The prisoner’s Revenge

Chapter Two

The Bitter Taste of Freedom

“"Talk to me!" I yelled, my voice sharp enough to slice the cool night air. "Why didn’t you show up for me? Why no visits in five years?"

Adrian looked at me, his face calm, cold, like we didn't know each other and were just two people at a bus stop. "I was held up, Dahlia. Running a company, trying to keep it all going. I had no time to spend in a prison visiting room."

His words struck me hard. My sight went foggy with anger. "Busy?" I hissed, my voice breaking. "You had no time? I suffered in there for five years because of you! Because I took your place. Do you recall that, Adrian? Do you recall who was caught with the weed?"

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t speak. The silence was worse than denial.

I shoved the ring on my finger toward him, the band dull and cold under the porch lights. “This ring, this marriage—it meant enough for me to give up everything! My career, my name, my life. And you’re telling me you were too busy?”

Seraphina moved in her chair, her hand running over her stomach as if that would hide her. I looked at her sharp.

"You," I said, my voice sharp. "Why didn't you show up? Why didn't you call or send a note? You were my sister, Seraphina. You told me you'd be there."

She held her head high, her blue eyes bright with fake blamelessness. "I couldn't. I was pregnant ."

I let out a cold laugh. "Pregnant? For three years? Is that what you say? Three f*****g years, and you tell me you were pregnant!”

Her mouth shut tight, but she said no more. My gut twisted as the rage threatened to consume me.

“Who’s the father, Seraphina?” My words were sharp, deliberate. “Was it Zeus? Did he forbid you from visiting me while you were carrying his child? Tell me the truth. Tell me who that baby belongs to.”

Her eyes flickered—just for a second—to Adrian. That was all it took. My fury boiled over.

“Oh my God.” My hand shot up to my mouth before I screamed. “It’s him, isn’t it? Adrian is the father.”

Adrian at last moved, at last said something. His calm voice made me want to scream. "Dahlia, hear me out. You left. You went to jail. I was by myself. I needed someone, and Seraphina was there. She gave me what you didn’t. Warmth. Comfort. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did. And due to her family’s values, I had to marry her."

His words hit me, each bit hurting more and more.

“You had no choice?” My laugh was bitter, my hands shaking uncontrollably. “You had no choice but to cheat on me with my best friend? To get her pregnant, and marry her while I was locked up for saving you?”

He leaned back in his seat, shameless, almost smug. “She’s made me happy, Dahlia. Happier than I ever was with you. We have a family now. Something real. And it was never my fault you went to jail, you decided to take the blame for me, I never asked you to do any of that for me, that was your decision.”

The audacity of this man left me breathless. My knees went weak, and I had to hold the door hard to keep from falling down. He had twisted it against me, as if I was the cause he turned on me, as if my giving had been too much, not love.

“You disgust me,” I whispered, the taste of bile sharp in my mouth. “Both of you. You disgust me.”

Seraphina’s lips curved into a smug smile, one hand stroking her belly, like she had already won.

But then, like lightning, it struck me. Something I hadn’t asked. Something that mattered more than either of them.

“Where is Elias?” My voice rose, frantic. “Where is my son? Why isn’t he here? He should’ve been the first to see me. Where is he, Adrian?”

For the first time, I saw hesitation in his eyes. A flicker of something—pity, maybe, or fear. My heart hammered harder.

“Tell me!” I shouted, my voice breaking. “Where is my boy?”

Adrian exhaled slowly, his gaze dropping. “He’s gone, Dahlia.”

The world tilted. “Gone?”

“He died,” Adrian said flatly, as though he were reporting the weather. “A car accident. Three years ago. He was with Seraphina on a road trip. The car skidded off the road. He didn’t make it.”

The sound that ripped from me didn’t feel human. My knees buckled, and I clutched the doorframe to keep from collapsing into the dirt. My baby. My little boy. Gone? Just like that?

“No…” My head shook violently, refusing the words. “No, you’re lying. You’re lying!”

Adrian’s expression remained blank, but Seraphina shifted uncomfortably, avoiding my eyes.

“You let me rot in a cell,” I sobbed, my chest splitting open. “You let me dream of coming home to him, you let me count down the days, and the whole time he was—” My throat closed, and the rest came out as a whisper. “—dead?”