Chapter 118
Chapter 118
The conference room felt too bright, too polished and too loud for Elias Crane’s exhausted mind.
Executives lined the long glass table, their voices layered over one another, they kept talking about percentages, projections, market risks, numbers he usually processed instantly but today only blurred into white noise.
Elias sat at the head of the table, spine straight with his expression unreadable, but inside, he was hollow.
He had not slept properly in weeks.
His son was missing.
His marriage was cracked, distant and stained by arguments that left bruises on his heart.
Jace was avoiding his calls, slipping away like water and air he could not hold no matter how tightly he tried.
The last time they spoke, they fought.
And every day since then, the silence between them spread like a bruise.
A voice from the end of the table pulled him back.
“Mr. Crane, we have finalized the expansion numbers—”
Elias nodded, not really hearing them.
He rubbed his temple with his thumb. A dull ache pulsed behind his eyes. He forced himself to focus as slides changed on the projector with charts moving and analysts explaining cost revisions.
He should be paying attention.
He should be functioning.
But every time he blinked, he saw Mason’s face.
Every time he exhaled, he saw Jace’s hurt expression from their last meet.
Then, his phone vibrated on the table beside him.
Not a call.
A message.
He would not have noticed as his phone was on silent but the screen lit up, and something about it pulled his gaze.
A number he did not recognize. No name. Just a grey bubble. He ignored it at first. But then another bubble appeared. Just one word:
“Enjoy.”
His brows pulled tight.
Without thinking, Elias picked up the phone and tapped the message.
A video attachment.
He frowned. Something cold rippled in his chest, a warning he could not name. Still, he slid his thumb over the screen and opened it.
The first second was static.....Then movement......A room.....Clothes.....A bed.
Then—
Jace.
Jace’s mouth.
Jace’s bare skin.
Jace’s hands tangled in someone else’s hair.
Another man kissing him—deep, slow and intimate.
Jace kissing him back.
Elias froze.
Every sound in the conference room vanished.
The projector noise....
The voices....
The papers flipping.....
All gone.
His heart stopped.
His jaw clenched so tight his teeth nearly cracked. His hand began to shake slightly from anger so sharp it bordered on nausea.
He stared, unable to look away.
Jace, his husband, writhing under another man.
The video ended after several seconds, but Elias’s blood was already boiling beneath his skin.
He did not breathe for a moment.
Then abruptly, he stood.
The chair screeched loudly across the polished floor. Heads snapped toward him in confusion.
“Mr. Crane?” someone asked cautiously.
Elias did not answer. He slid his phone into his pocket and forced out a tight, brittle sentence:
“Continue without me.”
He walked out.
The door slammed behind him.
The hallway felt suffocating. His lungs struggled to pull in air as heat flooded his veins.
He could not think and he could not see.
All he knew was the pounding in his chest and the one thought that seared through his skull— Jace cheated on him.
His fingers fumbled slightly as he pulled his phone back out.
He called Jace.
The call rang.
His anger surged higher.
Jace did not pick up.
Elias stared at the screen with disbelief that quickly melted into fury. He called again.
Still no answer.
His hand shook now.
Not from emotion, from rage.
He dialled a third time.
And finally the line clicked.
“Elias—” Jace’s voice was quiet and shaky.
Elias did not let him speak further.
“What the hell did I just see?”
Silence.
Then Jace’s breath hitched. “I...I don’t know what—”
“You are lying,” Elias snapped. His voice cut like glass. “I just received a sex tape of you with another man.”
On the other end, Jace sucked in a shattered breath. “Elias, please....just listen to me—”
“No,” Elias cut in ruthlessly. “I listened to you the last time. Remember? In my office? You accused me of cheating on you.You cried. You screamed. You acted heartbroken—was that all a performance?”
“Elias, it’s not what you think, I swear—”
“Oh?” Elias laughed darkly. “Because from where I am standing, it looks exactly like what I think.”
“Please, just—”
“You came to my office,” Elias said, voice shaking with restrained fury. “You dragged me through hell with accusations. You left me feeling like the villain. You broke me, Jace. And all that time—what? You were feeling guilty about your affair?”
“Elias, no—”
“Save it.”
His voice cracked with betrayal.
Before Jace could speak again, another message notification flashed across Elias’s screen.
Still on the call, he slid it open.
Another message from the same unknown number.
Another line of text.
“Pay $30 million to the account attached.
Do it before 9 PM or the world will see the tape.”
Elias stopped walking.
He stood frozen in the middle of the hallway, chest rising and falling with unsteady breaths.
His pulse thundered in his ears.
On the other end, Jace asked carefully, “Elias? What’s going on?”
Elias swallowed once— hard.
He read the message again.
Then another bubble appeared.
“No delays. You have until 9 PM.”
Elias clenched his jaw until pain shot up his temple.
He brought the phone back to his ear.
“You are being blackmailed,” he said flatly.
Jace inhaled sharply. “Elias...listen...this isn’t what it looks like. That night was a mistake, I was drunk, I was hurting, I should not have—”
“Stop talking.”
Jace fell silent.
Elias steadied his breathing, but the tremor in his voice betrayed him.
“I am going to pay it.”
“Elias… no, no, don’t....you can’t—”
“Do you think I am going to let the entire world watch you sleep with another man?” Elias snapped. “I am already choking on it. I’m not letting anyone else see it.”
Jace let out a trembling exhale. “Elias… I’m sorry—”
“I don’t want your apology,” Elias cut sharply. “I just want this nightmare over with.”
“Please listen to me,” Jace begged softly. “That night....everything... Elias, it was a mistake. I was weak. I was falling apart. I didn’t want—”
“I don’t care what you wanted.”
Jace stopped breathing.
Elias continued, voice low, cold.
“I will send the money. I will fix your mess. Like always.”
Jace flinched audibly.
“But after that,” Elias said quietly, “you will not call me again.”
Jace’s breath caught.
“Elias… please—”
“You will not speak to me,” Elias continued. “Not about feelings. Not about us. Not about anything."
Silence stretched thin between them.
Elias closed his eyes.
“When it comes to the kids,” he said, “I will answer. I will handle what I need to handle as their father.”
His voice cracked slightly on the word father.
“But you?” he whispered. “You do not get to talk to me anymore.”
Jace did not speak.
Elias could hear the quiet sound of his breath—shaking, breaking, barely held together.
“Elias…” Jace finally whispered. “Please don’t do this.”
“It’s already done.”
“No.... please.... I am begging you, listen to me—”
Elias tightened his grip on the phone.
“If it weren’t for Mason and Mila,” he said softly, “I would block your number right now.”
Those words broke something.
On the line, Jace’s breath hitched—like the wind had been knocked out of him.
And then—
"Elias… I never meant to hurt you."
Elias looked at the wall in front of him, vision blurring.
“Well,” he said quietly, “you did.”
Silence.
And then Elias added, barely above a whisper:
“Goodbye, Jace.”
He ended the call.
He stared at the screen.
He did not breathe.
He did not move.
He felt… empty.
As though someone had reached inside him and ripped out every last piece of warmth he’d ever held for the man he loved.
He slid his back down the wall and sat on the cold marble floor, phone resting loosely in his palm.
He inhaled shakily.
His throat burned.
His eyes stung.
But he did not cry.
He would not cry for this.
He would not cry for someone who had chosen another man while their son was missing… while he was at home drowning alone… while their marriage was breaking.
He would not cry.
He clenched the phone so tight the edges dug into his skin.
9 PM.
He would pay.
He would protect Jace’s dignity.
He would shield their kids from the scandal.
He would do what needed to be done—as he always did.
But the damage was done.