My mother' s voice pulled me back from the precipice of despair. "Ivory? Are you there? How did it go? Are you and Adonis finally getting married?"
I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing a trembling hand to my lips to stifle the cry threatening to escape. I couldn't speak, not a single word. My throat was tight, my chest aching. The phone felt like a lead weight in my hand.
"Ivory?" Her voice, usually so strong, now held a tremor of concern. "Your silence… did he draw the Unfortunate card again?" She paused, a heavy sigh on the other end. "I understand, sweetheart. I truly do. But darling, this can't go on. You deserve happiness. Real happiness. Not this endless cycle of pain."
Her words were a balm and a sting. Pain. Yes, endless pain. But now, I knew it wasn't fate. It was a choice. His choice.
"Your father and I… we've moved the family business to Hong Kong entirely now," she continued, her voice softer, almost pleading. "It' s a new beginning for us. And darling, there' s someone here… someone who has always admired you. He' s stable, kind, and he would cherish you."
I listened, numb. Haven McKnight. My mother had mentioned him before, a powerful magnate from Hong Kong, someone I' d met briefly as a child. I'd dismissed it as idle matchmaking, never thinking it would become my desperate escape route.
"Think about it, Ivory," my mother urged. "You' ve given him so many years. Four years of this… this charade. You deserve more than crumbs, my love."
Crumbs. That was exactly what I' d been living on. Scraps of affection, veiled by lies. My vision blurred. Four years. Four years of waiting, of believing, of sharing his manufactured suffering. I had come here today ready to sacrifice myself, to endure his penance, only to discover his elaborate deceit. I had wasted so much time, so much love, on a ghost of a man. The thought made my stomach churn. My naivety now felt like a heavy cloak of shame.
"I' ll do it, Mom," I whispered, the words barely audible, but firm. "Arrange it. I' ll marry Haven."
A relieved sigh flowed through the phone line. "My dear girl. I knew you were strong enough to make the right choice. I' ll handle everything. Just… stay strong."
I hung up, my hand shaking. The decision was made. No more uncertainty. No more lies.
I knew Adonis would be emerging from the chapel any minute, pale and weakened from his self-inflicted penance. I saw Brittain directing paramedics to bring a stretcher. My heart twisted. A part of me, the old, naive Ivory, still wanted to rush to him, to comfort him. But the new Ivory, the one who had just witnessed his betrayal, held back. I wiped the tears from my face, forcing my expression into a mask of calm. He wouldn't see me break. Not now. Not ever again.
He emerged, supported by two burly men, his face etched with familiar pain, his eyes glazed with exhaustion. He spotted me, and a flicker of panic crossed his face. He clearly hadn't expected me to be there, or to be so composed.
I just gave him a small, tight smile. "You look tired, Adonis," I said, my voice surprisingly steady.
He let out a shaky breath, a wave of relief washing over him. He must have thought I hadn't seen anything. "Ivory," he rasped, his voice weak. "I told you not to come. I don't want you to see me like this." He tried to reach for me, but his arms were too weak. "I'm so sorry, my love. Another year. I promise, next year, we'll finally get married."
My smile didn't falter, but inside, I scoffed. Next year? There won't be a next year, Adonis. Not for us.
The paramedics gently loaded him onto the stretcher. He looked so vulnerable, so pathetic, yet my heart remained a block of ice. We were loaded into the family car for the drive to the hospital. He laid his head on my shoulder, his breath shallow. "It was so hard this time, Ivory," he mumbled, his voice a child's. "But thinking of you... it got me through."
I looked at the fresh welts on his back, the angry red lines crisscrossing his pale skin. A wave of bitter irony washed over me. All this pain, self-inflicted for a lie. It was a grotesque parody of love.
Brittain, sitting opposite us, looked at Adonis with a mix of pity and exasperation. "Don't let her wait too long, Adonis," he said, his voice quiet, but firm. "Some women don't wait forever, even for a Livingston."
Adonis chuckled weakly. "Ivory? She'd wait for me until the end of time. She knows I'm worth it. Right, my love?" He squeezed my hand, his gaze searching.
I simply patted his cheek, offering another empty smile. You think so, Adonis? You're about to find out how wrong you are.
At the hospital, they whisked him away to a private room. I sat in the waiting area, my mind numb, replaying the scene in the chapel, the conversation between Adonis and Brittain. The pieces of the puzzle clicked into place, forming a picture of manipulation and betrayal that was almost too painful to comprehend.
