My Son Called Her Mom So I Named My Price Chapter 09

My Son Called Her Mom So I Named My Price Chapter 09

“Don’t write my name on the invitation yet. I want to see Adrian’s face at the wedding first.”

The smile on Sebastian’s face deepened.

He extended a hand to me.

“No wonder you’re the person I saved. You’re decisive.”

“Pleasure doing business with you.”

I gently shook his hand.

…

On the day of the wedding, the event hall was even more lavish than I had imagined.

Sebastian had invited everyone who mattered in the city.

Many of them were power brokers Adrian had always worked desperately to impress.

After I put on the wedding dress, I stared at myself in the mirror for a long time, unable to look away.

“It’s not too late to change your mind.”

Sebastian strolled up behind me, his arms crossed.

“You look beautiful.”

“Adrian is already here. Are you sure about this?”

I turned around and took his arm.

“I’m choosing to marry you. It has nothing to do with Adrian.”

“He isn’t that important to me anymore.”

A flicker of surprise crossed Sebastian’s face.

He quickly composed himself, and the corner of his mouth lifted.

During the wedding ceremony, I did not even feel the urge to glance at the guests.

After the ceremony went smoothly, Sebastian and I made the rounds at the reception, toasting the guests.

When we reached the Bradford family’s table, Adrian looked utterly lost.

He stared at me without blinking, his eyes so red they looked almost bloody.

But with family elders and business partners all around, he did not dare lose control.

I did not even look at him. I simply smiled and drained the glass in my hand.

After the reception ended, Sebastian went to make conversation with the other guests.

I changed out of my gown and rested with my eyes closed in the bridal suite.

The door suddenly opened, and a figure stumbled in.

“Clara!”

Adrian staggered toward me.

“Clara, it’s really you!”

“Why? Where did you go after what happened at the hospital that day?”

He could no longer hold himself together, and tears fell from his eyes.

“I couldn’t find you anywhere. I even thought you might be dead, but the police said no unidentified body had been reported.”

“Do you know how I got through all this time?”

I took a step back.

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know.”

Adrian stared at me, then suddenly dropped straight to his knees.

“Clara, I’m so happy to see that you’re alive.”

“There were times when I even thought about ending my life, but I didn’t dare die while you were still missing.”

“I never thought you would marry my uncle.”

Adrian looked at me as if he wanted to carve me into his memory.

“You’re doing this to get back at me, aren’t you? Because I kept letting Vanessa take your things.”

“I know I was wrong now, Clara. Today, I finally understand how you felt. I deserve to die for what I did.”

“I swear, I never had any romantic feelings for Vanessa.”

He moved closer to me on his knees, his words painfully earnest.

“I treated her that way only because we grew up together. Our families used to be on equal footing, and the adults even joked that we’d get married someday.”

“But after my family went bankrupt, she avoided me like the plague. It hurt my pride more than I could admit.”

“I carried that resentment inside me all along. I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to win back my dignity. I knew she had always been vain.”

“So after I rebuilt my fortune, watching her cling to me, envy you for being my wife, and constantly try to take things from you made me feel good. It gave me the satisfaction of revenge.”

“I just never imagined it would hurt you this badly.”

Tears streamed down Adrian’s face.

“Clara, I’m sorry. Please give me one more chance.”

“I’ve already helped you get revenge on Vanessa. Her family has been in financial trouble for years, barely surviving because of my support. Recently, I pulled back all the funding. Her family went bankrupt. She ended up even worse than I once did.”

“And Ryan can’t be without you either. Lately, he keeps waking up crying in the middle of the night, looking for his mom. He’s not doing well, and I can’t take care of him properly, so my family sent him to boarding school.”

I cut him off.

“Adrian, have you ever thought about what would have happened if your uncle hadn’t saved me? I really would have died.”

Adrian froze there, his mouth open.

“But… but…”

“There is no but.”

I looked straight at him.

“Adrian, I’ve already died once.”

“In my last life, you gave my mother’s grave plot to Vanessa. After I divorced you, you left me with nothing. When my cardiomyopathy flared up, I didn’t have a penny to my name, and I died helplessly in a hospital hallway.”

“Fate gave me this second chance at life, not so I could get back together with you.”

Adrian stood frozen as if he had been struck by lightning, disbelief written across his face.

I did not want to say another word to him.

I walked around him and left without looking back.

After finally getting this new life, every minute I had from now on would belong only to the people who truly deserved it.