Chapter 80: The Truth Behind the Video

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: The Truth Behind the Video

~Reynold’s POV~

I sat there staring blankly at the wall, my mind racing. But how do I deserve his love? What on earth do I have to do to finally earn it? Who can I even ask for advice?

I remained silent for a long while, trying to figure it out on my own. Desperate for an answer, I pulled out my phone and searched online for relationship advice. I typed in different phrases and read through several articles, but after minutes of scrolling, none of the generic advice seemed to fit my situation. I couldn’t find a single concrete answer.

Then, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Alden.

He was intelligent, kind, and seemed to understand people well. I decided that when he came by later to check on me, I would ask him for advice.

Putting that thought aside, I changed out of my clothes, slipped into something more comfortable, and headed downstairs.

When I reached the ground floor, I walked into the living room and found Frederick sitting on the sofa, just finishing a phone call. A soft smile still lingered on his face, but the moment he looked up and saw me, it vanished. His expression immediately turned cold and unreadable.

My heart sank. Feeling like an unwanted intruder, I turned around and started toward the stairs.

I guess he doesn’t want to see me...

I had barely taken a step when his voice cut through the quiet. "Come here."

I hesitated for a moment before turning around and slowly walking toward him.

I stopped a few feet away, my hands nervously tugging at the hem of my shirt. I kept my eyes fixed on the floor, too afraid to meet his gaze.

"Look at me," Frederick commanded, his voice low and flat.

I slowly raised my chin. But the moment our eyes met, the weight of his stare became too much to bear, and I instinctively flinched before lowering my gaze again.

For a few seconds, Frederick said nothing. He simply watched me, his expression unreadable. The silence between us grew heavier with every passing moment until he finally let out a low, humorless chuckle.

"Reynold..." His voice was quiet, but there was a warning beneath it that immediately made my stomach tighten. He leaned forward, his eyes never leaving me. "You really shouldn’t push me to the point where you have to find out who the real me is."

I remained frozen in place.

"The real me is someone you couldn’t possibly handle," he continued. "I’m vicious and brutal. I’ve done my absolute best to be patient with you and hold myself back. But you keep pushing me, Reynold. Trust me... if you force me to show you that side of me, you’ll regret everything. And in the end, you may even hate me."

His chilling words left me shaken. Frederick had always been patient and generous with me, but now he was warning me that if I pushed him too far, I would see a side of him I had never seen before, a side that could make me regret everything and even make me hate him. Just the thought of finding out what he was capable of terrified me.

Panic seized my chest, and I immediately lowered my voice into a desperate plea.

"I’m sorry! I’m sorry. I promise I won’t ever lie to you again. Please forgive me. Just don’t..."

Frederick raised a hand, stopping me before I could say anything else. "I found out who was behind the video."

I blinked, my fear momentarily forgotten. I looked up at him, my heart pounding. "Who is that person?"

I waited for him to say Julian’s name. But when he finally revealed the person behind it, the name hit me like a physical blow.

"Eva," Frederick said flatly.

"What?" I gasped, taking a step back in shock.

"From now on, you’re going to stay away from strangers and stop making random friends," Frederick said, his eyes narrowing. "She was the one behind everything, including the video. She leaked it because she wanted to ruin you. She wanted to humiliate you so badly that I would have no choice but to cast you aside, so I would never be able to step out in public with you again."

He paused, his expression hardening. "But the moment I found out it was her, I drove straight to your campus and picked you up in broad daylight. I wanted to send a clear message to her, and to everyone else, that what she did won’t stop me.

"I know I can’t cage you or stop you from going to class, but you need to stop making friends. If you don’t, you’ll only make things worse by getting involved with the wrong people. Julian wasn’t the one who recorded the video, but he was the person they used to get you to the party. Even Julian didn’t know he was being used. The organizer specifically told him to invite you."

"Julian agreed because he was already jealous of you. His resentment toward you didn’t start when he found out you were with me. It started after I bought you that car and your life suddenly changed, while you refused to tell him how you could suddenly afford everything. Then, when he eventually found out about me, that resentment only grew stronger."

"He hated you enough to drag you into that party and tell the people who asked him to bring you that you were there, without caring what they intended to do to you. He didn’t know exactly what they were planning, but he knew enough to put you in their hands.

"So stay away from people. You don’t need friends to survive."

"But..." My mind raced as I tried to piece everything together. "How did she even find out about the party in the first place?"

Frederick shook his head, his expression hardening. "I know you’re not exactly the smartest person, but I didn’t expect you to be this slow. It’s simple, Reynold. You were being watched and followed through the people around you."

He paused, his gaze turning colder.

"And if you’re wondering why I didn’t take legal action the moment I found out, you need to understand something, Reynold. It’s your own fault."

His words pierced straight through me.

"If you hadn’t foolishly put yourself in a situation like that, things would have been completely different," Frederick continued, his voice firm and reprimanding. "You can’t simply ignore the fact that it was an orgy party. You walked into a place where people were openly engaging in those acts, and that makes everything much more complicated. If we tried to take legal action, proving exactly what happened to you would be difficult, especially when you willingly went there in the first place.

"And it’s not as though those men actually touched or assaulted you. They didn’t. All they did was follow you into that room, and someone recorded it and twisted the footage into something that never happened. So what exactly would we be fighting legally? A false story built around a situation you recklessly put yourself in."

He leaned back and crossed his arms. "If you had been tricked, kidnapped, or dragged there against your will, fighting back would have been easy. But this? This was your own recklessness. So I sincerely hope you’ve learned your lesson."

I stared at him for a moment, struggling to hold back my emotions. "But I was drugged and dragged into that room," I finally said weakly.

Frederick’s expression remained cold. "You drank what everyone else was drinking at that party. What did you expect them to serve you—orange juice?"

His words left me speechless. I lowered my gaze, holding back the burning sting of tears. "I... I understand," I whispered. "I’m sorry for everything, and thank you for finding out the truth."

With that, Frederick rose from the sofa and headed toward the stairs without another word.

I slowly sank onto the couch, staring blankly at the empty space where he had just been sitting. A bitter wave of insecurity washed over me, leaving a heavy feeling in my chest.

He didn’t take legal action against Eva, I thought bitterly. Not because of the legal complications. He held back because it was Eva. Deep down, he still cares about her.

Even though I knew this was partly my own fault, I couldn’t shake the painful thought that Frederick was defending her, holding back simply because Eva was still someone he couldn’t completely let go of.

I reached for my phone and opened the news and social media apps, curious to see what people were saying about what had happened at the university. As I scrolled through the headlines, one thought crossed my mind.

Frederick had never been involved in a scandal before. He had always been extremely careful about his public image. Yet today, he had deliberately come to my campus in broad daylight, picked me up in front of everyone, and allowed people to see us together, knowing full well that they would talk, especially with the scandal surrounding me still spreading across campus.

Why would he do that and still tell me I don’t deserve his love? Then what does that make me?

I stared at the screen, another painful thought creeping into my mind.

Or is he doing all of this because he’s trying to protect Eva?

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