I Walked Away, Now He's Begging

Chapter 3 The Final Reckoning

Elena

The fever hit me like a truck. One moment I was standing in my apartment, staring at the wedding dress hanging limply in my closet, and the next I was burning up with a 102-degree temperature. My head pounded like someone was taking a sledgehammer to my skull.

This is what you get for believing in fairy tales, I thought bitterly, forcing myself to get dressed. Your body rejecting the lies just as much as your heart should have.

The emergency room at the hospital was packed, as usual. I slumped against the registration counter, my voice coming out as a barely audible croak. "Elena Sterling. I need to see a doctor. High fever, severe headache."

The nurse handed me a form and pointed toward the waiting area. "Fill this out. Someone will call you."

I found a chair in the corner, trying to make myself as small as possible. The fluorescent lights felt like knives cutting through my skull. Everything hurt. My body. My head. My heart.

That's when I saw them.

Adrian burst through the automatic doors, his arm wrapped protectively around Nina. She was clutching his jacket with both hands, her face puffy and red, looking genuinely distressed.

Her usually perfect blonde hair was disheveled, and she kept pressing her face against Adrian's chest like a wounded bird seeking shelter.

Adrian was scanning the room frantically, his jaw clenched tight, his protective instincts on full display as he guided her toward the reception desk.

Even now, I thought weakly, even when I'm falling apart, he looks perfect taking care of her.

Our eyes met across the crowded room. His face immediately hardened with cold anger and disappointment, like I had personally let him down in the worst possible way.

"Elena!" His voice cut through the ambient noise like a blade. "You're here too? Perfect! Now you can see what your vindictive behavior has caused!"

I blinked slowly, my fever-addled brain trying to process what he was saying. "What are you talking about?" The words scraped out of my throat, weak but defiant. I wanted to fight back, but my body felt like it was made of lead.

"Don't play innocent!" Adrian's voice was getting louder, drawing stares from other patients. "You gave Nina cookies with nuts yesterday, knowing she's allergic! She could have died!"

I stared at him, confused. "I didn't give her anything. I don't even—"

"She's allergic to almonds, cashews, and especially pistachios." Adrian's words came out in a rush, detailed and precise. "Even a tiny amount could have killed her! How could you be so vindictive?"

The words hit me like a physical blow. He knows every detail of Nina's allergies, I realized through my fever haze. Every single detail. But he doesn't even notice I'm burning up with fever right now.

Nina tugged weakly at Adrian's sleeve, her voice soft and trembling. "Adrian, forget it... Elena probably didn't mean it... I don't want to cause more trouble..." Her blue eyes filled with tears as she looked between us.

"Maybe I deserved this... I know I've caused problems between you two..." She pressed her hand to her swollen cheek, wincing dramatically. "I just... I just wanted to congratulate Elena on the wedding. I thought we could finally be friends."

Her performance was flawless. The perfect victim.

And it made Adrian even angrier.

"I didn't give her anything!" I managed to say, though my voice was getting weaker. "And even if I did, how would I know about her allergies when you never remember mine?"

The words hung in the air like an accusation. Because it was true. Adrian had never once remembered that I was lactose intolerant, that shellfish made me break out in hives.

But he could recite Nina's allergies like a medical textbook.

Adrian's face darkened. In two quick strides, he was in front of me, his hand clamping down on my arm with bruising force.

"Stop lying!" His grip tightened, and I gasped from the pain. "Nina has done nothing wrong! You're taking out your anger on an innocent person because you can't handle what happened at the wedding!"

His fingers were digging into my arm, leaving angry red marks on my pale skin. The pain was sharp and immediate, cutting through my fever fog.

He's defending her like she's made of glass, I thought through the haze. Like she's precious and I'm just a bitter woman.

"Adrian, don't hurt her..." Nina's voice was soft, concerned, her breath catching just enough to sound vulnerable.

"I'm fine, really... Let's just go..." She touched his arm gently, her eyes wide with what looked like genuine worry.

"Elena's been through so much already... I don't want her to get in trouble because of me." The perfect tear rolled down her cheek as she gazed at me with what appeared to be pure compassion. "I forgive you, Elena. I know you're hurting."

She was still playing the saint. Even now, with Adrian's fingers bruising my arm, she was the reasonable one. The merciful one.

I looked up at Adrian's face, searching for any trace of the man I'd loved for two years. But all I saw was cold rage and absolute conviction that I was the villain in this story.

He would rather believe Nina than me—the girlfriend he’d been with for three years.

The realization hit me harder than his grip on my arm. The fever, the accusations, the pain, the humiliation—it all crashed down on me at once. My knees buckled.

The last thing I remembered was the cold linoleum floor rushing up to meet me, and the distant sound of Adrian's voice calling my name, finally—too late—with something that might have been concern.

I thought as consciousness slipped away.