His Destructive, Toxic Love

Aaron and Zach worked together?

How on earth could these two, who seemingly had nothing in common, have financial dealings?

"What do you think is the reason?" Casper asked.

Dillon had a few theories.

"Maybe Zach has some side hustle and teamed up with Aaron on the down-low. Or maybe they're working together on something, trading favors for mutual benefits."

Given the small amount of money involved, it couldn't be a major business deal.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

"I think the only thing that could connect those two is Eliza."

On the surface, both Aaron and Zach seemed pretty into Eliza. By normal logic, they'd be love rivals.

Could rivals collaborate? It didn't make sense.

"Could it be because of me?" Casper's voice was deep, his gaze as mysterious as the dark depths of the ocean.

Dillon frowned, puzzled. "Why is that?"

"Maybe they're both targeting me." He chuckled softly, a teasing tone in his voice.

Dillon understood but was also confused. He guessed, "Could it be the typical, the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

Casper laughed, gently tapping Dillon's forehead. "You're quite the genius, kid."

"I get why Zach would want to go after you, but Dr. Martin? Weren't you two close friends?" Dillon still couldn't wrap his head around it. "Is it all about your wife? Even if he loved her, that just makes him the other guy, right? Why would he ignore the Martin family's interests?"

Three years ago, Casper nearly drove the Martin family out of Falconridge. They'd only just managed to get back on their feet in Oak Falls, and now Aaron was risking it all again. The Martin family would definitely disown him. Casper's gaze drifted to a memory.

A woman named May was pregnant with Aaron's child when she jumped from a hundred-foot-high building, ending her life at just twenty-two.

Casper didn't know why, but as she jumped, she cried out, "Casper, I love you."

In truth, he and May weren't close and had not even spoken about love.

After May's incident, Aaron was cold towards him for a while. Was this what started the feud?

"Mr. Casper," Dillon called him back to reality.

Casper snapped out of his thoughts. "Hmm?"

"Mikey's out."

Casper looked over at the older man. His head hung low. He looked defeated and despondent, his eyes red and swollen.

It seemed like the father-daughter talk didn't go well.

Dillon approached, "As Mr. Casper

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After a moment, Mikey nodded. "Take me back."

Dillon glanced at Casper. With a slight nod from Casper, he led Mikey away.

Casper stubbed out his cigarette. He turned and walked into the living room.

Eliza was still on the sofa, quiet as a dazed little rabbit.

He didn't ask how the talk went but poured her a glass of water and handed it to her, "Have some water." Eliza didn't look up. She didn't take the glass of water he offered.

"How could he betray my mom and our family?" she said softly. "He said he had his reasons, but my mom fell ill because of him and eventually passed away. He doesn't seem sad at all and only spoke about how hard it's been for him."

She shook her head, unable to believe her father had changed so much.

With tears streaking down her cheeks, she slowly looked up at Casper full of doubt. "Did you make him say that? Did you tell him what to say? What exactly did you do to him?"