His Destructive, Toxic Love

With her youth and beauty, Sonya figured she could leverage her status as a mom to secure a better life and maybe even become Tristan's wife.

Too bad men can be scarily calm when it comes to love. Even if Tristan adored young, pretty faces, he would never ditch his wife and kid to marry a mistress. However, he never neglected Sonya and his child.

As Zach grew older, Tristan's fondness for him grew, and he even thought about adding him to the Welton family tree. Jeffrey wasn't on board, so the idea was shelved.

Zach transferred to Eliza's high school in their senior year.

Before their final exams, he sent her love letters and asked her out for coffee, but she always turned him down.

His feelings didn't fade in college; he chased her for four long years.

She thought her marriage would make him give up, but things got crazier.

On the day she and Casper got their marriage certificate, Zach confronted them, and he ended up in a brawl with Casper. He'd recite love poems outside their house and send Casper taunting messages. Because of this, Eliza often bore the brunt of Casper's anger.

Once, Casper starved her for a week, leaving her to survive on water, which messed up her stomach.

Zach's obsession scared her. Eventually, Tristan shipped him off overseas for an MBA, finally calming things down.

Chelsea knew about all this. Why would she...

After a lot of thinking, Eliza picked up her phone and texted Chelsea. [Is Zach the owner of the art studio?]

A long silence followed.

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang, and Chelsea stood there, guilt and apology written all over her face. "I'm sorry, Elle."

"Chelsea, you know how Zach is... why would you put me through that trouble?"

Eliza was in the middle of negotiating a divorce with Casper. Zach showing up and Eliza working at his studio only stoked Casper's twisted possessiveness.

What was already a tough divorce now became even more complicated.

Chelsea hung her head.

Eliza couldn't blame her and squeezed her hand. "I'm not mad at you."

"You have every right to be. I just couldn't stand watching you worn out from delivering food and always getting hassled by customers..." Chelsea's eyes filled with tears. Eliza felt a lump in her throat. "I know you care."

"Has Casper been bothering you again?"

"It's nothing new with him."

Just days ago, he'd hurt her badly enough to almost kill her, but Eliza hadn't told Chelsea, afraid she'd worry.

"So, he's making you quit work at the studio?"Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Eliza nodded. "He offered me a million to break the contract, but I said no."

"Does he think he's all that just because he's got money?" Chelsea was livid.

"Even if Casper didn't force me to quit, I wouldn't have stayed."

Zach was trouble she couldn't handle, and Casper was a loose cannon.

Eliza sighed, "I'll just go back to delivering food if I have to."

For someone who'd been pampered her whole life, delivering food was a huge change.

Chelsea had long wanted Eliza to quit but knew her too well. The last thing Eliza needed was pity.

"Hey, there's always another way. Things will work out."

Eliza chuckled, "No matter what I do, I can't promise Casper won't mess it up."