As the Night Fades, the Moon Departs

Half of Graymore was waiting for me to be humiliated when I broke up with Clara Hall. I burned down the villa she built for her kept man and almost killed him in there, but Clara begged me to show mercy to Zayn Jordan. So instead, I broke her hands. In retaliation, Clara worked with my family's enemies to bankrupt Miller Industries and allowed my debtors to kidnap and humiliate me, breaking my fingers so that I could not play the piano anymore. Four years later, we saw each other again. Clara was the honorable guest on the cruise ship, while I was in revealing clothes and had a dog's collar around my neck. Several rich heirs were using me as a live dartboard for some fun. When Clara spotted me, she picked up a dart and came over to me. "You know how people from Graymore enjoy a good win, Eric. If my dart hits the apple on your head, I want you to go down on your knees in front of Zayn and apologize. "If you stop being so stubborn, I'll take you home with me and help you regain your spotlight on the stage." Everyone around us laughed. Meanwhile, I was trembling from being bound too tightly by the rough ropes on my body. I clutched tightly onto my thin clothes. What a tempting offer, but too bad I had less than one week left to live. Chapter 1 The dart brushed the top of my head and hit right into the apple. Emma Chambers, who was Clara Hall's assistant, quickly ran up to untie me. I lost my balance and had to lean against the dartboard as I slid down on the deck, trembling from the cold. Clara approached me slowly, glancing at my unnaturally angled hands. My fingers were twitching uncontrollably. "Have you gone dumb?" She stared at my emotionless face with a flash of annoyance in her eyes. Clara was not happy with my dead look, and she was about to say something when someone placed a coat over her. "You're scaring him, Clara." Zayn Jordan was in a bespoke suit and was wearing an expensive watch on his wrist. The watch had been the headline of all major news outlets over the past few days in Graymore. Clara had generously spent $60 million on the auction and locked down the bidding three times just to make Zayn happy. Clara went up to Zayn right away and hugged him with a soft look in her eyes. "What are you doing out here? It's windy outside, and you might catch something in this strong sea breeze." All Zayn did was stand in the wind for a while, and Clara was already worried about him. My heart tightened in my chest, and it felt like a thousand needles were pierced into it. They were still together happily after four years, while my piano-playing hands were broken. I was also diagnosed with stomach cancer and forced to sell my dignity for money. Everyone noticed how similar Zayn and I looked, and they started whispering amongst themselves. "They look quite alike, don't they? Too bad a blue-collar worker on a cruise ship will never have the air of a distinguished man like Zayn Jordan." "Everyone knows how much Ms. Hall dotes on her little boyfriend. Since he was diagnosed with gastritis years ago, their villa has never stopped stocking up on expensive supplements and nutrients." Clara said in a low voice, "Stop being stubborn, Eric. You're no longer the young heir from a wealthy family. You can't make money with your pride. It's not a loss for you to apologize in exchange for a pair of healthy hands. Don't you want to play the piano again in the future?" Play the piano? I laughed to myself silently. I used to live under the spotlight of the entire Graymore as a renowned pianist, and it was difficult to get tickets to watch my concerts. Members of high society would fight for tickets just to glimpse my performance. However, I was now just a maimed man who could hardly hold a glass without my hands shaking. I could taste blood in my mouth as I tried to stand slowly, with difficulty. Clara frowned as she looked at my twitching hands. I looked back into her eyes and smiled calmly. "My hands are fine. There is no need for you to worry about them, Ms. Hall." Ms. Hall. Calling her that was enough to put distance between us. Clara frowned again, but said nothing, and she left with her arms around Zayn. A few minutes later, Emma returned to put a bank card in my hand. "Ms. Hall wanted me to give you this, Mr. Miller. It has $10,000 in it." $10,000 was not even enough to pay for one day's worth of Zayn's supplements. Emma's head was lowered, and she spoke quickly, not daring to meet my eyes. I suddenly found it funny to see her looking so guilty. "What's with the act? When Clara and I fought, you were the one who went around searching for suitable men for Clara. Weren't you the one who sent Zayn into her arms?" "Don't say that. The past years have seen