EMPIRE OF OBSESSION

CHAPTER 3- THE ONE HE TRULY LOVED

VIOLET’s POV

Adrian’s arm dropped from Sophia’s waist the moment he saw me. The woman stared at me, batting her long lashes. So long that I feared with any more blinking, she might actually fly away.

“What is going on?” I demanded but my voice was a shaky mess.

His expression twisted. At first, it had been shock but in a matter of seconds, it had switched into something sharper and colder.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, voice low and through clenched teeth.

I blinked back the hot tears, my throat already raw from the scream I was fighting back. “What am I doing here?” I repeated with each syllable slicing my tongue. My fingers began trembling. “I’m your wife, Adrian!”

“And that is why you will do exactly what I tell you.” He returned, staring at me with hardened eyes. “Go home, Violet.”

My heart stalled and it took all my willpower to breathe. “What?”

“This isn’t the time.” He continued, turning his face away. “Just go.”

I stepped forward, my fists curling by my side. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I snapped, veins strained against my neck. “You didn’t come home, took forever to answer my calls and you lied to me! Told me you were in a meeting, Adrian. Is this—“ I raised a finger from the blonde woman beside him to the little boy still clinging to his leg with fearful eyes. “—that meeting?” Tears welled up in my eyes.

Feeling the tension between the adults, I could see the small fingers of the little boy clench tightly against the fabric of Adrian’s pants, and in the next second, he had burst into tears. His cries pierced through the night and back, startling the two.

“Oh no, he’s crying.” Sophia gasped, stretching out both hands to her son but Adrian was quicker and snatched the boy up, resting him on his left hip.

“You happy now, Violet?” Adrian’s voice rasped out angrily.

I bit my lips so hard that they almost bled. How well the tables had turned in seconds and now I’m the bad guy?

The way he held that boy with such tenderness that I’d never seen in him. Hadn’t he said that he didn’t like kids? A bitter smile escaped my lips realizing he must have lied to me then. He loved the idea of children just….not with me.

Totally ignoring my presence, the three walked passed me. I turned around swiftly, watching them head to Adrian’s car parked just a few feet away.

“Adrian, wait!” My voice was a shrill slice through the night’s air.

He stopped in his tracks and I could see Sophia’s eyes flicker in irritation as she stared daggers my way. “I said go home. We’re done here.” His voice was colder now and it felt like a slap across my chest.

“No wait, there’s something I need to tell you. It’s important that you—“

Ignoring me, he turned to Sophia, his back to me like a firm wall and a slammed door. “Let’s go.” He said to her.

Ever so delicately, he set Dave on the back seat and jogged around to the other side of the car where he held the door open for her to get in. This was something he had never done for me before. Not even once.

Just before she got into the car, Sophia turned to me briefly with a smug smile and a look that told me I had lost. “Your man is mine. Always has been.” Those devilish blue eyes taunted me shamelessly.