Chapter 2
872 Words
Adrian had not always been this powerful.
Seven years ago, after I placed him at the head of the syndicate, his position was anything but stable.
Enemies appeared one after another, each determined to drag him down before he could solidify his power.
Assassination attempts became a routine part of our lives.
Back then, I had just given birth. I was discharged from the hospital with our daughter in my arms, eager to return home and begin our new life as a family.
We never made it.
Halfway through the drive, we were ambushed. Gunfire erupted from every direction. The sound was deafening. The windows shattered. The vehicle swerved violently.
I shielded my baby as best I could, but chaos consumed everything.
A bullet tore through my lower abdomen. Someone ripped my daughter from my arms. And then she was gone.
By the time we found her... she was already cold. Still. Silent. Dead.
The memory remained vivid even after all these years. I could still remember Adrian collapsing beside her tiny body. I could still remember the tears streaming down his face.
"Seraphina," he sobbed, clutching our daughter tightly against his chest. "I swear I'll avenge you both. I'll make them pay for what they did. They'll repay this blood debt with their lives."
Together, we buried our daughter.
Together, we named her Pearl.
For three days and three nights, Adrian never slept. He personally carved her headstone. When it was finished, he held me in his arms beneath the moonlight.
His voice was rough from grief. "Even if she's gone," he whispered. "I want Pearl to know she was our greatest treasure."
He gently placed his hand over the bandages wrapped around my wounded abdomen before lowering his head and pressing a kiss against them.
Tenderly.
Reverently...
As though they were sacred.
"We'll never have another child," he promised. "Maybe in our next life, I'll have a chance to make things right with her."
'Back then, I believed every word,' I thought. 'And for a while, he kept those promises.'
He hunted down the people responsible for Pearl's death. One by one. When he finally found the last of them, he executed them in front of her grave.
'But somewhere along the way, the vow he made that Pearl would be his only child seemed to disappear,' I reflected bitterly. 'Buried alongside the people he killed.'
I couldn't help laughing softly, a bitter laugh.
'No matter. If Adrian has forgotten, I will gladly remind him.'
After Adrian rushed Chloe to the hospital, I decided to visit them. After all, it would have been a shame to miss such an entertaining scene.
When I arrived, a doctor was treating Adrian's gunshot wound. Meanwhile, Chloe had just regained consciousness.
The moment she opened her eyes and saw him, tears welled up immediately.
"Adrian!" she cried as she threw herself into his arms. "That woman took our son! He's our only child! If something happens to him, I don't want to live anymore!"
I stepped into the room just in time to hear those words... our only child.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop. I braced my hand against the door frame, my pulse spiking at the phrase.
Adrian's expression instantly darkened. He glanced sharply toward the doorway.
"Chloe," he snapped. "Watch what you're saying."
She froze. Confusion flashed across her face. Clearly, she couldn't understand why he'd suddenly scolded her.
But I understood perfectly.
'After Pearl died, I could no longer tolerate hearing people talk about children in front of me,' I recalled. 'Everyone around us knew that. Everyone knew my daughter had died. No one dared bring up the subject.'
But Chloe didn't know. Or perhaps she didn't care. Either way, she'd casually referred to her son as Adrian's only child. As though Pearl had never existed.
I watched her cling to Adrian and cry against his chest.
The sight disgusted me.
There was a time when Adrian would have dragged anyone away for mentioning children in my presence. Now, when Chloe does it, all she receives is a mild scolding.
The difference is laughable.
Adrian wrapped an arm around her protectively before looking toward me. His eyes immediately filled with caution.
"Three days," he said coldly. He tightened his grip on Chloe's shoulder, pinning me with a glare. "You have three days to return my son."
I raised an eyebrow, stepping further into the clinical light of the room.
"And if I don't?" I asked.
His jaw tightened. He shifted slightly, ignoring the doctor working on his knee.
"If you don't..." he said. "I'll make sure you lose everything."
I stared at him for several seconds. Then I laughed. Not because he was threatening me. But because he actually believed he could.
Without another word, I turned and walked out of the room.
'I know Adrian better than anyone,' I thought as I walked down the corridor. 'After all, I was the one who had built him into the man he became. I know how prideful he is. How ruthless he could be. How viciously he retaliated against anyone who crossed him.'
What surprised me wasn't that he wanted revenge.
It was how quickly he decided to act.
- Writer
