All Chapters of The Lottery of Fate: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

Adrian came back from seeing Sera and found me waiting for him in the living room.He shrugged off his coat, pulled me straight into his arms, his voice low and aching:“Waiting this early for the results? My principessa.”The butler brought over the slip he’d drawn.And just like every year, Adrian held it with that same careful, heart-aching tenderness, ready to open it for me.I stared at him in a daze.All these years, I thought the disappointment in his voice, every time he said “I didn’t draw it”, was real.I never imagined it was all a performance.He cupped my face in both hands.“No matter what it says, my love for you doesn’t change. You know that, right?”I gave him a smile, soundless, strengthless.The butler opened the slip.A blank one.Exactly the one I had put there.And I stayed perfectly calm.Adrian’s brows drew together.He noticed something was wrong—noticed how I wasn’t reacting like every other year,not crying, not breaking down, not begging him to hold me.He t

Chapter 2

My mother’s voice came through the phone, warm and decisive.“Alright. One week from now, come back to Miami. I’ll arrange everything.”“Mm. Thanks, Mom… for arranging the wedding.”I hung up.And immediately—A voice behind me:“Wedding? Irene… I’m sorry, but your ceremony with the Don has to be postponed. Again.”I turned.Adrian’s younger brother was somehow already standing behind me.He sighed loudly.“Damn. We could’ve started planning it this time. Why did it change again?”The look on his face said everything—awkward, uneasy, and a kind of quiet outrage on my behalf, like even he thought Adrian was pushing it.“I swear I…”I knew exactly what he wanted to say.He was this close to saying it: I swear I swapped it. I left your name in there.I gave him a calm smile just as Adrian walked over and wrapped an arm around my waist.“What do you mean, ‘wedding’?”His voice was commanding, utterly sure.“You better get that wedding ready. Sooner or later, I’ll draw the slip—Irene will

Chapter 3

Adrian told me he’d asked his brother to prepare a birthday party for me tomorrow.I refused almost instinctively. “That’s not necessary.”Every year after the name-draw, he would throw me an extravagant birthday party—“to make up for” the disappointment.I used to think it was his way of loving me.Now I know it was just another part of the performance.Adrian took my hand, his voice soft in a way that left no room to escape.“Of course it’s necessary. You’ve endured more than you should. For something this insignificant, I’ll indulge you—because you’re mine.”For years, I let myself be bound by that so-called tenderness,playing along with every script he handed me.And since I’m leaving anyway…one last act won’t make a difference.The next day, a driver brought me to the restaurant.The moment I walked in, I saw Adrian snapping at his brother.“What the hell is this? The balloons are Irene’s most hated pink, and the dishes—celery? She doesn’t touch that. What were you thinking?”H

Chapter 4

Half an hour later, Adrian returned to the restaurant, Sera trailing behind him.He spoke to me as if nothing had happened, his tone soft and deceptively gentle.“Irene, I just gave her a proper lesson. Now she’s going to apologize to you in person.”Sera immediately lowered her head, acting submissive.“I’m sorry, Irene. It was all my whim. I hope you can forgive me, at least seeing that Don already ‘taught me a lesson.’”She deliberately emphasized the words ‘taught me a lesson.’Adrian’s expression stiffened for a moment, then he scowled and barked sharply:“Apologized and still standing here? Get out of my sight!”I watched Sera silently. Behind her eyes, where the pretended grievance lingered, there was an undeniable thrill.She left swiftly, almost running.Adrian’s gaze followed her, his throat still swallowing hard.Then he turned back to me, clearing his voice with a couple of coughs.“Let her go reflect on herself. No one’s going to disturb your birthday now. I’ll be with you

Chapter 5

Adrian’s office.He stared at the wedding invitation.“She… wasn’t she supposed to be in Miami visiting her parents? How...how is she suddenly someone else’s bride?!”He tried to force some logic into the crack of his collapsing world.“Unless… she’s jealous of Sera?Is this a fake invitation—just to scare me?”But his younger brother only shook his head.“When I saw it, I was stunned too.I’ve watched you two for years… Irene would never leave you. She would never marry someone else.”He hesitated, then suggested softly:“Why don’t you… call her? Just ask?”Adrian snatched up his phone immediately, clinging to whatever remained of his self-comforting delusion.“Yes… yes, she must’ve been upset that day. I defended Sera in front of her—of course she was angry.”“She waited for me for years, and this year she saw a blank slip again… she was already heartbroken.”“And I didn’t comfort her.I even made her drink with Sera to ‘patch things up’… I really crossed a line…”He dialed the num

