From Lynch Family Pet To Wright Empire Heir

The year Arthur Wright and Evelyn Lynch's mutual hatred burned at its fiercest, a line was crossed that could never be uncrossed.

Evelyn Lynch had Goldie, the dog Arthur had raised for ten years, tortured and killed, all for the sake of her assistant.

In retribution, Arthur hunted Silas down and stabbed him five times, methodically and without remorse, listening to his screams not with pleasure, but with the cold satisfaction of a sculptor finishing a piece.

The city held its breath, waiting for Evelyn's response. They expected a war, a demand for Arthur's head.

Instead, Evelyn just threw a divorce agreement at his feet, her voice colder than glacial ice.

"You were never more than the Lynch family's guard dog. Since you insist on behaving like a rabid animal, get out."

After that night, Arthur vanished from the city.

Until, five years later, when Arthur attended a gala on behalf of his father and ran into Evelyn Lynch's assistant.

The assistant splashed red wine on Arthur, "Look who it is. The dog the Lynches threw out."

Arthur grabbed a champagne bottle and smashed it over the assistant's head, "Five years still haven't taught you how to be human? Fine, I'll teach you today."

Silas's scream cut through the music.

His cronies instantly swarmed, their shouts overlapping.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Do you have any idea who you just hit?!"

"Listen up," the loudest one yelled, pointing, "He's Evelyn Lynch's fianc! You mess with him, Ms. Lynch will ruin you!"

One of them blocked Arthur's path, sneering. "Let's see the face of the idiot who dares touch Ms. Lynch's precious jewel. Everyone knows she worships the ground he walks on! You've cracked his skull openthere's no coming back from this!"

Silas clutched his bleeding forehead, glared with pure venom.

"I warned you, Arthur Wright! I showed you mercy five years ago! That doesn't mean I'm afraid of you now! You were just a dog Evelyn kept! I ended you once, and I'll do it again if you dare show your face!"

Arthur studied the man Silas had become.

He had to admit. Evelyn had pampered him well. The sniveling sycophant who once trembled before him now had the gall to publicly threaten him.

But Arthur was no one's victim.

Not five years ago.

Certainly not now

Surrounded, Arthur's gaze fell to the glittering shards on the floor. He bent down, and to the crowd's collective gasp, picked up a long, jagged piece of glass. A slow, dangerous smile spread across his lips.

"Silas Zhou."

He took a step forward.

"Five years ago," Arthur hefted the glass, its edge already smeared with blood from his own hand, "I was far, far too lenient with you."

"What?" Arthur's gaze dropped to Silas's abdomen, tracing the shard down from his face. "Did losing one kidney to my blade teach you nothing?"

"Fine then."

Arthur's smile turned into vicious. Before anyone could react, he lunged, driving the glass shard aimed unerringly for Silas's gut.

Only.

Before it could connect, his wrist was caught in a brutal, unyielding grip. Screams erupted around them. Silas whimpered, his voice a pathetic, tearful squeak.

"Evelyn! He's going to kill me! I'm scared."

It was a perfect echo of five years ago, the same words, the same tone of manufactured terror.

Time seemed to fold in on itself.

And then a voice, long-unheard and achingly familiar, spoke from behind Arthur, dark and full of promised retribution.

"Arthur Wright. Five years."

His wrist was viciously wrenched back. Pain shot up his arm, but unlike five years ago, there was no submission in him. Only the bloodlust he'd kept caged for half a decade surged forth. He tightened his grip on the glass, feeling its sharp edge bite into his palm. As Evelyn tried to wrench it from him, he used her own force, spinning around to face her.

A bloody, mocking smile was the first thing she saw.

"Long time no see."

"Evelyn Lynch."

In the violent twist, the jagged shard in his hand, trapped between their struggling bodies, plunged deep into the flesh of Evelyn's forearm.

Blood sprayed, a fine mist of crimson that speckled Arthur's vision and stained the front of her gown. The crowd fell into a dead, horrified silence.

Chaos erupted anew, a symphony of gasps, shrieks, and the frantic scuffling of expensive shoes on polished marble.

"Who is this guy? He has a death wish! He actually stabbed Ms. Lynch!"

"Didn't you hear Silas mention five years? Five years ago... that orphan the old Mr. Lynch took in, the one who was her nominal husband... My god, it must be him!"

"But he doesn't look broken..."

"Rumor was that orphan had nothing, just a dog... and even that was tortured to death overnight because it annoyed Silas! Everyone in our circles saw that snuff film! They skinned it alive!"

"Look! Ms. Lynch... she's smiling!"

Blood bloomed across the white silk of Evelyn's sleeve, a vibrant, shocking red. Silas screamed, "Evelyn!"

Then, forgetting the gash on his own head, he threw himself in front of her, shielding her, roaring at Arthur.

"Arthur Wright! How dare you lay a hand on Evelyn!"

"The Lynches raised you for twenty years, and this is your repayment? A rabid dog that bites its master? Apologize to Evelyn now!"

Arthur foundthe spectacle of Silas playing the part of the Lynch family's righteous defender utterly hilarious. His eyes, cold and mocking, locked onto Evelyn's.

"Five years of your... pampering," he drawled, the word dripping with contempt, "and you've got yourself a loyal lapdog willing to bark for you. Evelyn Lynch, must be quite satisfying."

Silas's face went ashen.

Evelyn immediately pulled him behind her, a perfect mirror of the protective gesture from five years prior.

"Arthur Wright. What was between us ended five years ago."Her voice was like chipped ice.

