Rich Radiant and Over Him (Alicia and Vincent) novel Chapter 284

Outside the apartment, Clayton Holloway jabbed the doorbell with growing impatience. When Tyrone Lynch refused to let him in, Clayton didn’t hesitate—he started pounding on the door with his fists.

Tyrone, stubborn and vengeful as ever, lounged on the couch and watched the security camera feed with a lazy grin, clearly enjoying the sight of Clayton losing his composure.

Truth be told, Tyrone had known Clayton for years. Ever since Clayton was adopted by the White family at the age of eight, Tyrone had practically grown up alongside him. They knew each other's secrets—real friends, in every sense of the word. But with the families moving in very different circles, and both Tyrone and Clayton having… complicated backgrounds, they’d always kept up a cold, even antagonistic front in public—especially around Jade and Brandon White.

But Tyrone knew the real Clayton. He’d always been the type to float above the fray, calm and unflappable, as if nothing in the world could ever truly bother him. Tyrone remembered when Clayton first arrived at the White estate. Back then, Jade and her father had only just returned as well, and Jade, terrified that a foster child might threaten her and her father’s standing, rallied every rich kid she could find to make Clayton’s life hell.

Even when they shoved him into the mud, Clayton would just pick himself up, silent, unruffled, no emotion flickering across his face.

He’d always been that way—like a wildflower blooming in the muck, untouchable and cool.

Most people assumed Clayton was easygoing, maybe even weak—someone you could push around. But Tyrone knew better. Underneath that quiet exterior, Clayton was ruthless.

He would never stoop to bickering or fighting with the other rich kids. He thought it was pointless, a waste of time that would only cause trouble for Reginald White—and by extension, himself.

Instead, he’d wait until his bullies went to the gym after school, then quietly lock them in and slip a few snakes and rats through the vents.

He’d sow little seeds of discord among Jade’s clique, just a carefully chosen word or two here and there. And he’d make sure the whole school heard whispers of Jade’s real background: that she was the daughter of a mistress, a girl from the wrong side of town, no more special than anyone else.

Clayton wanted to see Jade dragged off her pedestal, to watch her pride and her mask get ripped away.

All his vengeance was delivered with chilling detachment, his face never betraying a thing.

Tyrone himself hadn’t been much warmer as a child. In fact, he’d been terrifying. Tyrone had killed his own mother—a secret Patriarch Maddox Lynch had done his best to keep quiet, though enough people in their circle knew the truth. No one dared approach Tyrone, let alone befriend him.