Revenge of the fallen billionaire heiress

ADRIELLE~

The beeping.

That was the first thing I heard. It was soft and steady, like a lullaby pretending everything was fine. Then came the smell: antiseptic, bleach, something faintly metallic. Blood?

I blinked against the harsh white light, every inch of my body heavy, like wet sand packed too tight. My limbs didn’t feel like mine. Something tickled beneath my nose – a cannula. My mouth was a desert, my tongue coated in metal. I tried to swallow, but it scraped like sandpaper.

“Ma’am Adrielle?”

A voice, gentle. Feminine.

I turned my head slowly. A nurse stood beside me, dressed in pale blue scrubs, her expression wrapped in pity.

“You’re awake,” she whispered, like the truth might snap me in two.

“Where...am I?” My voice came out brittle, barely audible.

“You’re in the hospital, ma’am.”

Hospital?

My gaze drifted around the room – sterile walls, IV stand, heart monitor. My brain struggled to catch up. Hospital? Why?

She saw it – the fog in my eyes, the cracks in my understanding– and her face tightened. “I’ll get the doctor,” she said and vanished like a whisper.

Moments later, the door opened again. Footsteps. Then–

“Oh, thank God!” the man breathed. He rushed to my side, his voice barely keeping itself together. “My goodness, you’re alive, Adrielle. Great God!”

I turned to him. Tall. Silver hair. Kind eyes that didn’t hide exhaustion.

“Doctor Jay?” I rasped, staring at our family doctor.

Relief washed over his face. “Yes. Yes, it’s me. Matilda said you looked disoriented. Like you didn’t remember... I was scared.”

And then, like a dam cracked open, memories slammed into me. My father. My husband. Both dying. Both needing a kidney. The frantic calls. The bribes. The endless search for donors. One after another, they agreed, then backed out. All of them. Vanished. No explanation.

I tried harder. Offered more. Pleaded, cursed, prayed. It didn’t matter. They kept disappearing.

Then came the worst day – Doctor Jay’s voice like a dagger. “They won’t survive beyond two days.”

I shattered.

I had one kidney to give. One choice to make. My father –former CEO of Cavendrix Tech Global – the man who raised me, groomed me, handed me his empire. And Valen... my husband. My best friend. My person.

I chose.

God help me, I chose.

I chose Valen.

I remembered crying after signing the papers, begging the universe for a miracle, praying one of them would suddenly recover so I wouldn’t have to play god.

But no miracle came.

I saved one. Let the other slip through my fingers.

The guilt was instant. Ugly. Heavy. It swallowed me whole.

I turned back to Doctor Jay, lips trembling. “M–my dad?”

His expression shifted, lips pressed tight, eyes folding with sorrow. I already knew before he said it.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Adrielle... Mr. Roland didn’t make it.”

The room spun.

“No... no.” My voice broke. A whisper. A plea. “N–no...”

The grief didn’t crawl. It lunged, grabbing my chest and squeezing hard. Tears spilled hot and fast, the salt stinging my lips, baptizing me in guilt. Everything in this room – the bed, the air, even the silence – tasted like failure.

I pictured him – my dad, unsmiling, angry, hurting.

“Are you okay?” Doctor Jay asked urgently. “Adrielle, are youfeeling pain anywhere?”

I couldn’t speak. I just sobbed. My heart hiccupped violently, my body shaking so hard it rattled the bed. I couldn’t hold it in, so I screamed.

Matilda rushed to my right side. She and Doctor Jay held me down gently as I thrashed, yelling, “Leave me alone!!”

But they didn’t. They couldn’t.

Eventually, the storm passed. My throat burned. My cries dulled to sobs. Matilda backed away at Doctor Jay’s signal, and he wrapped me in his arms. I collapsed into him, trembling, the scent of antiseptic and familiarity wrapping around me like a bitter blanket.

“I let him down,” I croaked. “I ditched him. I–I–”

“No,” he whispered, rubbing my back. “You followed your heart.”

I didn’t believe him. But I didn’t argue either. I just cried.

When I calmed, he handed me a white handkerchief. I wiped my face, my voice a rasp. “When did he...pass?”

“Days after the operation.”

That word. ‘Days’.

My head jerked toward him. “Days?”

He nodded, eyes cautious. “You’ve been in a coma, Adrielle. Three months. You went into shock after the transplant. Your body fought hard.”

My breath stuttered. “C–coma? Th-three months?”

He nodded again. “It’s a miracle you survived. Honestly... I prayed for you.”

He stopped, then coughed. One that came out too sudden, too rehearsed.

He was hiding something.

But I didn’t go there. Not yet. My voice broke again. “Valen... where is he? Is he okay?”

A silence spread between us. Dense. Awkward.

“I asked about my husband!” I snapped. My pulse surged. “Is he okay? He got the kidney. He lived, right?”

Doctor Jay nodded slowly. “Yes. He made a full recovery.”

Relief poured through me like light. I exhaled, my body slumping against the pillow.

“Thank God...” I whispered. “He’s alive. He survived. My husband survived.”

Tears gathered again, but they didn’t fall this time. For the first time since I opened my eyes, I felt... peace. I had done something right. Valen was alive.

“He’s alive,” I repeated, smiling through the ache. “My sacrifice wasn’t in vain.”

But Doctor Jay didn’t smile. He looked... grim. Unsettled.

I ignored it.

“He buried Dad, didn’t he? My husband... where did he bury him?”

Silence again. Heavy. Too heavy.

“What’s going on?” I asked. Their eyes – Doctor Jay’s, Matilda’s – avoided mine.

A chill slid down my spine. Panic began to bloom.

No. Please, no.

I turned to him, voice trembling. “What are you hiding from me, Doctor Jay?”

He didn’t answer.

I grabbed his shirt, shook him. “Tell me!”

He inhaled sharply, face drawn, jaw clenched. “There’s something you should know, Adrielle...”

“Then tell me!!” I roared.

And then, he did.

His voice was soft. Final.

“Your husband... he has married another.