"I've told you, my heart belongs only to Silas. I could never love you, I could never even like you,"

Evelyn's gaze was a glacial wasteland. "I don't care how you scraped by these past five years, or what lie you told to slither your way into this gala."

"But I will not let you crawl back to the Lynch mansion. I will not let you continue to torment Silas."

"Arthur Wright."

She looked down her nose at him, a queen addressing a gutter rat.

"I could have ignored you tonight. Pretended you were just a ghost. But you hurt Silas. Her voice sharpened to a cutting edge. "Now you pay the price."

Evelyn clapped her hands twice, a sharp, commanding sound. Security guards materialized from the crowd, surrounding them.

"You have a choice, do it yourself, or I will have it done for you."

A guard pressed a knife into her waiting hand.

She held it loosely, waiting for his answer.

Arthur just threw his head back and laughed, a raw, humorless sound that echoed in the suddenly silent ballroom. "Evelyn Lynch, do you truly believe the entire world spins on your axis?"

He pointed a steady finger at the blade in her hand.

"Go on then. Make sure you finish the job today," he said, stepped closer until they were almost chest to chest, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "Because when it's my turn to finish you..."

"Don't," Arthur leaned in, his next words enunciated with chilling clarity, "dare beg for mercy."

His laughter echoed through the silent ballroom. Evelyn's face darkened. Watching her tremble with barely contained fury transported him back five years, to the night she had used Goldie to break him, to force him to his knees.

She'd locked Goldie in a cage, tape cruelly binding his muzzle. The ultimatum was simple, beg, or watch the blade slice into his only friend.

His pride had shattered into a million pieces. Seeing Goldie's terrified, pleading eyes, he'd knelt. He had begged.

"Evelyn Lynch!"

He'd wept, his forehead pressed to the cold floor. "Don't hurt him! Please, don't hurt Goldie!"

"I admit it! I was wrong!" He had smashed his head against the ground. "I know I was wrong!"

Goldie was all he had.

His only, foolish hope had been to take Goldie and escape the Lynch family's shadow forever.

He begged desperately, his voice cracking.

"Let Goldie go, please just let his go!"

He'd never forget the heartbreak in Goldie's eyes in its final moments, nor the bone-deep, soul-scorching rage that had been forged in that fire. Facing Evelyn now, only the cold, hardened embers of that hatred remained.

"Evelyn Lynch, you're nothing but Silas's bitch," Arthur spat the words, his voice low and venomous, "Old Man Lynch handed you the family legacy, and he's probably clawing his way out of his grave to curse you for it"

He took a final, sweeping look at the opulent gala, at her, at the cowering Silas.

"After all, the Lynch dynasty is finished!"

A hand clamped brutally around his throat, cutting off his air.

Arthur stared into Evelyn's bloodshot eyes, hearing her voice, crazed and murderous.

"Arthur Wright! Don't for a second think I won't end you!"

"You're just a Lynch family mutt!" Evelyn slammed him down onto the floor. Shards of champagne glass bit deep into his back, a constellation of searing pain. Evelyn fisted a hand in his hair, yanking his head back. "When I say kneel, you kneel!"

"When I say die, you die!"

A cruel, twisted smile played on her lips.

"But today, death's too kind for you."

"After all," she patted his cheek with mocking condescension, "such a perfect plaything shouldn't be wasted so soon. Don't you agree?"

Seeing her this close, Arthur remembered the gloating video Silas had sent him years ago.

[I just told Evelyn Goldie scared me, and she had him skinned alive!]

[Wonder what'll happen if I tell her you scare me?]

[Hilarious!]

[You might wear the Lynch name, but you're lower than the dirt under our shoes!]

Now, facing her expression, a metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. As she raised her hand to strike him again, Arthur gathered the bloody saliva and spat it squarely onto her face.

He laughed, a harsh, guttural sound, as her brief shock curdled into pure disgust.

"Yeah, Evelyn Lynch."

"How could I let you die so quickly?" Arthur echoed her earlier tone, a cold smile on his lips. "After all, such a fun game deserves to be played to the very end."

He hadn't returned for closure. He had come for retribution. Everyone complicit in Goldie's torture would pay. Goldie's horrific death demanded a blood price.

Seeing his unbroken defiance, Evelyn abruptly released his hair, wiping the phlegm from her cheek with a look of revulsion.

"Yeah."

"Some things are meant to be savored slowly."

"Since you're crawled back," Evelyn looked down at him from her imagined throne, "let's play properly this time."

Evelyn turned away, her voice sharp as she barked orders at the security guards.

"Hold him."

"Don't let him escape."

Then, her demeanor shifting instantly, she turned to Silas. "Does it hurt, my love?" She tenderly wiped his tears. "Come, let's get you to a private room and have the doctor look at you."

Silas nestled against her, his eyes red-rimmed.

"With you, it doesn't hurt."

"With you," he choked out, "I'm never afraid."

Arthur watched Evelyn lead Silas away. He slumped on the floor, the glass cuts stinging. The sycophants circled, spitting venom.

"Where'd this trash crawl out from? Daring to hurt Ms. Lynch! She showed mercy not taking half his life! He should be grateful and disappear!"

"Exactly! Heard he's just some orphan the old man Lynch picked up! Raised him, and this is the thanks he gives? Attacking Silas? Served him right getting thrown out like garbage!"

"Speaking of which," someone chuckled, pulling out a phone. "I still have that dog video saved. A classic."

He opened his gallery, found the horrific snuff film.

Others crowded around, their morbid curiosity overriding their feigned disgust. "Show me!"

"Let me see too!"