Chapter 116
No.1
Elisa walked with absolute mechanical precision.The heavy silver tray balanced perfectly on her palms. The boiling Blue Mountain coffee steamed in the delicate bone china cups, filling the air with a rich, bitter scent.
She reached the head of the mahogany table. She stopped in the narrow space between Allena's plush swivel chair and August's empty seat-he had stepped out to take a call just as the seminar began and had just returned, standing right behind Allena.
Elisa kept her eyes blank. She bent her knees slightly,leaning forward to place the first steaming cup onto the leather coaster in front of Allena.
Allena looked at Elisa's face. She saw the perfect,unbroken calm. It infuriated her. She wanted tears.She wanted humiliation.
As Elisa's fingers began to release the handle of the cup, Allena's eyes flashed with a vicious,calculated malice.
Allena suddenly jerked forward, pretending to aggressively reach for a stack of printed data sheets on the far side of the table. She swung her
No.2
right arm out in a wide, violent arc.
Her elbow slammed directly into Elisa's wrist with bone-jarring force.
It wasn't an accident. It was a targeted physical strike.
Elisa's center of gravity shattered. The heavy silver tray violently tipped to the left.
Three bone china cups slid off the polished metal.They plummeted through the air, flipping upside down, sending a wave of boiling, black liquid directly toward the space between Elisa and Allena.
Allena instantly threw her hands over her face and let out a piercing, high-decibel scream, throwing herself backward in her chair to play the ultimate victim.
No.3
August, standing right behind Allena, reacted with pure,unthinking animal instinct.
He didn't assess the trajectory of the spill. He didn't look to see who was actually in danger. His dark eyes only registered the boiling liquid falling toward his mistress.
August lunged forward. His massive hands violently grabbed Allena's shoulders, his fingers digging into her white mink suit as he yanked her backward, out
of the path of the boiling liquid. In his explosive,frantic movement to shield his mate, August pivoted, throwing his broad body in front of hers.The violent turn caused his shoulder to slam into Elisa's chest like a battering ram.
He used the full, explosive force of a man trying to protect his territory.
Elisa was already off-balance. The sheer kinetic power of August's block lifted her feet off the carpet. She flew backward like a broken doll.
No.4
CRACK.
Elisa's lower back slammed into the sharp,unyielding edge of the solid mahogany conference table.4
A blinding, white-hot flash of agony exploded up her spine. It wasn't just a bruise. It was the exact same spot where Devon had shoved her at the Belmont Estate. The old, deep injury flared to life with a terrifying, bone-cracking intensity, shattering months of careful physical therapy in a single second. The air was violently punched out of her lungs.She let out a choked, breathless gasp as her body collapsed onto the floor, landing in a puddle of shattered china and scalding coffee.①
At the exact same second, the remaining boiling
coffee splashed heavily across August's extended right hand and the cuff of his custom suit.
The skin on his hand instantly turned angry red.Auguust let out a low grunt of pain, his jaw clenching hard.
No.5
The conference room erupted into absolute chaos.
The JHU doctors leaped out of their chairs,shouting in panic. They swarmed around August,desperate to check the billionaire's burned hand.
Allena threw herself out of her chair. She grabbed August's arm, tears streaming down her face.
"Oh my god, baby! Your hand!" Allena shrieked,sobbing hysterically. She turned her head and glared down at Elisa, her voice dripping with venom. "She did that on purpose! She tried to throw boiling water in my face because she's jealous! She's a psycho!"
The doctors glared down at Elisa with absolute disgust, fully buying the narrative of the crazy,violent ex-employee.
Not a single doctor stepped forward to help the woman bleeding on the floor. Tessa tried to run forward, but the Chief of Surgery grabbed her arm,holding her back, shaking his head in a stern
No.6
warning not to cross the billionaire.
Elisa was completely, utterly alone. She pressed a trembling hand against the floorboards. Gritting her teeth so hard she tasted blood, she forced her shaking arms to push her body up. Her face was the color of ash. She clutched her lower back, her breathing shallow and ragged from the sheer physical trauma of the impact.
August stood amidst the crowd of fawning doctors.He held his burned hand against his chest. He looked past the doctors and locked eyes with Elisa.
For one microscopic fraction of a second, the rage in August's eyes fractured. He saw the way she was holding her back. He felt the residual impact of his shoulder slamming into her chest vibrating in his bones. He hadn't meant to hit her that hard.It was a reflex.
He took a half-step forward, his mouth opening slightly.
Allena instantly tightened her grip on his arm,sobbing louder. "August, it hurts! My arm got splashed! Call the private doctor!"②
No.7
The sound of Allena's voice snapped the leash back onto August's neck. The brief flash of guilt vanished, buried under his need to maintain
control.
August looked away from Elisa. He turned his back on her. Surrounded by his security detail and the sycophantic doctors, he walked out of the conference room toward the private medical suite,leaving Elisa broken on the floor.
Elisa leaned her weight against the cold glass wall.She watched August's broad back disappear through the door.
A slow, chilling smile touched the corners of her pale lips.
That shove didn't just bruise her spine. It shattered any lingering illusion that he saw her as human.