76 Missed Calls, And He Still Chose Her Dog Chapter 05

76 Missed Calls, And He Still Chose Her Dog Chapter 05

Two days later, Adrian paid out of pocket to throw Madison a second-anniversary celebration for her pet boutique in a hotel ballroom.

The guests included their mutual friends.

Adrian’s colleagues.

Madison’s longtime customers.

Before the event even began, Madison had already told everyone I would publicly apologize to her through a livestream.

At the scheduled time, Adrian nodded to the server at the control station.

The big screen lit up.

My face appeared.

“Hello, everyone.”

“At my husband Adrian Whitlock’s request, I’m here today to offer a formal apology to Miss Madison Blake.”

Madison smiled like a victor.

The next second, I smiled too.

“I’m sorry.”

“When I received the private video of you and my husband, I couldn’t control myself and threw up from disgust.”

“I failed to respect your dignity as an affair partner.”

“As compensation, I’ll follow your request and bring you a wave of free traffic with the help of my blogger friends.”

“Now, please enjoy their performance.”

“And please witness this grand, respectable, filthy affair.”

My image vanished.

What played next changed every face in the room.

It wasn’t only the video.

There were also screenshots showing the condo Adrian bought for Madison, the rent he paid for her

store;

the renovation costs, and every transfer he had sent over the years.

Countless eyes landed on Madison like knives.

She screamed.

“Turn it off!”

“Turn it off right now!”

“It’s fake!”

“She used an AI deepfake to smear us!”

Adrian’s face turned livid as he rushed to the control station and yanked out the power cord.

The room went silent again.

But it was already too late.

“Adrian, check your phone.”

“You and Madison are on the trending list.”

“Several verified influencers shared Lydia’s livestream recording.”

“And Lydia’s own investigative report.”

“The entire internet is tearing you apart.”

Daniel Foster’s voice broke the silence.

Madison sobbed and threw herself into Adrian’s arms.

“Adrian, Lydia is so calculating.”

“She pretended to agree to apologize and promote my store, but she was setting us up.”

“How can a woman like that deserve to be your wife?”

“She’s jealous that you’re good to me, so she wants to ruin my life.”

Adrian comforted her while trying to contact me.

But his number, iMessage, and every social account had already been blocked.

His face darkened, and he let out a cold laugh.

“Fine.”

“She makes a mess this big, then hides.”

“I’d like to ask her parents how they raised a daughter like this.”

“I’ll never let the mother of my future child be such a scheming woman.’

He was going to call my parents.

Daniel snatched the phone from his hand.

“Adrian, enough.”

“Lydia’s report includes a forensic report.”

“The video and transfer records show no signs of editing or AI manipulation.”

“You cheated.”

“You were wrong. Own it.”

“Lydia’s parents just died.”

“She just had a miscarriage too.”

“She has already taken blow after blow. Is she still not miserable enough for you?”

“At a time like this, you weren’t by her side.”

“You were here throwing a celebration for another woman.”

“And now you want to drag her dead parents into this?”

“She is your wife.”

“Not your enemy.”

Adrian froze completely.

He stared at Daniel in shock.

“What did you just say?”

Daniel looked even more stunned.

“Don’t tell me you still don’t know about her miscarriage, or that her parents died in a car crash”

Adrian knew Daniel.

He would never joke about something like that.

Adrian grabbed Daniel’s arm.

His voice shook beyond recognition.

“Tell me.”

“When?”

Daniel closed his eyes.

“The afternoon of May ninth.”

“An ambulance brought Lydia back to the hospital from Hopewell Avenue.’

“She was in bad shape mentally. She had nearly been hit by a motorcycle.”

“Then she had severe bleeding and miscarried.”

“When her parents heard, they drove through the storm to the hospital.”

“They crashed on the way.”

“Her father died at the scene.’

“Her mother was pushed into the trauma OR.”

“She was badly injured and had a complicated medical history.”

“Several senior surgeons were either in surgery or out of town for conferences.”

“You knew her mother’s condition best.”

“I told Lydia that if you came in yourself, there might still be a chance.”

“But she called you more than seventy times.”

“You didn’t answer once.”

Daniel’s voice dropped.

“She was still on the operating table herself.”

“Her hands were covered in blood, but she still had to sign her mother’s emergency surgery

consent form.”

“Later, you finally called back.”

“But by then, her mother was already gone.”

“The child was gone too.”

“I don’t know why she didn’t keep telling you.”

“But I’ll never forget the way she knelt outside the OR and cried until she had no voice left.”

“That day, a lot of nurses and doctors cried with her.”

Adrian’s face went paler by the second.

It wasn’t like that.

I had tried to tell him.

Those seventy-something calls.

The death certificate sticking out of my bag.

The words I had shouted through tears in the pet boutique.

If only he had asked one more question.

If only he had bothered to confirm it once.

But he hadn’t.

Adrian was smart.

Soon, he understood why I had been so dazed.

The restaurant on Hopewell Avenue was the place where he proposed to me.

It was also the place where I saw him kiss Madison with my own eyes.

At last, he realized.

When I lost my child and my parents, I had gone through it all alone.

No wonder I broke down over that sweater.

No wonder the way I looked at him before leaving had been so hopeless.

Actually, when he applied ointment to my cheek that night, he had seen the disgust in my eyes.

He just thought I was still angry.

He thought it would pass in a few days.

He didn’t know that, by then, I had already given up on him completely.