Ms. Hall…" Emma shut up awkwardly when she saw the disgust in my eyes. Every person by Clara's side whom I had helped had heartlessly stepped all over me when I fell off my pedestal. It was not difficult to guess the person behind their actions. I did not accept the card, but dragged myself away weakly. The freezing sea breeze gusted into my thin shirt, and I trembled from the cold. I was suddenly reminded of the first time I met Clara, when we stood in the wind that gusted just as coldly as today. Chapter 2 I was a well-known, arrogant heir of Graymore's casino tycoon. Anything I wanted, I would get, and that included Clara. We had a high-profile relationship, and the public speculated that the great Eric Miller would get tired of this low-income student within three months. No one knew that Clara was my first love, and I had given my heart to her. Even though Clara had nothing back then, she loved me with her whole heart. To convince my father to agree to our relationship, she knelt outside the Millers' for three whole days in the rain and swore that she would treat me wholeheartedly and never hurt me. I was a proud man who would constantly lose my temper at her. Every time I did that, she would crawl into my arms lovingly yet helplessly, coaxing me with her gentle voice until I was happy. This was until Clara climbed up the ladder in the business world to become one of the latest powerhouses in Graymore. She became increasingly busy, and even canceled our appointment to try on our wedding dress and suit. I was furious, and I smashed an antique tea set in her study, waiting expectantly for her to coax me as she always did. However, this time, Clara's face fell, and she slammed the door on her way out. The first day of our fight, I texted her: [No one is helping me warm my hands when you aren't home. They feel so cold.] On the third day, I sent her a one-minute voice note to tell her that I missed her, and on the tenth day, I called her dozens of times for a video call. However, she did not reply to any of them, and I started to panic on the 15th day she gave me the cold shoulder. I had never done a day of housework before this, and I started to learn how to cook for her. I cut my hands and burned them in the process, but I felt it was a mark of my love for her. When I went to see Clara, Emma stopped me outside her office. "Ms. Hall won't be seeing anyone at this time, Mr. Miller. Please don't make this difficult for me." Her forehead was covered in sweat, and she kept sneaking glances through the crack of the door anxiously. "Won't see anyone? Don't you know who I am? Are you even stopping me from seeing her?" I kicked open her office door without hesitation. "How big-headed have you become, Clara…" I could not even finish my sentence because I was stunned by what I saw. The office was filled with a sticky, sensual scent in the air. Several half-transparent, lacy pieces of lingerie were flung on the floor, and Clara was lying on her office desk, looking disheveled. Behind the desk was a good-looking man, whose face was flushed. He was grinding his crotch between Clara's legs again and again. The man's voice quivered as he laughed in a low voice. "Clara… We're still in the office. Can't you hold it in…?" "Stop moving. Be good, and let me kiss you." Clara's voice was filled with lust and sweetness. It had been a long time since I heard her speaking to me that way. Clara would always claim to be busy at home. She did not have time to listen to me playing the piano, and had no time to have a meal with me. It turned out she only did not have time when it came to me. The man jumped when he heard the door being kicked open, and he instinctively hid behind Clara. I could feel my blood pumping into my brain. Was every third party in this world gifted in playing the victim? Ten years ago, that bitch acted exactly the same way. She intruded on my family with her illegitimate son in tow, hiding behind my father and crying pitifully. Her appearance angered my mother so much that she got sick after that, and never got better, and she passed away in the end. I swore in front of her grave that I would never end the same way as she did. The first thing I did was to dash forward to grab him by the hair, and I slammed him to the ground before raising my hand to slap him hard. "What are you doing, Eric?!" Clara pushed me away, and the thermal container in my hand fell to the ground. I could not avoid being splashed with hot soup, and a piece of the broken container slashed my cheek. Blood dripped down from the cut, and the anger on Clara's face turned into panic. She quickly came over to cup my face in her hands, and she kissed away the blood dripping from it. How pathetic it was that I felt lucky to have won