His Destructive, Toxic Love

"I didn't, Cole, you've got it all wrong. How could I ever be chasing after someone else? I was just here to clear my mind with Ice, you can ask her." Kate was clutching her head, pleading desperately.

From where Eliza stood, she could see that Kate's face and body were covered in bruises, and blood had seeped through her pajamas in several places. Daniel must have been absolutely livid to lash out like that.

"You came here to clear your mind but ended up in Casper's bed?" Daniel's grip on the belt was tight, his face twisted with rage. "Damn, having your cake and eating it too, playing me? We'll see if you can get away with that."

The sound of the belt hitting flesh made Eliza's skin crawl, sending a shiver down her spine. Casper quickly covered her eyes and led her away. "Don't look."

"Daniel seems really angry," Eliza remarked, her voice tinged with worry for Kate. "Do you think he could actually kill her?"

To Casper, hitting was just a way to blow off steam and issue a warning. At Daniel's age, he might think about divorce in a moment of heat. But when faced with betrayal, he wouldn't hold back.

"I think Kate will probably vanish from Falconridge after this," Casper said, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.noveldrama

Eliza looked puzzled. "Why?"

The best way to deal with celebrities was to freeze them out. But Daniel didn't have that kind of power, did he? Casper knew the ways of men well, but he didn't want Eliza to.

"What I mean is, because of this, Daniel probably won't go through with a divorce."

Eliza was baffled. What did he mean by that? Was marriage something he could just end or continue on a whim? She wondered if Renee would take Daniel back.

If it were her, and Casper cheated, she'd never give him a second chance. Once trust was broken, it was broken for good.

"Let's go grab some dinner."

"Okay."

7.ne

The hotel's buffet restaurant was still pretty empty. This time, she spotted Gabe from a distance, with Allysha sitting across from him! Eliza, Carrying her plate, picked her food and intentionally sat at@ spot far from them.

Casper wasn't keen on the food and ate very little, just a bowl of soup. "You should eat something, or you'll be hungry later," Eliza said.

"I won't be. You eat. I enjoy watching you eat," Casper said, resting his chin on his hands, watching Eliza chew slowly. "Sometimes, just watching you eat is a pleasure."

Eliza shook her head with a smile. She ate slowly. Growing up, she often got lectures from her parents in the Henderson family.

"Back in the Henderson family, my mom used to scold me for eating slowly all the time. She'd say I ate too slowly and too little, and that I wouldn't grow tall or pretty, and then she wouldn't like me anymore."

She laughed, a mix of nostalgia and sadness in her eyes. "And what about when

you went back to the Pinotti family? Did anyone mind your slow eating there?"

Eliza shook her head, "They never minded. They would fill my plate with food and tell me to take my time, no rush."

Her days back with the Pinotti family

were actually quite happy. "From

now on, you can take your time eating at home too, and you'll never be frowned upon," he said, holding her hand as if making a promise. "I like watching you eat slowly, I find it incredibly cute."

Eliza smiled. When you love someone, everything about them is endearing. When you don't, even their breathing seems annoying. It seemed that all relationships were like that.

"I hope the time you enjoy watching me eat lasts a little longer."

"A lifetime," he promised, his voice full of emotion.

Just as everyone was enjoying their meal, a blood-curdling scream shattered the

air. "Ah..."