Chapter 44 More drama
Chapter 44 More drama
My hands trembled as I fumbled with the clasp of my purse, the red leather suddenly feeling like a dead weight. “Why, Adrian? Why didn’t you stop me?” My voice was sharp, a raw edge I barely recognized. The mall’s fluorescent lights seemed to mock the tremor in my chin.
He put the shopping bags down on the floor of the car with a gentle thud. “Stop you from what, Liana?” He zipped up his jacket, his movements calm, too calm.
“From letting her stand there and talk to me like that! Like nothing happened! Like… like I was the one who deserved it!” The memory of Vivian’s placid smile, her judgmental eyes, made my stomach clench.
Adrian turned to face me fully, his expression unreadable. “We came here for one reason, Liana. And it wasn’t to create a scene in the middle of a busy mall. Think about it. What good would that have done for our image? For the hospital’s image?”
My breath hitched. “Our image?” I stared at him, disbelief flooding through me. “That’s what this is about for you? Our image?” The words felt like a physical blow. “When I needed you, when I truly, desperately needed someone to stand by me, you stood there and watched! You let her twist the knife, didn’t you? You let her make me look like the architect of my own downfall, when you should have supported me!”
He reached out and pulled me into a hug, a strong, comforting embrace. My cheek pressed against his tweed jacket, the scent of his cologne filling my nostrils. I didn’t resist. I just stood there, stiff and unyielding for a moment, then the anger began to drain, replaced by a deep, aching exhaustion. He rubbed my back, a slow, soothing circle. “Hey. Shh. It’s okay. It’s not about our image, Liana. Not really. It’s about you. It’s always been about you.”
I pulled back slightly, looking up at him, my eyes stinging. “Then why?”
“Because you don’t have to make peace with them. Not really. Not on their terms.” His thumb gently brushed a tear from my cheek. “They want you to come to dinner? Fine. Go. Do it. But not to grovel. Not to apologize for surviving. You’re going to go there and you’re going to show them. Show them you’re not that vulnerable, pregnant girl they tossed out onto the streets all those years ago.”
A fresh wave of tears welled up, but these felt different. Less about anger, more about release. “How?” I whispered, my voice raw.
“You’re a renowned doctor now, Liana. You’re a co-founder of a hospital that’s about to go global. You’re brilliant. You’re successful. You are more than enough.” His gaze was intense, unwavering. “You’re going to walk into that dinner, head held high, and you’re going to remind them exactly who Liana Hayes is. You don’t need their approval. You don’t need their forgiveness. You are an independent, powerful woman, and you succeeded despite them, not because of them.”
A fragile smile touched my lips. It felt foreign, a little shaky, but it was there. He reached out again, his thumb brushing away another tear that had escaped. “Don’t you dare let them get in the way of your success. Not now. Not ever.”
“Thank you,” I managed, the words catching in my throat. “What… what would I have done without you?”
He gave me a soft, reassuring squeeze. “You would have figured it out. You always do. Now, come on. We have a very important little man to pick up from school.”
He opened the car door for me, and I climbed in, my mind still reeling but a strange calm settling over me. He walked around to the driver’s side, and the engine rumbled to life. As we pulled out of the parking lot, away from the mall and its ghosts, I looked out the window. The city lights blurred into streaks of color. Maybe he was right. Maybe this wasn’t about making peace. Maybe it was about declaring war. A quiet, dignified war of success. A war I was determined to win.