Semua Bab I’m Back, Mr. CEO : Bab 1 - Bab 5

SERENA POV:The candles burned a bit low.I glanced at my watch again. 8:47 PM. Nothing yet. No texts. No calls. Not even a lie about traffic or last-minute meetings.The dining room smelled of rosemary and roasted lamb, his favorite. His mother used to cook it for him whenever there was a special occasion. I spent an entire afternoon perfecting the recipe. The table was set perfectly, too: white linens I pressed myself, gold-rimmed chinaware we got as our wedding gift three years back but had never really used, flowers from the market, wine in the decanter giving it a little air. My hand went to my stomach; a habit formed over the last few weeks. Still flat. Still secret.Tonight was the night I was supposed to tell him.I had practiced it a hundred times in every way imaginable: casually, slipping it into conversation while having dinner; dramatic, tossing the sonogram lovingly wrapped inside a gift box on the table; sweet, telling him while feeling his arms around me. But Adrian n

*NEXT DAY*"You're still here."From my watching him and his back turned to me, and with the coffee, which Clara had forced on me three hours ago, the clock reading 11 o'clock, Adrian came home after all, Walking into the house in the tuxedo from last night, bow tie undone and hanging around his neck."Where else could I be?" The voice was strange to me. It was flat. As though all the emotion had been extracted from it."I thought..." He ran a hand through his hair, and I noticed the gold cufflinks. The ones I had given him for his first anniversary. He was still wearing them. "Margaret said she talked to you.""She did.""Then you understand the situation."The situation. He called it a situation. Like it was some kind of business problem. A merger gone wrong. Not a marriage imploding."I understand your mistress is sleeping in the room next to yours. I understand you have a daughter you never mentioned. I understand I watched you on television last night calling them your family."

Adrian’s fist hit the table so hard his wine glass tipped over, red spreading across the white tablecloth like blood. “Don’t.”“I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking,” Vivian continued, unbothered by his anger. “She could be pregnant by anyone. That man from the charity event, the one who couldn’t take his eyes off her. What was his name? Lucas something?”“Stop.” My voice came out barely above a whisper.“Or maybe one of the staff. It’s not unheard of, lonely wives seeking attention elsewhere.”“I said stop.”“Vivian.” Adrian’s voice was deadly quiet. “That’s enough.”She sat back, satisfied. The damage was done. I could see it in Margaret’s eyes, the seed of doubt planted and already taking root.“I want a paternity test,” Margaret announced.The world tilted.“What?” I couldn’t have heard that right. Couldn’t have.“A paternity test. Before we acknowledge this child, before we accept any responsibility, I want proof that it’s Adrian’s.”“You can’t be serious.”“I am perfectly se