Ficorpio
Chapter 1
“Adrian Bennett, why did you do this to me? Why? I know you love Ethan. I never wanted to take him from you.”
Victor Cross was sobbing as if his heart had been torn apart. His wide eyes were rimmed in red, and his chest heaved violently with every breath.
With a deafening crash, the rust-covered warehouse door was kicked off its hinges.
Dust billowed through the sudden shaft of sunlight.
The newcomer charged inside and knocked down the three hired thugs. Like frightened dogs, they scrambled to their feet and fled.
Ethan Sterling pulled the tear-streaked Victor into his arms. After murmuring a few words of comfort, he finally turned his hate-filled gaze on Adrian.
Ethan had always treated Adrian with indifference, but he had never looked at him like that before.
It felt as though a knife had pierced straight through Adrian’s heart. The pain stole his breath. He tried to explain, but his throat burned so badly that no words would come.
“Ah…”
He didn’t know anything. He hadn’t done anything.
The hoarse sound of his own voice startled him. Adrian had studied singing. His voice was his life.
That harsh rasp sounded like tires shrieking against asphalt during an emergency stop. It was unbearably ugly.
Worse, he soon realized that it was the only sound he could make. A single, meaningless “ah” could never explain what had happened.
“Adrian Bennett, who gave you the nerve to lay a hand on my man?”
The bruises covering Victor’s legs had cut into Ethan’s eyes. He bent down, picked up the steel bar lying on the floor, and walked toward Adrian one slow step at a time.
“Stand up.”
The command was hard and absolute. There was no room to bargain.
Clinging to the back of a chair, Adrian slowly pushed himself upright. Before he could straighten fully, one end of the steel bar smashed into his thigh.
His legs gave way. He dropped to his knees, and his kneecaps struck the concrete floor with a sickening crack. Skin split. Blood spilled.
Adrian grabbed the hem of Ethan’s shirt and shook his head again and again, begging him not to believe Victor’s lies.
Ethan tore his hand away without sparing him another glance.
Victor smiled at Adrian, the satisfaction in his eyes impossible to miss. But the moment Ethan turned back, Victor’s expression shifted into one of injured innocence.
“Don’t ever set foot inside the Sterling estate again.”
Ethan spat out the words in fury, then lifted Victor into his arms and carried him out of the warehouse.
Adrian remained on the floor for a long time. Eventually, after piecing together everything that had happened, he understood.
He had been leaving school when someone had suddenly thrown a burlap sack over his head.
Chapter 2
When he woke, he had seen three hired thugs stripping Victor’s clothes. Adrian recognized them. They had blocked his path outside the school several times, whistling at him and making lewd remarks.
At first, he had naively assumed that Victor had been kidnapped by the same men.
Then, without warning, everything had ended. One of the thugs untied Adrian, and Victor dumped the entire story on him, smearing him with every accusation.
Ethan arrived and misunderstood what he saw.
Now Adrian understood. Victor had framed him. The man who looked harmless had personally shoved Adrian into hell.
Winter nights came early. It was only five o’clock, yet darkness had already swallowed the sky.
Adrian tried to stand. After failing more than a dozen times, he finally gave up.
He dropped onto all fours and began crawling toward the exit. Every movement sent agony through his body.
He had no idea how much time passed before he finally made it out of the warehouse.
Darkness surrounded him. He could barely see. The pain in his knees grew sharper and sharper, as if steel nails had been driven into the bones.
With shaking hands, he pulled the phone hidden inside his jacket and opened the rideshare app. The Sterling ancestral estate was far away; even by car, it would take half an hour to reach.
Adrian knew what Ethan had meant. He never wanted to see Adrian again.
But Adrian couldn’t let Ethan go on believing that lie.
He wasn’t returning to the Sterling estate because he wanted to remain dependent on another family.
He only wanted Ethan to know that he was innocent.
The area was too remote. Getting a car was nearly impossible. Even after raising the fare, no driver was willing to accept the trip.
Adrian called Thomas Sterling, the Sterling family’s driver. Thomas picked up, then hung up the instant the call connected.
Thomas had never hung up on him before. This had to be Ethan Sterling’s order.
Headlights appeared in the distance, illuminating the narrow road and reigniting the hope Adrian had been struggling to hold on to.
He fought his way to the roadside and waved frantically at the approaching car, crying out in hoarse, wordless screams.
The brakes shrieked. The sharp smell of burning rubber filled the air. The car stopped less than a foot from him.
“Are you trying to die? Have you lost your mind?”
Marcus Reed climbed out, cursing under his breath. When he saw Adrian’s legs, soaked in blood, his expression turned uncertain.
“I didn’t hit you, did I? Don’t even think about trying to scam me. I’m flat broke.”
Adrian typed on his phone.
[Can you take me to A City? You can have all this money.]
Chapter 3
He emptied his wallet and handed every bill to Marcus. After a moment, Marcus nodded.
“Fine. Get in.”
Marcus stopped outside City General Hospital and nudged Adrian, who had passed out in the passenger seat.
“We’re at the hospital.”
Adrian forced his eyes open and typed another message.
[Not this one. Why didn’t you follow the navigation?]
He knew Marcus had meant well. But right now, all Adrian wanted was to wipe away the smear campaign that had been poured over him.
The car stopped outside the Sterling Ancestral Estate. Marcus helped Adrian out.
The grand iron gates slowly slid open. Walter Sterling, the estate’s butler, came out. When he saw Adrian, pity and helplessness filled his eyes.
“Young Mr. Bennett, Mr. Sterling ordered that you are not to enter the estate again.”
Adrian understood. Walter had been sent out to turn him away.
Once Ethan made a decision, he never changed his mind. Even so, Adrian still wanted to take one last chance.
His fingers flew across the notes app on his phone. Then he held it out to Walter.
[What happened today was a setup by Victor Cross. I didn’t do anything.]
[Please, let Ethan see this.]
Walter had watched Adrian grow up. He could not bring himself to refuse him. Taking the phone, he went inside and headed up to the second floor.
In the room, Victor was curled against Ethan’s chest, his slender body trembling uncontrollably.
Victor had an impossibly pure, sweet face. From childhood onward, no matter what lie he told, people saw the tears gathering in his eyes and believed him without question.
He knew exactly how to use that to his advantage.
“Ethan, if you hadn’t come today, I… I would have…”
His sob caught at precisely the right moment, and it tugged at the heart of the normally cold and indifferent heir.
“It’s over now. I’ll have the family doctor come examine you in a little while.”
The door was open. Walter stood outside and asked respectfully, “Mr. Sterling, Adrian asked me to give you his phone. He typed something in the notes and wants you to read it.”
Victor had assumed that silencing Adrian had made it impossible for him to tell the truth. He had never expected Adrian to find another way.
“Ethan, don’t look at it. Adrian recorded what happened too, and I don’t want you to see…”
Ethan gently wiped away Victor’s tears.
“Don’t cry. I won’t look.”
He rose and took the phone from Walter. Then he opened the glass door leading to the balcony and casually threw the phone outside.
“From now on, nothing belonging to Adrian is to remain in this house. Walter, clear out his room as well.”
Walter had known that Ethan disliked Adrian from childhood, but he had never imagined Ethan would be this ruthless.
Still, he was only a servant of the Sterling family. A servant had no right to question the master’s decision.