Chapter 3

Adrienne looked at me, suspicious, like she hadn't expected me to give in so easily and take everything so calmly. After all, she knew how I'd reacted when I first found out she was pregnant. I'd fought with her every day since.

She'd just opened her mouth to say something when her phone rang. It was Dylan calling.

I saw the conflict on her face and said quietly, "Go ahead. He's probably calling because he needs something, or he's not feeling well. He's sick. Go check on him."

The moment I finished speaking, Adrienne hurried out without a second thought.

I watched her back as she left and smiled. "Goodbye."

Once she was gone, the apartment went hollow and silent in an instant.

I sat down on the floor, drained, and my hand landed on the marriage certificate Adrienne had torn apart. Our photo was still on it. Her smile in the picture had always been faint. Mine looked like a complete fool's.

Adrienne had been cold toward me for all the years we'd been together. I knew why. Her heart had always belonged to Dylan. He was her ex.

The two of them had dated in college, the kind of couple everyone envied. They fit so well together that anyone who knew them assumed they'd end up married.

They broke up eventually. Afterward, Dylan left the country.

Adrienne and I had known each other since we were children, childhood sweethearts, really. Both our families watched us grow up together.

My parents felt for her when she was heartbroken, and they knew how I felt about her, so they kept finding excuses to put us together. Eventually, Adrienne figured out I liked her.

Once she knew, she went quiet for a long time. Finally she asked me, "Can you wait for me? I haven't gotten over him yet."

I've never forgotten the struggle and guilt in her eyes when she said that. Back then, turning down my feelings still made her feel bad. Now, though...

I remembered something I'd read online once: the ones who are loved the most are the ones who fear nothing.

Dawn was just breaking when I heard movement at the door, and it swung open. My parents stood there.

They saw me sitting on the cold floor and were startled.

"Did you and Adrienne fight again? Brent, we're not blaming you, but why do you have to fight her so hard? Just go along with her. She just wasn't thinking clearly for a moment.

"Adrienne already told us, she made a mistake in the heat of it, that's all. Besides, once that man dies, your life goes right back to normal."

I stared at them, lost. Could things really go back to normal? Could I really just look past Adrienne's betrayal? Of course Adrienne, the one who'd actually done this, wouldn't call it cheating. But what about my own parents?

Something in me sank. "Can it really go back to how it was?" I asked. "Why don't either of you think what Adrienne did counts as cheating?"

My parents looked embarrassed at that. In the end, it was my mother who sighed and pulled me up off the floor.

"It's not really our place to say anything about the two of you. But Brent, you love Adrienne that much. Just let some things go. If this blows up any further, there'll be no fixing it later.

"Besides, didn't Adrienne say they'd both had too much to drink? That's hardly cheating!"

I laughed bitterly and laid the private investigator's report down in front of them. It was a record of Adrienne and Dylan, back and forth, over the past few months, along with photos of them kissing under the moonlight. All from the last three months.

I steadied myself, but the hurt still broke through.

"Adrienne's three months pregnant," I said quietly. "But today I noticed some marks on her body that don't match up with three months ago. They've kept up more than a friendship this whole time."

My parents exchanged a look, speechless. Finally, my mother sighed.

"Where's Adrienne? Is she still not up? Let's go wake her and talk this through properly. Don't let your temper get the better of you."

I lowered my head and wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes. "She left last night."

My mother's eyes went wide, her voice sharpening. "She went out last night? Alone? Why didn't you go with her?"

Something twisted in my chest, but I explained anyway. "She went to see Dylan. I didn't want to go."

My mother slapped me, angry, scolding.

"How could you let her go out alone? Have you forgotten what happened the last time you two fought and she went out by herself? Do you want her to get hurt again? Don't you feel guilty at all?

"How could you let Adrienne go out alone in the middle of the night!"

I did owe Adrienne something. Five years ago, one night, we'd had a fight. Dylan had been about to marry a wealthy woman, and that woman had given him a task: if he could get his hands on a project I was working on, she'd marry him.

So Dylan had gone to Adrienne and begged for her help. Adrienne had pressured me into handing the project over to him.

But I'd worked on that project for a long time. Once it was finished, the company could go public. I could have given Adrienne the wedding of her dreams and everything she deserved.

I'd been under a lot of pressure back then, and seeing Adrienne so wrapped up in Dylan, I said something I shouldn't have. "He's about to get married. Why do you still care so much? He's not going to leave his fiancee for you anyway."

Adrienne got angry and left the apartment. I was still worked up too, and since she left around ten at night, I figured she'd go stay with a friend. She had a close friend in Sykes City, somewhere with plenty of people around, nowhere dangerous.

The next day, once I'd calmed down and tried to reach her, she didn't answer. I called her friend. Her friend was shocked and said Adrienne had never shown up.

My mind went blank. By the time I found her, she was lying naked in the mud, staring blankly into nothing, like a broken doll.

She'd run into a group of local thugs on her way out that night. They'd dragged her into a quiet alley and taken turns assaulting her.

My parents hadn't been wrong. I'd carried that guilt ever since. If I'd only followed her that night, would she have been spared all of it? I owed her that. I hadn't done what a boyfriend was supposed to do.

So for five years, I'd bent over backward for Adrienne, and when she pulled away from any closeness between us, I understood why.

I told myself there was still time. That eventually, she'd find her way out of that darkness.

What I never expected was that she already had. Just not because of me.