Chapter 3

LIAM

The hot droplets cascaded from the faucet and trickled endlessly down my torso. My eyes flickered at the bath toys I had kept neatly on the washing sink, a reminder of the charade I had been acting since the death of my parents in a crash years ago.

I wasn't truly mad or mentally unstable. I was well, fit, and hale. I had been putting up this act because I knew my life was in danger. Someone out there, possibly in my family or a rival business company, seeks to destroy me.

It all happened three years ago, when I was eighteen. I began having seizure attacks and rapid changes in my mood. I would be violent at times, hallucinating too.

The family doctor was consulted, and he just checked it as a series of allergy attacks. Two years later, I lost my parents in a fatal car crash. It was honestly devastating.

Almost immediately, I began having seizure fits again, panic attacks, and my mood swings were becoming quite alarming. Still, the doctor waved it off as allergy attacks. But I knew it was more than that. So I secretly went to a different doctor for a check-up, and it was then we discovered psychoactive substances in my bloodstream.

It was quite clear, somebody had been poisoning me with harmful drugs that would alter my brain and cause me mental disorder. Probably this same person had a hand in my parents' untimely death; who knew? But one thing was for sure: I had an enemy lurking around me.

So I played along, carefully and slowly mastering this act and acting like a child to evade suspicions and fool everyone into believing I was fully mentally unstable.

My entire fortune had to be stripped from me, handed over to my uncle, who oversaw the family's main enterprise. To worsen it more, I was sent to live in this suburban villa, not the main house in the city.

This was done because the family thought it would be best to hide me from the public. The reminder of what I had become in my quest to fish out who was responsible for my poisoning and my parents' death filled me with so much anger and pain.

Hidden from society like a plague, stripped of my fortunes, and forced to marry a wife I don't even love; my life was a complete mess. But once I find out who is responsible for all my predicaments, I'd definitely deal with the person and finally divorce Ava, my wife.

Rumors had it that the main reason she married me was for my family's wealth and prestige. But the way she defended herself when Davies tried to act amorous around her was quite surprising. Yes, I overheard their entire conversation.

She did not seem repulsed by me, nor by my acts. She smiled lovingly and was calm; I could tell she was patiently enduring everything and everyone.

Was she really after my wealth? Well, I wouldn't be shocked. My insanity was well known to everyone. No woman in her right mind would marry me, her inclusive.

Once I had gotten my revenge, I'd divorce her and likewise settle her with a measurable amount of wealth. I didn't know how long I had been in the shower when a piercing feminine scream reverberated in the room.

Ava! Panic filled me, and I quickly drew my towel around my waist, not minding the multiple drops of water that formed a pattern around my body.

Sprinting out of the bathroom without thinking twice, I was met with such a horrifying scene. Ava lay on the bed, horrified and caged upon by Davies, who hovered over her.

"Davies!" My voice was a growl, shaking the air around us. Both their eyes flickered towards me, Ava's filled with tears, while Davies had a sinister intent in his eyes.

What the fuck is wrong with him!? If he is so eager to fuck a chick, why must it be my wife!?

"Glad you could join us, little Liam," he scoffed, an impudent smile seating on his lips. I wanted to rip his head off at that moment and hit it repeatedly on the wall until it became as soft as a squished apple. Various grenades went off in my head, my blood boiling and my hands balling into fists.

"Get. Off. Ava," my voice was guttural, my nostrils flaring and my veins throbbing.

Davies chuckled darkly, flopping his head back. "And why should I? Go have your bath, little Liam. Little boys shouldn't be here," he turned his direction to Ava.

"Liam, please help me," she whimpered, tears shedding down her cheeks. Seeing her in such a pitiful and helpless state stirred something deep within me. I couldn't tell what it was, but all I knew was I was going mad with anger seeing Davies hovering over my wife.

"Your husband is a child, baby. He is not a man. He can't help you. A spineless man," Davies said to her. "He's not! Don't you dare talk about my husband in that manner. Get off me, you scoundrel!" Ava yelled at him, hitting him repeatedly.

"Liam, come help me!" Ava screamed as she tried to push him off her.

I stood still, my anger swelling with a devious smirk curling by the side of my lips. Really? He thinks I'm spineless?

"He can't help you. He is a man with the brains of a child. You should have known what you were getting yourself into when you decided to marry someone like my cousin, a man who can't protect you. You belong to me," Davies was about to place his lips on her when I pulled him by the collar of his shirt and flung him down from Ava in the blink of an eye.

A deathly silence spread through the room, gasps from both Ava and Davies filling the room as he landed on the ground with such a heavy thud.

My menacing figure loomed over him as he winced on the ground. Now I'll show him who is really spineless between the both of us.