<b>Chapter </b>122


    A chill ran straight through Elissa, leaving her frozen in ce.


    She used to love animals–especially dogs. They’d always been her favorite.


    But Rowan was allergic to dog hair, so having one was out of the question.


    Then, on her sixteenth birthday, Rowan shocked her by giving her a border collie puppy. She named him Max.


    It didn’tst. Not long after, Rowan abandoned them both, leaving Elissa and Max to


    fend for themselves.


    Still, Max stayed by her side–a loyalpanion when she had <i>no </i><i>one </i>else.


    But happiness was always fleeting. One day, she came home from school and Max


    was gone.


    The Murphy family’s butler told her Max had died.


    He exined it was because she hadn’t finished her breakfast that morning. She’d secretly thrown out the egg whites she hated and fed the yolks to Max.


    She hadn’t been obedient.


    And Max had paid the price for her disobedience.


    For days, Elissa was haunted by nightmares, sobbing in her sleep as she apologized


    to Max over and over.


    If only she hadn’t been picky, Max would still be alive.


    It was all her fault.


    After that, every morning, Butler Murphy would set out five hard–boiled eggs for her–nothing else.


    Eggs were the one thing she despised. Still, she forced herself to choke every one down, only to rush to the school restroom and vomit them up.


    She understood now: Matriarch Paige Murphy didn’t care whether she ate the eggs or


    not.


    What mattered was whether Elissa would obey.


    She couldn’t be herself–she could only be a puppet whose likes and dislikes were dictated by someone else.


    <b>1/3 </b>


    <b>11:13 </b>


    It had been that way when she was a child.


    And nothing had changed.


    Elissa opened her eyes and stared at the empty hotel suite. Suddenly, she copsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrobly.


    Rowan strode out of the hotel, his footsteps sharp and purposeful.


    Rex hurried after him, grinning. “You looked cool as ice upstairs, but <i>now </i>you look like you’re about to explode. What happened?”


    “Shut up,” Rowan shot back, his voice cold as steel.


    Rex sighed, purposely needling him. “Come on, little Elissa just wants to keep the peace. You’re trying to help her, and she’s worried Frank will get caught in the middle. She’s dragging you down, sure, but she means well.”


    “Never realized she had such a one–track mind when it came to love.”


    Rowan stopped dead in his tracks and cut Rex a warning re. “Are you done yet?”


    “Nope.”


    But Rex knew when to back off. “If you care so much, why couldn’t you be a little more patient with her? Just ask her why, for once.”


    Back when Rowan took care of Elissa, he used to speak gently, always willing to listen to the girl.


    But in recent years, he’d grown colder, more distant, as if even exchanging a few kind words would cost him his life. Maybe he’d climbed so high it just felt impossible to


    stoop anymore.


    That attitude worked in business–he was Rowan, after all. He didn’t need to bend; others would scramble for a way to reach him.


    But rtionships didn’t work that way.


    Especially not with someone like Elissa, who always responded better to kindness than to force.


    Rowan’s expression hardened. “She made her choice. Why should I be patient?”


    Even as he spoke, his gaze darted to something nearby, and suddenly his eyes sparked with fury.


    <b>2/3 </b>


    <b>11:13 </b>


    Before Rex could react, Rowan stormed over andnded a punch squarely on te, who’d just started toe to.


    te opened his eyes only to meet Rowan’s murderous re. He didn’t even dare to cry out in pain–he dropped to his knees on instinct.


    “Boss! I messed up, I know! It was a moment of stupidity. It was that woman–Marcia from the Atwater family–she led me into this mess!”


    Rowan grabbed him by the cor, his eyes cold and merciless. “When did you start nning this?”