Chapter 7

I stood at the corner to watch all of this. My fingernails dug deep into my palms, but I did not feel any pain.

"Ella." Cecelia suddenly came over to me with a glass of wine in her hand. She was smiling sweetly. "How about getting a picture together as a keepsake?"

I shook my head. "It's fine."

"Don't be shy." Cecelia refused to let me be, as she held my hand and dragged me to the front of the cameras. She lowered her voice to whisper tauntingly, "Look at how wonderful Adrian is treating me. He stays by my side every night, kissing me and cajoling me to sleep while I lie in his embrace."

I closed my eyes tiredly. I did not want to hear anymore, nor do I want to say anything. All I wanted was for all of this to end quickly.

The moment our photo was taken, a crack was heard coming from the bronze statue behind everyone that represented the family history of the Colombos.

"Look out!"

Adrian dashed toward me the moment the statue fell, and he grabbed me. The giant statue brushed my back as it crashed to the ground, causing a huge swirl of dust in the air. Cecelia had been standing on the other side of me, and she suffered from the impact of the crash as the pieces of broken stones flew at her.

Cecelia screamed as she fell to the ground, and blood immediately flowed from below her.

"Cecelia!"

Adrian released me and ran madly to her.

…

Outside the surgery room, Adrian paced in frustration. As I watched him get anxious, I was reminded of when we first got together. When I got hurt back then, he would stay by my bedside for the entire night.

"Adrian!" The doctor suddenly rushed out. "Cecelia is losing a lot of blood. We don't have enough of her blood type in the blood bank. We need someone to give blood right now!"

"Take mine!" Adrian offered right away.

"We can't use your blood!" The doctor said anxiously. "You're Type A, and she's Type O. Your blood types don't match."

Adrian turned to look at me right away, and his action stunned me. I took a step backward and said in a trembling voice, "Adrian."

"Ella!" Adrian grabbed my wrist and looked sharply at me. "It's not the time to gripe about things right now. Cecelia is pregnant with a baby that belongs to the Colombo and Gambino families! If anything happens to her, I will never be able to marry you. Do you understand?"

I felt a sharp pain in my heart. Was he worried about not being able to marry me, or was he worried about their baby? "What if I'm not willing?" I asked softly.

Adrian's face fell. "Cecelia got hurt because I saved you. You're the one who benefited from this. Is it so difficult for you to give some blood?" He looked at me disappointedly. "When did you become this way, Ella?"

This was another sharp stab to my heart. Did I really change?

Adrian was the one who refused to give up courting me, claiming that I was the only one he wanted as his wife. He was the one who promised me that I would be the only woman in his life, and he convinced me by standing in the rain and begging me to believe that he would convince his family to marry me.

Yet now, he was saying that I had changed?

"So…" My voice was trembling. "Are you regretting saving me? If you were given the choice again, you would save Cecelia and your baby, am I right?"

Adrian was taken aback. "What are you talking about?"

"This is bad, Adrian! Cecelia is in critical condition!"

The doctor kept hurrying Adrian anxiously, "Both mother and child will be in danger if we don't hurry! You have to make a decision right now, Adrian!"

A sharp look flashed in Adrian's eye, and he stopped hesitating. He ordered the bodyguards at the door, "Take her to give blood!"

I was forcefully pushed into a chair, and a special needle was stuck into my veins. My blood slowly flowed out of me, and not even once did Adrian turn back to look at me. When they finally got 800cc out of me, the doctor hesitated. "Adrian, Ella is too weak. If we continue taking blood from her…"

Adrian froze as he turned to look at me and gulped at my pale face. "That's enough," he said. "You should look for other blood sources."

The doctor looked relieved, and he quickly arranged for someone to find another blood source.

When I was helped out of the chair, my knees went weak, and I almost fell. Adrian reached out to help me, but I dodged his touch. He looked at me as if wanting to say something, but he ended up staying silent as he turned away to wait outside the surgery room.

I leaned against the wall of the corridor as I watched him walk away, and I suddenly laughed. He still had feelings for me, but they no longer meant anything to me. I did not care any longer.

When I woke up next, Adrian was sitting by my bedside. I thought he would cajole me softly as before, and beg for my forgiveness, but I met his cold eyes the moment I opened mine.

"What did you do to that statue?"

My mind went blank. "What do you mean?"

"The committee investigated the statue. Someone had sawed halfway through the bottom of the statue." Adrian looked at me sharply. "Who would go through so much trouble to hurt Cecelia except for you?"

I felt a chill down my bones. "I'll say this one last time, it wasn't me! It wasn't me this time, and it wasn't me the last time! It wasn't me the time before the last either! Why won't you believe me? You know I never lie, Adrian. Why won't you believe me?!"