the fight for Clara's heart at that moment. Clara sent Zayn away after that, and I pressed Clara down on the sofa that afternoon in a fit of passion. However, Clara pushed me away at the crucial moment, claiming that it was not a convenient time for her. I did not think much of it, as I thought Zayn was just a boy toy Clara kept for a few days because we were in a fight. That was until Zayn invited me to meet at a cafe with a look of hatred on his face. "It's been ten years, Eric Miller. I guess you've already forgotten about me." Chapter 3 I looked at his face, unable to remember where I had seen him, no matter how hard I tried. Zayn stirred his coffee and smiled nonchalantly. "It's only normal that you don't remember me. I did suffer under the surgical blades numerous times just to ensure that I looked as close to you as possible." Hate appeared in his eyes. "Weren't you looking down at me from upstairs ten years ago when my mother and I were at the Millers' mansion?" The realization of his identity exploded in my mind as I looked at him in shock. Memories from ten years ago came pouring in as I remembered the woman who caused my mother's death and her illegitimate son who hid behind my father, not daring to look up from the ground. It was him. "I see you remember me." Zayn smiled gleefully as he admired the shock on my face. "After my mother was kicked out of your house, she had to live her entire life in shame from being known as the third party. "That was the day I swore that I would have my revenge. Too bad that your mother had a short life, which meant I had no choice but to have my revenge on you. Just wait a little longer, and I'll have a grand wedding with Clara and make you taste what it feels like to be the third party!" I laughed in anger and said through clenched teeth, "Do you think you can win her heart just because you had a little plastic surgery? Clara told me that you've already broken…" "Does it matter? Clara has feelings for me." Zayn interrupted me and caressed his face slowly. "You slept together in the office that afternoon, didn't you? But even then, she drove all the way to see me without even changing out of her clothes. "She told me that she can't breathe whenever she's with you because you're spoiled and willful. I spent the entire night pleasing her that day." Zayn laughed even more gleefully when he saw the stunned look on my face. He took out an access card from his branded bag. "No. 18, Shallow Bay. If you don't believe me, just come over to have a look." I grabbed the glass of ice water on the table and threw it in his face. After that, I ran out of the cafe. I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting by Weld Harbor, thinking about how Clara and I had been spending time with each other recently. Clara tried to pacify me by entertaining clients less after work, and would come home often to accompany me, but she no longer cooked for me or clung by my side to feed me. She ate with me, slept by my side in bed, and talked about work with me, but she did everything robotically. Once, I tried to kiss her in the throes of passion, but she dodged my kiss, and my lips ended up brushing past her cheek awkwardly. She pushed me away, trying to hide the resistance in her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I've been busy at work recently, and I feel a little tired." I swallowed the bitterness in my mouth, and I woke up early the next morning to make her breakfast. A few days ago, I discovered Clara had been reading up on early pregnancy, and the gloom in my heart vanished at the thought of her avoiding being intimate with me. The feeling was replaced by happiness, as she was acting this way because she was pregnant with my baby. That was until today, when Zayn exposed the truth, yanking me out of the beautiful lie I built around myself. When the sky turned dark, I headed to No. 18, Shallow Bay. It was a quiet residential area. I had mentioned wanting to buy a house in this area, but Clara objected to the idea with a frown, claiming that it was too remote and not convenient. She told me this place had no investment value. Yet, she ended up hiding Zayn here. My hands trembled, hardly able to press the access card on the card reader. When the metal gates opened, I walked in with a blank look on my face. When I saw the garden, it felt like a bucket of cold water was poured all over me, and the blood in my veins froze. Chapter 4 Zayn was putting up a swing in the garden and was covered in sweat, while Clara giggled as she massaged his shoulders. "You should let the help put this together." "Not a chance. This swing is for you and the baby. I can't let someone else do this." Swing. Baby. I clutched my stomach, feeling it cramping violently. I