cold ground.

Barely conscious, Elias forced his trembling fingers to reach for his phone.

He pressed the nearest contact.

“Mira…” he whispered.

“I’m dying…”

And then darkness threatened swallowed him.