Chapter 1 A Heart of Malice

Rivershire, in front of a luxury hotel suite. "Clara, is that you?" Sebastian Hughes, a delivery boy, froze in place as the woman who opened the door came into view. She was wearing a revealing silk nightgown. It was his fiancée, Clara Perkins. He had come to deliver food, never expecting to find Clara here. Clara looked equally startled. "What are you doing here?" Sebastian felt a foreboding sense of dread. "Clara, is the food here?" A man’s unfamiliar voice echoed from the bathroom. Hearing it, Sebastian’s mind went blank. His fiancée was in a hotel room with another man. "What are you doing here? Who is the man inside?" he yelled, his face contorted with rage. A hefty man, bare-chested and wrapped in a towel, sauntered out. "Oh, Clara, this must be your delivery boy fiancé. What a coincidence." The man, Gareth Quinn, looked at Sebastian with mockery and contempt, his expression smug. "Explain yourself!" Sebastian demanded. Clara crossed her arms, sneering. "What’s there to explain? You’ve seen it all. If you hadn't come here, you wouldn't know that, so just blame yourself." "You… why!" Sebastian clenched his fists tightly, his heart burning with agony. His fingernails dug into his palms, but he felt no pain. "Look at yourself. You think you can marry me with the 13,600 dollars dowry your family scraped together? My mom asked for 68,000 dollars. Did you give it? And my brother’s 41,000 dollars loan, did you pay that?" Clara lifted her chin proudly, playing with the diamond necklace around her neck. "Be realistic. What future can a delivery boy offer me? The luxury items I love would take you a decade of work to buy. It was your privilege that I even dated you. Look at your family situation. You have a sick mother, and spending money on you is like losing a limb. You can’t even pay off my brother’s debt." Clara shook her head, laughing coldly. "When did you and he get together?" Sebastian asked through gritted teeth. "Stop shouting! Let me tell you, Gareth and I have been together for a long time. He’s a real man." Clara gazed seductively at Gareth and fell into his embrace. Sebastian felt as though a thunderbolt had struck him. His heart bled with sorrow and fury. "You wanted money, and I worked myself to exhaustion for it. And this is what you do to me?" "So what? You can’t give me the life I want, so of course, I’m with someone else," Clara said with defiance, the disdain in her eyes unmistakable. Gareth lit a cigar, holding Clara in his arms as he smirked at the drama unfolding before him. "Kid, you should call me senior. Honestly, I pity you. You were about to get married and still hadn’t been with her. Here, take this money as compensation for your time with Clara. As for everything else, leave it to me." Gareth chuckled as he pulled a wad of cash from a bag and threw it on the floor. "Take this money and get lost. Don’t bother us again. Looking at you makes me sick," Clara sneered. "Shame on you!" Sebastian roared, hurling the food he was holding at them. The food splattered all over them, staining their clothes, and their faces darkened in anger. "Sebastian, you’re dead! You’ll crawl out of here like a dog!" Clara screamed. "Security!" Gareth bellowed, and the hotel manager rushed in with several guards. "Mr. Gareth, what can I do for you?" The manager bowed respectfully to him. "This delivery boy harassed my girlfriend and attacked us. Throw him out," Gareth said, pointing at Sebastian. "Yes, he harassed me! Help!" Clara shrieked, her eyes filled with malice. "How dare you! Beat him!" The manager ordered, and the guards began to rain blows on Sebastian with batons. Sebastian, though a delivery boy, had trained in martial arts. His body was strong, and he managed to withstand their attacks, even fighting back. Gareth's eyes darkened with even more malice as he watched. "Useless fools!" Gareth yelled as he grabbed his phone to call for backup. "Sebastian! How dare you resist!" Clara screamed. Sebastian’s bloodshot eyes locked onto her, and Clara, for the first time, felt a pang of fear. "Oh, right, you have a sister named Bethany studying at Kingsvale University, don’t you?" Clara’s expression turned wicked. "What are you planning?" Sebastian froze in shock as he fought. "If you keep resisting, your sister will end up in some beggar’s bed tomorrow!" Clara shouted.