He was finally settled in his room, looking slightly better after receiving fluids and pain medication. He reached for my hand, his eyes filled with a manufactured tenderness. "I missed you, Ivory. Every second of this penance, I thought of you."
Before I could respond, the door burst open. Ariel Vaughn stood there, her eyes red and puffy, her usually neat hair disheveled. She looked frantic, raw. My blood ran cold, recognizing the face of my tormentor.
"Adonis! Oh, Adonis!" she cried, rushing to his side, practically pushing me away. "Why did you do it again? Why do you keep punishing yourself for her? You know how much I love you! How much I need you!"
Adonis flinched, his eyes darting to me, a flash of panic in their depths. "Ariel, what are you doing here? Get out!" he hissed, his voice surprisingly strong despite his injuries.
"Get out?" Ariel' s voice rose, laced with hysteria. "After everything I' ve done for you? After all these years I've stood by you, watched you suffer, while she lives her perfect life, waiting for you to jump through hoops? Don't you see, Adonis? She's not worth it! She's never been there for you like I have! She doesn't understand you, not like I do!"
She grabbed his hand, clutching it desperately. "Just give her up, Adonis! Please! Let her go. You belong with me. You know you do. You're tired of this, aren't you? Of this endless charade for a woman who doesn't truly appreciate your sacrifices?"
Adonis ripped his hand away, his face hardening into a mask of pure fury. "How dare you, Ariel? How dare you speak that way about Ivory? She is my fiancée, my future wife! I love her! And I will only ever marry her! You are nothing but my employee, and you will remember that!" he roared, his voice echoing through the room.
Ariel recoiled, her face turning ashen. Her eyes, filled with tears, looked utterly broken. "But… but you said…" she choked, her voice barely a whisper.
"I said nothing!" Adonis snapped, his gaze burning into her. "Go! Get out of here right now! If you ever speak another word against Ivory, you're fired! Do you understand me?"
Ariel stumbled back, her hand flying to her mouth, her eyes wide with pain and disbelief. She shook her head slowly, a single tear tracing a path down her pale cheek, and then she turned and bolted from the room, a strangled sob escaping her lips.
Adonis watched her go, his jaw tight. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, he turned to me, his face softening, a forced tenderness returning to his eyes. "I'm so sorry, my love," he murmured, reaching for my hand. "She's just… a bit overly emotional. She doesn't mean it. You know I only have eyes for you."
I let him hold my hand, but my gaze had drifted to his other hand, the one Ariel had clutched. His fingers, usually so relaxed, were still coiled tight, the knuckles white beneath the skin. A flicker of something-not anger, but a deep, complex emotion-had passed through his eyes when he' d looked at Ariel. It wasn't the look of a man who only felt pity for an employee. It was the look of a man who was deeply, inextricably entangled.
I remembered Adonis laughing with me, promising me the moon and stars, and I felt a fresh wave of nausea. He used to be so open, so direct. We used to share everything. I used to think I knew him better than anyone. He was my rock, my first and only love. Now, I saw a stranger. A manipulative man who could switch his emotions like a light.
"Adonis," I said, my voice flat, "how long has Ariel been your assistant?"
He stiffened, pulling his hand away slightly. "Oh, you know, a few years. Time flies." He chuckled, a nervous, forced sound.
"How many?" I pressed, my gaze unwavering.
He hesitated, then sighed. "Maybe… six years? Around that. But she's just an assistant, Ivory. You know how demanding my job is. She handles all the mundane stuff."
Six years. Not eight, as Brittain had said. Brittain, who had warned him. Brittain, who had called it manipulation. Brittain, who had called it a charade for four years.
"I see," I said, a chilling calm settling over me. "And if she continues to cause problems?"
He puffed out his chest, a flash of his old arrogance returning. "Then I'll fire her, of course. Immediately. No one disrespects my fiancée."
His words were cold, sharp, but they held no weight for me. My heart, still reeling from the earlier betrayal, now felt like a block of ice. He was lying. He was lying to Ariel, and he was lying to me. He would never fire her. He was too tied to her, by guilt, by obligation, or something far deeper he refused to acknowledge. He had kept her close, allowed her to believe in a twisted version of reality, all while stringing me along with empty promises.
The man before me was a hollow shell of the Adonis I once knew. A master of deception, weaving a tangled web of lies and manufactured emotions. He didn't just love me less; he loved me differently from her. And that difference was a chasm I could no longer bridge.
