Chapter 2 - The Empty Penthouse
Adrian returned at 1:40 a.m.
He was exhausted.
He was angry.
And he was carrying a guilt so heavy it made his chest physically ache.
Serena’s “emergency” had been a lie.
She had called him in a panic, claiming someone was trying to break into her townhouse.
Adrian had arrived with three armed men.
They had cleared the property.
They found nothing.
Then Serena had poured a glass of wine, sat on her sofa, and cried about feeling lonely.
She had wanted company.
She had used his debt to steal his time.
And for the first time, Adrian had felt nothing but absolute disgust.
He had looked at her, thought of his wife sitting at a candlelit table with an ultrasound photograph, and finally realized what he had become.
A fool.
A man who commanded an empire but allowed a ghost from his past to dictate his present.
He had left Serena’s house without a word.
He had blocked her number in the car.
He had driven back to the penthouse planning to fall to his knees and beg his wife for forgiveness.
He unlocked the front door.
“Elena?”
Silence.
The apartment was dark.
He walked into the dining room.
The food was cold.
The candles were dead.
And there, gleaming in the moonlight spilling through the floor-to-ceiling windows, were her rings.
Resting on top of their unborn child.
Adrian stopped breathing.
He stared at the platinum and diamonds.
He reached out and touched the ultrasound photograph.
The paper was cold.
“Elena!”
He ran to the bedroom.
The bed was made.
The closet doors were open.
He checked the safe. The money was untouched.
He checked the garage. Her car was still there.
He called his head of security.
“Where is my wife?”
The man sounded confused.
“Sir, she hasn’t left the building. We have men at the lobby doors.”
“She is not in the penthouse.”
Panic, raw and violent, ripped through Adrian’s chest.
He checked the security footage himself.
He watched the screen as Elena walked out the back service exit, slipping past his men, carrying a single duffel bag.
She hadn’t been kidnapped.
She hadn’t been threatened.
She had just walked away.
Adrian stared at the frozen frame of his wife disappearing into the night.
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He had spent his life building walls to protect her from his enemies.
He had never realized she needed protection from him.
