Betrayed? I Upgraded to His Billionaire Brother novel Chapter 283

Chapter 283

lara’s POV

swiped roughly at the dampness on my cheeks, my back already turned to push his door shut when the elevator pinged open behind me.

knew exactly how wrecked I must look. My first instinct was to dart back inside, to hide. But it was too late.

Elara? Zane’s voice was pure shock.

froze. My lips felt swollen, my dress was a crumpled mess of wrinkles from… everything. And I was stumbling out of a man’s apartment at night. He wasn’t tupid. He knew exactly what had just happened.

le’d probably just come to return the files he’d accidentally taken, never expecting this scene.

hen his eyes landed on the tear tracks I hadn’t managed to wipe away. I saw the exact moment understanding turned into rage. It shot through him, tightening

is jaw, hardening his eyes.

ly hesitation lasted only a second. Because then, the door to the master bedroom swung open wider. Gavin stood there, tension lining his frame. But the homent he saw Zane standing in his doorway, that tension morphed into something dark and stormy. Any trace of the gentleness, the worry I’d seen in his eyes homents before, vanished.

le moved fast, strides long and purposeful. He snatched his suit jacket from the back of a living room chair as he passed. In two steps, he was at the door, rapping the jacket around my shoulders before I could react.

le was so tall, nearly 6’3“. The jacket swallowed me, hiding every rumpled, tear–stained inch from Zane’s prying gaze.

ane saw it as a confession. His anger boiled over. “Gavin!” he snarled, voice sharp. “You watched her grow up! You’re a fucking animal-”

HUD.

he sound of a fist connecting with flesh was sickeningly solid. I flinched, a full–body jerk. “Gavin!” I cried out, instinctively reaching to stop him.

le didn’t seem to hear me. One large hand shoved me gently but firmly back, out of the doorway and into the hall. The next instant, he’d fisted his hand in ane’s shirtfront and yanked him inside.

he door slammed shut just as Chloe stepped out of the elevator, exhausted from her late shift. The heavy thud had been her welcome.

What the hell?” she breathed, eyes wide,

rom behind the door, we heard it again. And again. The brutal, muffled sounds of a fight.

ty hands trembled. I fumbled for my phone. “I’m calling the police.”

hloe snatched it from my grasp. “And say what? Who’s going to stop them? Her voice was practical, edged with its own kind of anger.

I’m scared they’ll go too far,” I whispered, feeling hollow. I knew Gavin could handle himself. I’d never seen him lose a fight. But I’d also never seen that look in his face–pure, unadulterated violence. That first punch had split Zane’s lip Instantly.

Gavin knows what he’s doing Chloe said, her eyes sweeping over my disheveled state. For once, she didn’t push for gossip. Instead, she took my arm and teered me toward our own apartment Besides, Zane has had this coming for years. A good beating might knock some sense into him.”

What kind of man I could almost hear her thoughts. Did he think finding a few documents erased the past? Feople like him only understood farce. And Gavin

ad that in spades.

Third person POV

nside the apartment, the moment Zane was pulled through the doorway, Gavin’s fist connected with his jaw, sending him sprawling to the Dear

This punch was even harder than the one at the door. Out there, he’d held back, not wanting to truly frighten Ulara

hapter 283

ane pushed himself up from the floor, swiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb. A cold, mocking laugh escaped him. “You’re the one tho acted like an animal, and you have the nerve to hit me?”

he words were barely out before he swung his own right fist toward Gavin’s face.

ut Gavin had years of karate training behind him, and he was fuelled by a cold, singular purpose: to make Zane pay for every hurt inflicted on Elara. He wasn’t bout to let him land a blow. He caught Zane’s wrist mere inches from his face, his grip like iron, and drove his other fist deep into Zane’s stomach.

he memory of the stark red on the bedsheets flashed in Gavin’s mind, and in that moment, he felt Zane deserved far worse than a beating.

e hit him again. And again. Relentless blows to the abdomen.

‘m the animal?” Gavin snarled, throwing Zane back to the ground and pinning him by the throat, his rage a living thing. “Did I, or did I not, tell you not to larry her? But you fucking insisted!”

That girl I treasured, I protected for years… you marry her, and this is how you treat her?!” His voice cracked with a fury born of years of helpless witnessing. Three years of marriage. Three years, and you never once touched her. Zane, you are a pathetic piece of work. You have a truly gifted way of making someone eel worthless.”

e landed another punch to Zane’s face, but it did nothing to dull the sick, grinding ache in his own chest–the feeling of a dull blade slowly sawing through

1. im.
2. es.

lara had been untouched. As a man, part of him should have been… satisfied.

ut Elara was never just a woman to him. She was the one. His.

le couldn’t even bear to think about how that tender–hearted girl had endured it. How many tears had she shed until there were none left? That so–called

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