His Destructive, Toxic Love

The painting came together quickly.

"Not bad, definitely worthy of an art teacher." Casper reached out, took the painting, and studied it closely. "Ms. Valerie, your skills are way better than you give yourself credit for. This looks like something a world-class artist would do." Eliza's eyes darkened. Her voice was cold and detached. "I'm glad you like it."

Casper handed the painting to Robin. "Do you like it?"

Robin looked at the painting of himself and clapped his hands excitedly, like a kid who just got a special present.

"You've been amazing today." Casper smiled, expertly unwrapping a lollipop and gently placing it in Robin's mouth.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Eliza didn't know what to feel a mix of hate, resentment, and disgust at Casper's fake niceness.

Sadly, she couldn't say anything. She couldn't show any reaction.

Casper turned to Eliza. "He told me to thank you."

Eliza forced a smile, quietly packed up her things, and left the room.

Casper followed her out. "Got any plans tonight? Let me take you out to dinner."

"I'm busy." She refused, her face cold.

He chuckled, not looking surprised. "That was a quick no."

"I don't really know you, Mr. Casper, so why would we have dinner?" She grabbed her things and walked away without looking back.

Dillon walked over, watching Eliza leave. He scratched his head. "Mr. Casper, is she really your wife?"

"If she was, do you think she'd come back to me?"

After asking, Casper let out a bitter smile. He was overestimating himself. He was just someone people wanted to escape from, even if it meant dying.

Dillon thought the chances were slim, too. "Mr. Casper, if she really is your wife, do you even want her back? Didn't you regret what you did to her when she passed away? Plus, in these three years, so much has happened to her..." Casper lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and seemed deep in thought. It looked like he needed a moment to clear his mind.

A few days later...

Back in Falconridge, Casper saw a post from Aaron on social media.

Caption: My wife and kid.

The photos were of a family of three at an amusement park: one with a woman holding a toddler, another with him holding the toddler, and a group shot of all three.

Casper felt a sudden surge of anger and slammed his phone onto the desk.

Dillon, just walking into the office, jumped at the noise. "Mr. Casper, what's going on?"

Casper's face was dark, his voice unusually heavy. "Look at what Aaron posted."

Aaron posted something?

Dillon pulled out his phone. He searched for Aaron's name and checked his feed. He saw nothing but some routine medical articles.

"Mr. Casper, Dr. Martin hasn't posted anything."

"Nothing?" Had he imagined it?

Annoyed, Casper took back his phone, found Aaron's post, and

threw the phone to Dillon. "How ht

he not posted? Look at this

Dillon caught the phone and looked at the screen.

Wife and kid?

Was Aaron's post only visible to Casper? Was this just to mess with him?

"Mr. Casper, I don't see Dr. Martin's post on my feed. Could it be..."

Casper understood then that Aaron was provoking him. He chuckled suddenly. "By making that post only visible to me, isn't he implying that Valerieis Eliza? I suspect Aaron was a key player in Eliza's plan to fake her death."