Chapter 4

“Who the hell are you? What’s your problem?”

Savannah jumped at the crash, then turned to glare at Sophie.

She didn’t notice that the two men who’d been laughing with her had gone pale, their eyes wide with embarrassment.

Owen Scott and Victor Davis scrambled to their feet, their chairs scraping against the floor.

“S-Sophie. Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?”

Her expression was ice-cold. “If I had, I wouldn’t have heard the disgusting things you say behind my back.”

“Sophie!”

The sharp reprimand came from the far end of the room.

Adrian was lounging on a sofa. His tie was off, the top two buttons of his white shirt undone, revealing his collarbones.

He’d apparently been drinking. His eyes were slightly red, his usually immaculate hair mussed. There was something careless and disheveled about him, so different from his usual polished composure.

Their eyes met.

Sophie froze. All the heat rushing through her veins turned cold.

Adrian was here.

She’d never imagined he was here.

She’d always sensed an inexplicable hostility from some of his friends. At their wedding, a few flippant remarks had been enough to make Adrian turn on them. He hadn’t spoken to them for three years.

Yet now he’d sat there listening as they mocked and belittled her, without so much as a word of protest.

Savannah approached, looking Sophie up and down in surprise.

“Sophie? Adrian, this is your wife?”

“Yeah.”

He stood and crossed the room, reaching to put an arm around her.

“How did you know I was here?”

Sophie stepped away, fighting to contain her emotions.

“I heard there were a few big mouths here who needed shutting.”

Owen and Victor paled.

“Sorry, Sophie. We didn’t know you were coming. We were just joking. We didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Joking?” She stared at them. “Do you think it’s funny?”

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room.

Then Savannah snapped.

“Adrian, is your wife actually deaf or just pretending? Her hearing seems fine when she’s eavesdropping.”

Owen and Victor hurried to pull her back, but she shook them off.

“Don’t try to stop me! I’m not going to stand here and let her bully you. Being Adrian’s wife doesn’t give her the right to humiliate you. We were building a company together before she was even in the picture!”

Sophie turned to look at her.

Savannah’s makeup had been carefully applied to look as though she wasn’t wearing any. She wore an oversized jersey, apparently a men’s size. As she moved, the loose neckline slipped down, exposing one pale shoulder and her black bra.

“So you’re Miss Grant.”

Savannah raised an eyebrow, meeting her gaze. “That’s right. What about it?”

Sophie’s expression hardened. Before she could speak, Adrian stepped in front of Savannah.

“Sophie, that’s enough. Go home.”

She stared at him in disbelief.

Savannah had openly insulted her, and his first instinct was to protect Savannah?

“What, you think I’m going to hit her? So you knew this would upset me, and you still let them do it?”

Adrian frowned. With the alcohol on his breath and the exhaustion etched into his face, he looked almost sullen.

“They didn’t mean it. We’re all friends here. Don’t make this ugly. If you don’t like them, you don’t have to see them again.”

“Exactly!” Savannah jumped in. “We can say whatever we want. If you’re so sensitive you can’t take a joke, don’t lurk outside a private room listening in. You brought this on yourself.”

She grew bolder with every word, making no effort to hide her contempt for Sophie.

Sophie had nothing to say to someone who could twist right and wrong so completely. She certainly wasn’t going to waste her breath arguing with her.

She looked only at Adrian, fighting to keep her voice steady.

“Is that how you feel too?”

He frowned. “About what?”

Her cracked phone kept vibrating in her hand, one call after another demanding her attention.

She stared at his face. He felt like a stranger, as though she’d never really known him at all.

“Adrian, I want a divorce.”

His expression didn’t change.

“Savannah’s blunt. She’s always been a little careless about what she says. Don’t take it so personally.”

Sophie let out a bitter laugh, holding back her tears. Then she turned and walked away.

Adrian called after her. “Don’t leave just because you’re upset. It’s late. I’ll have the driver take you home!”

She kept walking without looking back.

Behind her, Savannah’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Wow, Adrian. Your wife really is something. Does she always treat you like that?”

Owen joined in. “How have you put up with that attitude all these years?”

“People with disabilities tend to be weird,” Victor added. “Honestly, you never should’ve married her. You could’ve just given her some money. Why sacrifice the rest of your life?”

Sophie walked faster, desperate to get out of earshot.

She wouldn’t let them see her cry.

Her phone kept vibrating, each buzz seeming to rattle through her chest until she felt numb.

She drew a deep breath and forced down everything that had happened over the past few days. Then she hurried upstairs to the other private dining room.

Her mother, Linda Hayes, was digging into the food. At the sound of the door, she dropped her fork, shut her eyes, and slumped back in her chair.

“Oh, it hurts! Everything hurts! What took you so long? Were you waiting for me to die so you could come collect my body?”

Sophie had heard this routine a thousand times. She’d thought she was numb to it by now, but tonight she could barely stand it.

“Stop pretending. Why did you trick me into coming here?”

Her cousin, Nathan Hayes, approached with a miserable expression.

“Sophie, you have to help me. I put everything I had into that restaurant. First it burned down out of nowhere, and now the police are saying I violated fire safety regulations. I could face criminal charges!”

Sophie’s brows drew together.

Linda immediately sat up, abandoning the act.

“Call Adrian right now. Tell him to take care of it.”

“Exactly!” Nathan said. “All it would take is one phone call from him. If you ask, he’ll help.”

The irony was almost unbearable. Pain gripped Sophie’s chest.

So this was how Adrian planned to handle it?

As long as he could protect Savannah and get her off the hook, it didn’t matter who else suffered?

Savannah had been back for only two days. Already, Adrian had become someone Sophie didn’t recognize.

When she didn’t answer, Linda grew impatient.

“What are you standing there for? Call him!”

Sophie took a deep breath. “He won’t help.”

Nathan’s face fell. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Linda frowned, sensing something was wrong.

“Did you fight with Adrian?”

Only then did tears sting Sophie’s eyes.

“Mom.”

Before she could say anything else, Linda grabbed her arm and twisted it hard.

“You stupid girl! Have you lost your mind? You’re deaf in one ear. Let’s be honest, that makes you disabled. You were lucky beyond belief to marry a man like Adrian, and you have the nerve to fight with him?

“Back home, even a divorced man desperate for a wife wouldn’t want you! Who do you think you are, giving him an attitude? Go apologize. Get on your knees and beg him to forgive you! From now on, you do whatever he wants. Don’t give him a single reason to be unhappy with you!”

Sophie’s arm was already covered in bruises from her fall. The vicious twist sent pain shooting through it, bringing tears to her eyes. Even her fingertips shook.

But that pain was nothing compared to what she felt inside.

She couldn’t believe her own mother could say such cruel things.

She’d known since childhood that her mother didn’t like her. Yet every time Linda used her most painful vulnerabilities against her, it still hurt so badly she could barely breathe.

Her eyes red, Sophie spoke through a tremor she couldn’t control.

“Mom, don’t you even want to know what happened? You’ve already decided everything’s my fault?”

Terrified of losing her wealthy son-in-law, Linda was too furious to listen. She raised her hand.

“Of course it’s your fault! If you were any good as a wife, you wouldn’t have upset him! If Adrian leaves you, you’ll be nothing but damaged goods. No one will want you!”

The slap landed with a sharp crack.

But Sophie felt no pain.

She stared, stunned, at the man who’d stepped in front of her.

Linda and Nathan were so frightened their knees nearly buckled.