Chapter 5 —I Am His Family

Evelyn's POV

The faint whispers of the people surrounding us as they looked back and forth between us made my skin burn with embarrassment. One moment they were praising our love and wholesomeness. The next, it was like we were on a reality TV show.

Who was this mistress?

Who was the woman that he had easygoing eyes for that were clearly not his wife?

"Eve." Adrian’s voice dropped. "it’s not what you think."

“What did you expect me to think, Adrian?” I’m on the verge of losing it. "She had her fingers through your damn hair and how you held onto her legs so tightly!"

“Sorry, but we can find another place to talk.” Adrian's voice wavered. The murmurs around us only grew louder. Suddenly, his clammy hands grabbed mine immediately as he bolted for the Hiltons.

Adrian had us dodge and weave through, what felt like, hundreds of people. After all, he chose the BUSIEST time to try and show his supposed love for me.

So now, all eyes were on us.  Curious, judgemental, pitiful.

It made me want to crawl into a hole and shut myself out for the next few months.

When we arrived at the Hiltons, Adrian barely exchanged a few words to the owner. Something about an observation deck that he'd reserved for today.

The owner let us through without asking any more questions, but it was clear that he was also perplexed by my husband's behavior.

Once we made our way to the outside deck, we were both surprised to see that someone else was already here.

It was Bianca.

Because of course it was! Who else could have possibly known about Adrian's specific reservation spot just to come crash it anyway?

"What are you doing here?" Adrian asked.

"T-this was all my fault!" Bianca stammered pathetically. "I-I messed up! The video, I-I didn't mean for that to p-play! I—"

"Do you have any idea what you've done?!" Adrian raised his voice. "You ruined the surprise I had planned for Eve! You embarrassed us in front of ALL of Times Square!"

"What the hell kind of video was that anyway?" I narrowed my eyes at her.

"I-It was a getaway c-cruise that Zane took us on where he proposed to me!" Bianca began to cry. "I swear, I thought I-I saved it on the o-other flash d-drive!"

Then she cut to me with pleading eyes. "I promise that w-wasn't what that looked like! It was just some s-stupid prank that Z-Zane was filming us do! I-I'm sorry, I really didn't m-mean to—"

She couldn't even finish as she threw herself into Adrian's arms and cried inconsolably. It was to the point where she was hiccupping and unable to catch her breath. Even snot was draining from her nose.

I would've let her cry herself hoarse and it still wouldn't have been enough to have forgiven her, There was no way I was buying her flimsy-ass excuse and theatrics anyway! She expected me to believe that she didn't mean to save a hyper specific video of her looking awfully close AND intimate with MY husband onto a flash-drive that he was planning on using to surprise me with?

Did she think I was fucking stupid?

My gaze burned as I looked at Adrian. Surely he wasn't buying any of this either, right?

To my dismay, I watched as his hard, angry features softened.

His shoulders dropped and furrowed eyebrows relaxed. Then he took a deep, grounding breath. "P-please don't cry, Bianca… Look, I'm still upset but it's obvious that you didn't mean to, and are remorseful about it. There's no sense in trying to drag it out."

"You have got to be fu—" I was about to explode.

But Adrian cut me off. "I forgive you, Bianca."

I scoffed. "Of course you do!"

Adrian gave me a tired look. "I promise, I'll make it up to you again. I'll compensate you in another way—"

"No, this is ridiculous!" I stood my ground. "How many times are you going to let her walk all over me and embarrass the sanctity of our marriage like this? When is enough going to be enough?!"

"Let me talk to her, Adrian." Bianca looked up at Adrian in a concerned banner. "This was all my fault anyway… Just give us some privacy to work it out, okay?"

Adrian hesitated for a moment before nodding his head. "O-okay. I'll be right inside."

We both watched as Adrian disappeared back into the hotel.

Once the door clicked, Bianca turned to me with an already bored expression. "Are you done whining about this? Seriously, you complain SO much."

"I knew your apology wasn't genuine." I grumbled. "I bet you saved that video onto his flash drive on purpose, too."

"My, my, my," Bianca clicked her tongue. "So you are perceptive. Just as I was growing bored with this little game of ours."

"Why are you doing this? What's the point? Why can't you just—"

"Because I'm his *family*." Bianca stated coldly. "I was in his life long before you were, and I'm what's important. You think just because you're his wife that you take precedent over me? Please, get a grip."

"Family actually means something to the Langstons. Family will always come first." Bianca said matter-of-factly. "And the way I see it, Adrian will never let me take the fall for *anything*. But you?" She smirked. "Well, maybe you just need to be shown just how important I am to him after all."

Before I could even argue back, Bianca grabbed the cloth from the nearby set table that was obviously meant for a private dinner between me and Adrian. She yanked hard on the cloth and sent the plates, the silverware, and the flower vase crashing to the ground.

All of the fine dining ware shattered and hundreds of little shards were scattered on the ground. A few of the bigger pieces ricocheted off each other and cut the sides of my legs.

I dropped to the floor immediately and tried to pick them out, but in doing so, I earned a few cuts on my hands, too.

As for Bianca, she simply faked her fall while she let out an ear-piercing scream.

Not even a second later, Adrian came barging through the door. His eyes flew open in shock at the chaos before him.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I-I just wanted to apologize!" Bianca let her tears flow like she'd simply turned on a switch. "E-Eve wouldn't h-hear reason and s-she threw everything t-to the ground!"

Then she suddenly acted like she was about to faint as she leaned against him. "I-I think some of the g-glass got in my l-legs… I d-don't feel so good…"

Adrian's eyes cut to me as he shook his head in disappointment. "We'll talk about this when I get home, Eve." His voice was void of all warmth.

"Let's get you to a hospital, Bianca." Adrian effortlessly scooped her into his arms and hastily took her away.

And for a moment… When Bianca gave me one last look before the door clicked shut behind her, I could've sworn I saw her lips tilt into a smirk.