Chapter 5: He Is Someone Very Important to Me
Elara’s POV
The sharp click of my heels echoed down the hospital corridor, where the air reeked of disinfectant.
A nurse led me to a room. The moment she opened the door, I saw the man lying in the bed.
“Lucas!”
I hurried to his side.
There was a scrape on his face, gauze wrapped around his forehead, and a cast on his left hand. When he saw me, he actually smiled.
My voice trembled slightly. “How are you?”
Noticing my concern, the nurse reassured me, “Mr. Lucas isn’t in any danger. His injuries are mostly superficial, along with a mild concussion. He should be able to leave after a night of observation.”
I let out a breath.
Only then did the crushing weight on my chest finally lift.
“Thank you.”
I turned back to Lucas with a frown. “Who hit you?”
Lucas lowered his head, his lips pressed tightly together.
The nurse hesitated. “The other driver is also in the hospital. She suffered minor injuries.”
“Who is she?”
She checked the medical chart.
“Silvia Thorn. She’s in a VIP room.”
My body went rigid.
Silvia?
I suddenly remembered the way she had looked at me outside my office. The ominous feeling in my gut intensified.
I turned and headed toward the room at the other end of the hall.
When I pushed open the door to the VIP room, I saw exactly whom I expected.
So Austin hadn’t been following me. He had come to clean up Silvia’s mess.
He sat on the sofa, idly toying with a lighter. The moment he saw me, his brows drew together.
Ignoring him, I went straight to the bed.
“Silvia.”
She looked up, her expression stiffening visibly. Her forehead was slightly red.
“Why did you run Lucas down?” I demanded coldly.
She quickly looked away. “I didn’t do it on purpose. Worst case, I’ll pay him a large settlement.”
Her response infuriated me.
Wealthy heiresses like Silvia always thought they could throw money at anyone harmed by their mistakes. Besides, I did not believe her.
“Whether it was deliberate is for the police to decide.”
I pulled out my phone.
She panicked at once. “Elara, you’re calling the police on me?”
“Relax. I only want the truth.”
Austin’s deep voice cut in.
“That’s enough.”
I turned toward him. “What exactly is enough?”
“She’s injured too,” he said with a frown. “You came here to interrogate my sister over an outsider?”
An outsider.
The words stopped me for two seconds.
I stared at him. “Lucas isn’t an outsider.”
Austin’s expression darkened.
“He is someone very important to me.” I spoke each word distinctly, then paused. “More important than you, at least.”
The room fell silent.
Austin’s jaw tightened, and his gaze turned frighteningly cold.
“Say that again.”
“I made myself clear.”
“You’re picking a fight with me over him?”
“This isn’t a fight.” I held his gaze. “I’m demanding that Silvia answer for what she did.”
“What do you want?”
“An apology.”
“She’s already hurt.”
“That’s her problem.”
Austin gave a cold laugh. “When did you become so aggressive, Elara?”
“I’ve always been this way.”
Neither of us backed down.
Silvia pressed her lips together, not daring to speak.
Just then, Austin’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen, and his expression shifted.
“I need to take this.”
He headed for the door, but stopped before leaving.
“Keep an eye on Silvia. Don’t let her say anything she shouldn’t.”
He wasn’t talking to me.
Only then did I notice someone else in the room.
Miles was leaning against the wall. He gave me an awkward wave in greeting. I would normally have smiled politely in return, but I couldn’t manage one now.
After the door closed, silence filled the room for several seconds.
Silvia suddenly snapped, “Just because my brother likes you doesn’t mean I’ll apologize to that lowlife Lucas!”
I froze.
Austin liked me?
That was the funniest joke I had ever heard.
She bit her lip. “If you and he hadn’t—”
“Silvia.” Miles abruptly raised his voice, cutting her off.
She glared at him defiantly. “If she hadn’t cheated, I never would’ve driven into Lucas! My idiot brother even helped bury the dirt that could’ve destroyed her!”
Dirt?
My heart sank. “What do you mean?”
Silvia’s eyes reddened. She was about to answer when Miles stopped her.
“Shut up.”
He stepped forward and positioned himself between us like a human wall.
Silvia’s furious voice came from behind him. “Why do you think my brother deliberately released those stories? Someone took pictures of you cheating with Lucas!”
The words struck me like a thunderbolt, leaving my head ringing.
I frowned at Miles. He understood the question in my eyes and let out a long sigh.
Then he handed me his phone.
The photographs on the screen blindsided me.
They had been taken at the private restaurant I had visited the previous week. The private room was dimly lit, but the camera had captured Lucas’s arm around my waist with perfect clarity.
My pupils contracted. Cold sweat instantly covered my back as I swiped across the screen with trembling fingers.
Every picture had been taken from a suggestive angle.
I didn’t dare imagine what would have happened if these were the photographs shown at today’s press conference.
If I were branded an adulteress, Hunter would seize the opportunity to come after me. Worse, I might lose my right to inherit the Richter Group altogether.
Austin had released rumors of his own infidelity not to sabotage my press conference, but to bury the evidence that could have ruined me.
My mind was in chaos.
Before I could process everything, Silvia spoke again.
“Elara, do you know why my brother found those women?”
She stared at me.
I said nothing.
“Luna. All the others before her.” Her voice dropped. “Nothing ever happened between him and any of them.”
The tips of my fingers slowly turned cold.
It felt as though something had struck my brain. I couldn’t force a single sound past my throat.
“He deliberately brought them around you.”
“He wanted you to see them.”
“He was trying to make you jealous.”
Memories suddenly came flooding back.
All those encounters that had seemed like coincidences.
All the women I had happened to catch him with.
All the scenes he could easily have kept me from witnessing.
And this morning.
He had asked if Luna bothered me.
I had said she did.
And there had been something in his eyes when he looked at me.
So that was it.
I had misunderstood everything.
“Why?” I heard myself ask, my voice trembling.
Silvia was silent for a moment.
“Because the night before your wedding, he saw you and Lucas enter a hotel together.”
My breath stopped.
Three years ago.
The day before the wedding.
I had indeed gone to a hotel with Lucas.
But that was because—
Before I could explain, Silvia continued, “You didn’t marry my brother because our families had no choice but to form an alliance.”
“You married him because he chose you.”
It felt as though someone had seized my heart and squeezed.
I suddenly remembered that day three years ago, when my father told me the Thorn family had agreed to the marriage.
I had been happy all night.
I thought fate had finally shown me mercy.
It had never once occurred to me that Austin himself had chosen me.
Could he really be in love with me?
Miles suddenly spoke.
“Elara.”
I turned toward him.
His expression was complicated.
“Some things aren’t what they seem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lucas isn’t as innocent or kind as you think.”
