All Chapters of The Billionaire's Rebel Fiancée: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Adriana's POVI woke up exhausted.Not the kind where you just need more sleep. The kind where everything feels heavy and you don't want to move. I sat up and stared at the wall for a while. Sunlight came through the curtains in thin lines. The room was quiet.Yesterday kept replaying in my head. Marcus at breakfast looking at me like I was nothing and his wife, Victoria, made me look like a beggar. Enzo stopping me in the hallway saying he wished he hadn't let me go. Zayn watching from afar but never coming closer.I couldn't make sense of any of it.But I wasn't going to fall apart. Not today.I'm not leaving until I decide I'm ready.Someone knocked on the door.I got up to open it. Sage stood there in a blazer and jeans. Hair pulled back neat. Sunglasses on top of her head. She looked perfect like always."Surprise.” She shouted..I blinked. "What are you doing here?""You sounded terrible on the phone yesterday. So I got on a plane." She walked past me into the room and kicked of

Adriana's POVI stared at my reflection and tried to convince myself I looked like I belonged here.The dress was perfect. Pale blue silk that moved when I breathed. Hair pulled back in a low twist. Makeup carefully applied to hide the fact that I barely slept. My hands trembled as I fastened the last earring.I looked like I belonged here. My body was the only part convinced.I was prepared to present myself well at the rehearsal dinner.I remember the text I received earlier and my whole countenance changed.Enzo's message sat on my phone like a bomb I refused to acknowledge. Meet me before the ceremony. I need to say what I should have said five years ago.I hadn't answered or acknowledged the text.. Just saw enough to know it was dangerous.I didn't tell Sage about the text and since she said she had things to do. I was the only one going for the rehearsal.Minutes later, a knock came at the door.I opened it to find Zayn standing there already dressed. Dark suit. White shirt. Hair

Adriana's POVThe hallway was empty when I left my room. Low lights, quiet, the house felt like a maze at night. Every turn looked the same and every shadow stretched longer than it should.Why am I going?I didn't have a good answer. Just the pull, the same pull that kept me stuck for five years. The girl who cried at his door five years ago was walking my feet for me.Victoria said Zayn destroys people, but standing here in the dark I remembered Enzo destroyed me first.I pushed through the side door and stepped into the garden. Cold air hit my face, sharp and grounding. The roses smelled different at night, sweeter and heavier, like they were trying too hard.I stood alone and waited. My hands shook so I pressed them against my sides. My breathing came out uneven and I wrapped my arms around myself.I was nervous. I hated that I was nervous.Then I heard footsteps.Enzo appeared from the path near the fountain. He came quietly, not running or dramatic, just walking like he wasn't su

Adriana's POVI locked the door and slid down to the floor with my back against the wood. Sage was asleep after a very busy day.I wanted to scream and slap myself hard to knock on some senses into my head. But I have to be considerate of my best friend who left her busy schedule to be with me.My shoes were somewhere across the room where I'd kicked them off and my dress was wrinkled and damp from the garden. The silence finally hit me, no voices or footsteps or eyes watching, just me and the quiet and everything I'd been holding back.My breathing came out uneven so I forced it slower. I refused to cry for someone else again.Part of me never stopped loving Enzo and part of me wants to trust Zayn. Both truths are embarrassing.I pressed my palms against my face. My hands smelled like roses and I hated that I noticed, hated that the smell brought back sitting on that bench with Enzo so close I could feel his breath.I stood up and walked to the window. The garden stretched out below,

Adriana's POVI woke up after almost no sleep.The sun was already coming through the curtains and I could hear voices in the hallway, people rushing around preparing for the wedding. The world was moving forward whether I was ready or not.I got out of bed and dressed simply. Jeans and a soft sweater, nothing fancy. I wasn't dressing for anyone today.The dried rose Zayn gave me sat on the nightstand where I'd placed it carefully last night. I looked at it for a long moment, the fragile brown petals pressed flat between time and memory.I won't drag heartbreak into another decade.That thought settled clear and final in my chest. I'd spent five years carrying Enzo's ghost around like something precious. But ghosts don't keep you warm and they don't help you move forward. They just take up space where life should be.Closure is not a gift I give him. It's something I give myself.I picked up my phone and texted him."Meet me by the fountain. See you soon."His reply came fast. "When?"