Seven Years Of Rain Stopped The Day I Signed The Consent Chapter 07

Seven Years Of Rain Stopped The Day I Signed The Consent Chapter 07

The wind in northern New Mexico was dry and cutting, full of grit.

In a shell jacket, I stood on the dusty ocher ground of the project site.

It was a utility-scale wind farm project, the kind of work I used to handle back when I was still at the engineering firm.

After marrying Adrian, I had quit my job and folded myself into his life. Now, I had finally returned to the career I had left behind.

The work was exhausting, but it was honest. I spent every day on-site, moving from one problem to the next, but for the first time in years, my heart felt steady.

I no longer had to wait for anyone’s call or read anyone’s mood.

Half a month later, the project passed final acceptance inspection.

At the celebration dinner, I had a little to drink and stepped outside the restaurant for some air. When I turned around, I saw Adrian.

He looked like he had lost half his weight. His jaw was covered in stubble, and his eyes were threaded with red.

His suit was wrinkled, and his dress shoes were covered in New Mexico dust. The arrogant, polished executive he used to be was nowhere to be seen.

The moment he saw me, his eyes reddened.

He walked toward me slowly, his voice trembling.

“Evelyn, I finally found you.”

I looked at him and felt nothing.

“What are you doing here? I left the divorce agreement for you, didn’t I?”

Adrian stepped forward and reached for my hand, but I stepped back before he could touch me.

His hand froze in midair. He gave a bitter laugh.

“Evelyn, I’m sorry. About the baby… I really didn’t know.”

“If I had known, I never would have chosen Chloe that day. I would have come for you.”

I listened quietly and found it almost funny.

“Adrian, the point isn’t whether you knew I was pregnant.”

“The point is that I was your wife. I called you three times, and you were watching the ocean with another woman.”

“Even if I hadn’t been pregnant, even if I had only broken my leg, you still would have hung up on me, wouldn’t you?”

Adrian’s face went pale. His lips parted, but he could not say a word.

Just then, a taxi pulled up by the curb. The door opened, and Chloe hurried out.

The moment she saw me, that wounded little look slipped back onto her face.

“Evelyn, please don’t blame Adrian. This was all my fault.”

I frowned.

Adrian froze too, then turned and snapped at her.

“Who told you to follow me?”

Chloe shrank back from his anger, and tears immediately welled in her eyes.

“Adrian, you’ve spent the past two weeks looking for Evelyn and ignoring the company. I was just worried about you…”

Then she turned to me and bit her lip.

“Evelyn, I know you hate me because of the baby.”

“But the thunder was so terrifying that day. My heart rate shot up to one-sixty. I really thought I was going to die.”

“Can you please stop torturing Adrian over this? He really loves you.”

I looked at the anxiety-tracking wristband on her wrist and suddenly laughed.

“Chloe, do thunderstorms actually trigger your heart condition?”

Chloe’s face changed.

“Evelyn, what are you trying to say? Adrian has seen my medical records.”

I stepped forward and grabbed her wrist.

“Has he?”

I yanked the band off her wrist and tapped through the screen a few times.

“Evelyn, what are you doing?”

Adrian instinctively moved to stop me, but I shoved the screen in front of his face.

“Look carefully.”

The screen displayed the settings page.

[Simulated Heart Rate Mode: On]

[Random Simulation Range: 120–160 bpm]

The air went dead still.

Chloe’s face turned white, and she reached out to snatch it back.

“Give it back! You messed with it!”

My hand cracked across her face.

“That was for faking an illness and lying to everyone.”

Then I looked at Adrian and threw the band at his feet.

“You felt so sorry for her because she had a heart condition, didn’t you? Turns out, for seven years, this little gadget was all it took to make a fool of you.”

Adrian lowered his head and stared at the band on the ground.

The screen was still flashing a heart rate of 145.

He stood there completely stunned.

The sky over New Mexico was perfectly clear today, without a single cloud in sight.

Where was the thunder?

Where was her racing heart supposed to have come from?