Chapter 1 - THE DISCARDED MISTRESS|
Adrian stared at Madison as if she were a total stranger who had wandered into his life by mistake.
Madison stepped closer to him, her silk hospital gown slipping off one smooth shoulder. She looked down at his blood-stained hands, her lower lip trembling with theatrical confusion.
"Adrian?" Madison repeated, her voice rising in pitches of dramatic agitation. "What is wrong with you? Who was that woman on the gurney? Why do you have blood all over your sleeves?"
"Go back inside your room, Madison," Adrian said. His voice was low, hollowed out, stripped of any authority he usually possessed.
"What?" Madison blinked, taken aback. "Adrian, I'm sick! My heart was beating fast when those paramedics ran past, and you just sprinted away from me like I didn't even exist! You're scaring me!"
Adrian turned his back on her and walked into the private bathroom of her suite. He turned the heavy brass faucet, thrusting his hands under the scalding stream of water.
Red swirls pooled around the white porcelain drain. Elena’s blood. He scrubbed violently with harsh hospital soap, burning his skin until his knuckles turned raw and bright pink.
When he stepped back into the doorway, Madison was crossing her arms, her eyes flashing with defensive anger.
"You never talk about your wife like that," Madison sneered, stepping into his space. "You told me your marriage was just a legal contract! You said you hadn't slept in the same bed for years! Why are you acting like this over an accident?"
Adrian stepped toward her. For eleven months, he had tolerated her tantrums, showered her with European jewelry, and mistaken her dramatic demands for passionate devotion. Now, looking at her, he felt a wave of absolute, crippling disgust—not just for her, but for the shallow, arrogant idiot he had been every single day he spent with her.
"Get dressed, Madison," Adrian commanded softly.
"Excuse me?"
"Get dressed. Call a car. Leave." He reached into his leather coat, pulled out his black titanium credit card, and tossed it onto her bedside table with a sharp clink. "Keep the card. Pay for the room. Buy whatever you want. Just make sure you are gone before I walk back down this hallway."
Madison gasped, her face draining of color. "Are you paying me off? Over some random collision? Adrian, I was in a hospital bed!"
"My wife is bleeding out on an operating table fifty feet away," Adrian said, his dark eyes burning into hers with a coldness that made her step back in fear. "If you say another word, Madison, I will have my security team clear your apartment out by midnight and leave you on the street with nothing. Do you understand me?"
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Madison opened her mouth to scream, but the dead silence in Adrian’s eyes froze the words in her throat.
Adrian turned without waiting for a response, slammed the door behind him, and ran down the polished corridor toward the glowing red surgical light.