did not tell Clara about my stomach cancer because I did not want her to worry. To think that I had even tried to tiptoe around the issue of her pregnancy by asking, "Do you want a boy or a girl?" She was silent for a long time before replying hoarsely that she had never given any thought to the question. I guess it was because the baby she was thinking about was not mine. Zayn caught sight of me from the corner of his eye, and he smiled maliciously. "Clara, you know what a proud person Eric Miller is. He won't let me get away with this if he finds out that you're having my baby. A-Are you willing to make our relationship and our baby legitimate?" I held my breath. I wanted her to say I was her one and only and tell Zayn not to even dream about it. Please… I was begging her in my mind. After a while, Clara said, "Zayn, just wait for me a little longer. The Millers are about to fall, and once they have completely fallen, I'll buy up all their assets to repay them for what they did for me and to make him understand his place, that he should be subservient to you." Her words obliterated the last of my hope. Ten minutes later, the Millers' bodyguards barged through their doors. "Destroy everything!" I roared with reddened eyes. "Break that hand of hers that touched another man!" Zayn screamed in fright, and I grabbed him by the hair to push his face down into the soil again and again. "Your mother had an affair, and you had an affair! Your genes are coded to be shameless third parties!" Tears and snot covered his face, and he even coughed up blood. Clara struggled to escape from the grip of the bodyguards, and her eyes were filled with hate. "Don't you dare hurt him, Eric! Or I'll make you pay for it!" She was true to her word. The Millers had been in a financial crisis for a long time, and the entire family fell overnight. Clara did not buy us out right away as an act of revenge against me, but let things be until my father was forced to jump off a building. The Millers' mansion was put up for auction, and I was riddled with millions in debt. I did not even have the money to buy my father a proper cemetery lot to be buried in, and I was forced to beg Clara for help. Every one of my fingers was broken before she made an appearance, and she flung $10 at me. "Buy your father a straw mat. You can treat it as my gratitude to him for helping me build my business." I was humiliated as I picked up the money, but it was the only dignity I could afford to give my father. Back on the deck, the supervisor's voice pulled me out of my reverie. "Take your pay and get lost! You've offended someone you shouldn't have!" I clutched the money and walked slowly into an alley right outside the harbor, clutching my stomach. After walking some distance, several muscled men appeared from the corner, playing with switchblades in their hands. "Mr. Jordan told us how annoying it was to look at your face, and he wants us to slice it up before feeding you to the fishes." I turned to run, but my stomach hurt so much that I could not control my body. I tripped and fell into a puddle of dirty water with a horrible stench. When the blade was about to come down on me, someone kicked the thug hard, and he flew off into the distance. Clara's bodyguards had the muscled men pressed down on the ground, and she grabbed me from the ground while her chest heaved violently. "Look at you, Eric! Why do you refuse to give in to me when you've already ended up this way?" "Let me go!" I struggled hard to escape from her grip, but my contorted hands were too weak. "Stop with your pretense, Clara! Don't you really know who wants me dead?" Clara was triggered by my attempts to resist her, and she grabbed me by the collar, speaking in a tone that confused me because it sounded like she was in pain. "I didn't hold it against you when you broke my hands and hurt Zayn back then. Isn't that enough? "Haven't you suffered enough in the past four years? Come back with me, and I'll give you however much money you want. I'll hire the best doctors in the world to treat your hands. Just stop torturing yourself this way!" "Treat my hands? How are you going to do that, Clara?" I raised my trembling hands during the struggle. "Don't you want to get them treated? Go on, do it!" I looked at her and laughed until my tears started streaming down my face, and I continued roaring at her hysterically. "Get your bone specialist to come and try putting back every bone in my finger when they're already crushed into pieces!" Clara's tall, slender body flinched, as if someone had just punched her hard. Before she could reply, her phone rang. "Ms. Hall, we just found a medical report from four years ago in your office that diagnosed someone with stomach cancer."