The Man She Loved For Ten Years Let Her Father Die To Protect His Mistress Chapter 05

The Man She Loved For Ten Years Let Her Father Die To Protect His Mistress Chapter 05

After dealing with the fallout at the hospital over his scandal with Sienna, Adrian rubbed at his brow,

exhausted.

He slumped back in the driver’s seat and let his head rest against it, trying to empty his mind, but the Chief of

Staff’s furious voice kept replaying anyway.

“Adrian, you may have been one of the strongest surgeons in this hospital, and yes, we were considering

promoting you this year, but what you did was unforgivable.”

“You betrayed Thomas Wren and still insisted on protecting Dr. Vale. There’s no place for you here anymore.”

At the time, Adrian had kept his head lowered, but his eyes had burned with resentment. “If Professor Wren

did something like that, why am I the one getting fired?”

The director had adjusted his glasses and given a humorless laugh.

“If it weren’t for Professor Wren, what exactly do you think got you to the top this young? What do you think

paid for all those indulgent vanity projects you’ve been so proud of?”

Then he’d clapped Adrian once on the shoulder, not kindly but like a final dismissal.

“This place never lacked talent. What it had was loyalty. Most of the board members belong to the

Professor’s inner circle.”

His voice had gone cold after that. “A man who doesn’t know how to be grateful is a liability anywhere he

goes.”

That conversation had shattered the ego he’d worn like a shield.

He had never imagined that the director, who had always treated him with warmth and respect, would cut

him loose without a second thought.

Even less did he want to admit the truth buried underneath it all, that his smooth rise, his influence, his

funding, his reputation, all of it had been built on the support of the mentor he’d spent years resenting.

“Damn it.”

He slammed his fist into the steering wheel hard enough to jar the little hanging charm from the mirror.

The doll swung wildly, and the second he saw it, Evelyn came back to him.

He remembered the night he’d been careless with Sienna in the parking garage, leading to a minor fender

bender he’d had to hide.

When he got home, he lied and told Evelyn he’d rear-ended someone by accident.

She had panicked instantly.

She’d checked him from head to toe with trembling hands, asking over and over if he was hurt anywhere, her

voice soft with worry.

The next day, still not reassured, she had stayed up to sew a protection charm into a handmade guardian

doll.

She had grown up pampered. She wasn’t someone who even knew how to thread a needle without fumbling.

It had taken her half the night to make the thing, and she’d pricked her fingers so many times they were

covered in tiny red marks by the time she finished.

The doll was still ugly as hell.

Adrian yanked it off the mirror and stared at it in his palm for a long moment.

The colors were awful, a nauseating clash of lime and mustard. The stitches were crooked. The eyes were

lopsided.

Stupid-looking.

Just like its owner.

Back when Evelyn first gave it to him, Sienna had hated the thing on sight and sulked about it for days.

And yet, for reasons he had never bothered to examine, he had never thrown it away.

He let out a sharp, humorless laugh.

“What am I even keeping this for now?”

“I don’t have to pretend anymore.”

“Ugly piece of crap.”

He rolled the window down and tossed it out. The doll arced cleanly through the dark before vanishing into

the grass by the roadside.

Just then, Sienna called.

By the time he answered, his voice had already softened. “What is it, Sienna?”

“Adrian, the scene at the funeral was horrific.Evelyn has to be devastated.”

Her voice on the other end was gentle, hesitant, careful.

“I called her so many times. I texted too. She’s not answering anything. She’s not even checking on Landon.”

A pause.

Then, in a voice that sounded almost guilty, she added, “Maybe you should go home tonight. Stay with

Evelyn.”

The light in Adrian’s eyes flickered as he stared through the windshield at the estate house he had shared

with Evelyn for ten years.

No matter how late he came back before, the porch light had always been on for him.

Always.

Now the whole place sat dark and dead.

Not a single light inside.

Something sharp rose up in his chest without warning, anger or panic or maybe some ugly mix of both.

When he spoke, his throat sounded rough.

“No. It’s fine. I’m almost at your place already.”

He tightened his grip on the wheel.

“Evelyn cares more about family than anything. She only has us and Landon. She’ll cool off eventually.”

On the other end of the line, Sienna went quiet for a few seconds, looking out at the black road beyond her

window.

She knew Adrian too well.

Twell enough to hear the tremor he was trying to bury. And with that realization came a bitter ache.

She had known him first.

She had stayed single for him for all these years.

And still, in some corner of Adrian’s heart, Evelyn had always held a place.

He didn’t want this divorce to happen so easily.

“Hopefully,” she said at last.