Chapter 6

The woman inside looked at him with guarded eyes.“Who are you looking for?”Adrian stood frozen in the hallway, a cold dread rising in his chest.“And you are? Where’s the girl who used to live here?”The woman thought for a moment.“Oh! Miss Cast. She moved to Miami to get married, didn’t she? She sold the place through an agency. I bought it.”Adrian’s face drained of color.Then he noticed the cardboard box in her arms.Inside were all the gifts he had ever given me.Birthday presents.Anniversary surprises.The little keepsakes from our first date, our first everything.The “Don-style romance” he used to tease me with—turned into sacred treasures in the hands of a girl who had only ever loved once.We were each other’s first love.If it came from him, even a keychain, I kept it like it mattered.The woman suddenly remembered something.“Right! Miss Cast said anything she wanted, she already packed and took.Everything left in the apartment is trash we can throw out.”She said it

Chapter 7

The southern air wrapped around me like a warm tide.Back in Chicago, I’d still been buried under a heavy coat.Here in Miami, I stepped out of the airport in nothing but a T‑shirt.My parents were waiting for me, beaming.And beside them stood a man I’d only seen in business magazines.Julian Monroe.Unlike Adrian, whose power lived in the shadows, Julian was the golden heir—the kind mothers brag about and newspapers praise.My fiancé.My parents even arranged a separate car for the two of us so we could “talk.”After all those years with Adrian, loving him and waiting for a wedding that never came…And now, meeting a complete stranger and suddenly promised to marry him—it felt strangely like surrendering to fate, and yet… somehow, it made my heart quietly flutter.I lowered my voice.“Do you… have rules? Like...drawing a name before marriage or something?”Julian laughed softly.“Drawing your name? God, no. Irene… I’ve liked you since elementary school.”My breath hitched.“When my m

Chapter 8

“I’m sorry…”Adrian’s voice was raw, scraped thin, his eyes blood‑shot.“Irene, please… I’m begging you. Give me one more chance.”His words tumbled out fast, frantic.“If you want to punish me, fine. Do it. You can even let fate decide—draw lots, flip a coin, take my life for yours. I’ll take whatever you give me.”I froze. Before I could speak, Julian stepped in front of me, his voice like ice:“That’s enough, Mr. Marco. Show some respect.”The pain in Adrian’s gaze snapped, burned straight into rage.He forced a breath, dragged himself back from the edge, and looked at Julian.“Monroe… yesterday you didn’t even know my Irene existed. Why pretend you care now?”He paused, and dropped the bomb.“Let her go, and I’ll give you thirty percent of the Marco portfolio.”The room erupted.The Monroe family had been eying the northern markets for years.Any one of the Marco projects was worth hundreds of millions...and Adrian was offering thirty percent?My heart lurched painfully.I knew ex

Chapter 9

I drew the first slip.Blank.Adrian’s face shifted, from hope to a dull, slow disappointment.I gave him a soft smile.“You’re the one who kept telling me this was God’s will.”He didn’t even flinch. “Again.”I drew the second one.Still blank.“Looks like you’ll have to wait at least another year.”Adrian shook his head stubbornly. “No matter how many years it takes...I’ll wait.”He looked so full of hope.Just like I used to be.Year after year.The third slip...also blank.Adrian’s brows drew together, that look—that wounded, unfair, can’t‑believe-this-is-happening expression.And that… that finally broke something in me.My tears fell.“A few minutes—just a few minutes—and you already feel upset!?”“You think this is unbearable!?”“Do you have any idea what it was like for me? To hope every year, to pray, and be disappointed every single time!?”“All those minutes, hours, years...do you know what they felt like!?”“Do you know what my Christmases were like, Adrian!?”“You—Adrian

Chapter 10

That day, I was walking along the beach as usual.The sky was heavy with storm clouds, the kind that collapsed without warning.I was about to turn back when something rustled in the jungle.Something moving low, fast, animal-like.I froze, not knowing whether to step forward or dodge.And then, Adrian burst out from the other side of the path.Everything slowed.I turned, confused,and saw it.The muzzle of a gun spitting fire.A bullet slicing through the air toward my back.Adrian didn’t hesitate.Not for a heartbeat.He threw himself at me, arms wide, slamming me onto the sand,his entire body covering mine, shielding me.“Bang! Bang! Bang!”Each shot landed, thudding force into his back.His body jolted violently above me.He choked out a groan—warm, metallic blood splattering across my ear, my neck.The heat of it froze me on the spot.It was as if the world muted itself.The guards shouting, more gunfire...everything faded into cotton.All I could feel was Adrian’s weight on me,

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