Chapter 5
I stayed near one of the marble pillars, hoping the shadows would keep me out of sight. In my red dress, I should have been impossible to miss, yet Adrian and Vanessa moved through the auction room as though I weren't even there.
“Oh, Adrian, look at that necklace,” Vanessa said, pointing toward a sapphire piece that probably cost more than my father's house. “Wouldn't it look beautiful with my eyes?”
“If you like it, it's yours.”
Adrian lifted his paddle without so much as asking for the price.
The auctioneer brought down his gavel.
“Sold.”
I stood there wearing Adrian's ring, the wife whose name was attached to his, while he openly spoiled another woman. Vanessa didn't even bother hiding how pleased she was. At one point, I was left holding her coat while she leaned against my husband, and the people around us whispered behind their programs, glancing between her new necklace and my humiliation.
My stomach turned.
I quietly excused myself and headed toward the restrooms, needing somewhere private to collect myself before I said or did something I would regret.
I had just reached the corner beside a private viewing room when I heard voices.
“Why did you even bring her?” Vanessa asked in a low, irritated whisper. “Everyone keeps looking at us. It's humiliating. Why don't you just get rid of her? If you won't do that, then divorce her. What's the point of keeping this going?”
I stopped and pressed myself against the cold marble wall.
“The doctor didn't get the job done, but I've already figured out another way,” Adrian replied, sounding almost entertained by the situation. “A divorce would be inconvenient while we're dealing with the merger. Besides…”
There was a rustle of clothing, followed by Vanessa's quiet laugh.
“I rather enjoy watching her suffer. Did you see her expression when I got the necklace? I thought I was going to laugh out loud.”
“You're awful,” Vanessa murmured, though she sounded delighted.
“I'm realistic. And I'm on your side.”
Then I heard them kiss.
I stood there listening, feeling as though something inside me had gone numb.
The rest of the evening passed in a haze.
By the time we reached the Whitmore estate for Adrian's grandfather's eightieth birthday dinner, I had already learned how little my husband cared about hiding his contempt. The grand dining room was suffocating, filled with the heavy aroma of roast duck and the quiet judgment of every person seated around the table.
Grandfather Whitmore sat at the head, his white brows drawn together as he studied me.
“So,” he said, his booming voice carrying across the room. “Another year has passed, and the Whitmore family still has no heir.”
The silverware went still.
“Grandfather,” I began cautiously. “I—”
“I heard about what happened at the hospital.”
He set his wineglass down with enough force to make it rattle.
“Careless. That's what you were. You had one responsibility, Serena—to give this family the next generation—and somehow you managed to lose the child.”
My throat tightened.
“It wasn't something I could control,” I whispered.
His expression hardened.
“A mother is responsible for protecting her child. If you're too weak to carry a Whitmore heir, then what use are you to this family?”
Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
“Grandfather, that's enough.”
Adrian reached across the table and placed his hand over mine.
The gesture looked comforting to everyone else.
To me, it felt like a brand pressed against my skin.
“You're being too harsh on her,” he said gently. “Serena is still recovering, and she's always been delicate. She did everything she could. Unfortunately, she simply wasn't strong enough to carry our child.”
Then he looked at me with an expression of sorrow so convincing that I almost wanted to applaud him.
“She needs time,” he continued. “We may simply have to accept that she won't be able to give the family what it needs.”
Sympathetic murmurs traveled around the table.
No one seemed to notice that the sympathy was directed toward Adrian rather than me.
I remained silent and let them believe whatever story he wanted them to believe. I didn't defend myself or explain what had really happened. Instead, I stared at the candle burning in the middle of the table and imagined its flame spreading from curtain to curtain until nothing remained of the Whitmore estate.
The drive home was quiet.
Rain had begun falling heavily, turning the winding roads into slick ribbons beneath the headlights.
Adrian drove while Vanessa sat beside him in the front. I was in the back, watching the speedometer steadily climb as she idly touched the sapphire necklace around her throat.
“Adrian, could you slow down?” I asked. “The roads are wet.”
He glanced at me through the rearview mirror.
“I'm perfectly capable of driving my own car, Serena. Stop worrying.”
“I only meant that—”
“I said I'm fine.”
His voice sharpened.
He turned his attention back to the road.
Then the world changed.
A horn suddenly blared through the darkness.
Adrian's head snapped toward it.
A pair of headlights came straight at us. A massive truck had lost control and was sliding across the center line, its trailer swinging wildly behind it on the rain-soaked pavement.
“Adrian!”
Vanessa screamed.
Adrian slammed his foot onto the brake, but the tires lost their grip. The car spun violently across the road.
Then the collision came.
The impact sounded enormous, as though the entire world had been ripped apart. Metal twisted with a horrible shriek, windows exploded around us, and the car rolled until I could no longer tell which way was up.
When everything finally stopped, I found myself hanging upside down from the seatbelt.
Pain pulsed through my skull. Something warm trickled down my face and into my eyes, and every breath tasted of smoke.
I tried to move, but my legs were trapped beneath the crushed metal. The door beside me had been pushed inward.
“Adrian?”
My voice came out weak and rough.
Smoke was rapidly filling the cabin.
From the front came Adrian's frantic voice.
“Vanessa! Are you hurt?”
“My stomach!”
Vanessa's scream tore through the car.
“Adrian, it hurts! What about the baby? Please, the baby!”
I heard Adrian struggling to get out. A moment later, he crawled through the driver's side window, slicing his hand against the broken glass before dropping onto the wet pavement.
Then he rushed around to Vanessa.
“I've got you. Come on.”
He tore open the passenger door and pulled her free. She clung to him, one arm wrapped around her stomach as she cried about their unborn child.
I reached toward them through the narrow space between the seats.
“Adrian…”
He turned.
“Please help me. I'm trapped.”
For a second, our eyes met.
The headlights behind him illuminated everything clearly. He could see the blood covering my face. He could see the wreckage pressing against my legs and the smoke curling around me.
He knew I couldn't get out.
“Adrian, please,” I begged. “The car's going to catch fire.”
His eyes moved to Vanessa.
She was crying, clutching her stomach and begging him to save their baby.
Then he looked back at me.
“I…”
He hesitated.
“I have to get her to a hospital. She's bleeding, Serena.”
“And what about me?”
My lungs burned as I fought through the thickening smoke.
“I'll come back,” he shouted. “Just stay here. I'll come back for you!”
Then he turned away.
He didn't look back.
Adrian helped Vanessa toward the truck driver, who was already running toward them, and left me trapped inside the wreckage.
“Adrian!”
I screamed his name until my throat burned, but the rain and the roaring night swallowed my voice.
Smoke poured through the cabin. Flames began crawling across the front of the car, and the heat quickly became unbearable.
I watched Adrian and Vanessa disappear into the darkness together.
He had left me.
After everything, he had actually chosen to leave me there and let me die.
My hand slipped from the seatbelt and fell uselessly beside me. The pain that had been consuming my body began to disappear, replaced by a strange, heavy numbness.
As the flames grew brighter, one thought settled over me with terrible certainty.
So this is where my story ends?