Chapter 136

Stella

“No,” the word leaves my mouth before I even realize it.

Adrian pauses, just about to cross the threshold of his home, and turns around to look at me. My ears ring and my heart is beating out of control, unable to stay steady in the time I need it to be calm the most. I shake my head and allow the tears to freely fall from my eyes, not wishing to hold them back anymore as my emotions take over my body.

“No, I refuse to leave,” I state, wiping away a few of my tears. “I am going to stay right here with you and there is nothing that you can do about it!”

“No, Stella, you need to go home,” Adrian slightly racist's voice at me, making his way back down the stairs. He takes my arms into his hands, beginning to push me backwards, but I fight back against him. “You shouldn't be here.”

“I want to be here! I have to be here! I have to stop you for making the worst mistake of your life!” I fight back against him, raising my voice.

I do not care if his neighbors watch us fight. I do not care if the cops are called and I am arrested for public disturbance. I do not care if this whole ordeal tonight will further isolate me from the man I am in love with.

I have to save Adrian from this choice that he is about to make. If he cannot see that what he is doing, will ruin his life, then I have to show him. It is my duty as his friend — and his ex ex-wife — to show him that this is not the only way that he can come out of this situation unscathed.

I have lived with Adrian for the last five years of my life. I know what makes him Tick, what makes him angry, the things that make him sad, everything that can affect his emotions. I know that in the moment, he thinks that what he is doing is the right thing. His tunnel vision is ruining his chance of securing happiness for himself, to read himself of a vile demon in his life that wishes to destroy everything that he has made for himself.

“Clara only has one thing in mind,” I push him away from me, heading up towards the stairs to sit down once again. He follows behind me and tries to lift me off of the ground, but I barely budge. “she wants your money and she wants you to live a life of suffering just because you did not marry her in the first place.”

“I don't care, Stella,” Adrian groans under his breath. “What is in the past is in the past, there is not much more I can do about it.

“do you know what she said to me when we were kids? She said that you were going to amount to nothing, that she sees no hope or future with you despite your constant crush on her. She always planned on marrying a rich man, on marrying somebody who can give her the life of privilege and luxury that she wanted,” I force the words out of my mouth, it admission that I have held to myself for so long.

Adrian's body goes still. He stops fighting against me and looks down at me with white and eyes, shock written across his face. I watch as he processes the new information in the back of his mind, his eyes flickering to the side before meeting mine once again.

“Clara never loved you. She's always loved your wealth and your status in the world. The only reason why she wanted you in the first place is because of your company. You didn't have that before,” I continue to speak, knowing that I have Adrian hooked onto every word.

Does it pain me to see the expression on his face? The expression that reads nothing but confusion and anger and resentment? Yes, of course, it does.

It hurts me to know that I am shattering his reality right now. It makes my heart ache to know that Adrian has been lied to for the entirety of his love towards Clara, that she wanted nothing more than a credit card with no limit rather than his love.

But me? I want the for him. I want him to thrive in his new life, even if it means that I have to keep him away from Clara as well as myself.

Adrian is not the only one who gets to make a sacrifice in this. He's not the only hero of the story.

I slipped into a silence, not wishing to change his perception of his old life with Clara, even more than I already have. I slowly rise to my feet, taking his hands on my own. They just feel so right with me, the way, his hands perfectly mold into mine.

“you need to leave,” Adrian speaks in a low voice.

It takes me by surprise. Shock spreads across my body, slight embarrassment, making its way into my chest and fingers. I slowly release him, taking a step down and into the grass that sits behind me.

I shake my head, unable to come to terms of the fact that Adrian is pushing me away yet again. I do not know what it is that I have done to earn this cruelty, this rejection, from him. My heart shatters into a million tiny pieces as I watch him look at me with contempt in his eyes.

“I don't need your help. After all, we are just friends, right? That's what you said,” I can feel the venom in his words. It seeps into my skin, burning me, alive, making me feel so suffocated, despite standing outside and the cool night air.

“you know that's not what I meant,” I breathe out, ready to defend myself.

“then what did you mean? What could you possibly meant by us being friends?” Adrian's question pierces my heart. It makes itself at home in my flesh, my heartbeat, coming to a slow.

How can I respond? What could I possibly say to make the man who stands before me realize that I want nothing but the best for him. That the two of us are both choosing to make sacrifices for the others happiness?

I never asked for this. I never asked to be caught in the middle of a war with my foster sister. I never wished to be seen as someone who needs to be saved.

“If marrying Clara means that I get to save her life, then I'm going to do it. It is my life, and I am the one who is in charge of the choices that I make, not you, you need to come to the realization that you have no influence in my life anymore,” Adrian’s words are sharp.

I shake my head. Tears spill from my eyes. I look away for a brief moment, hoping to find some semblance of relief from the pain in my chest in the sunset, but I am met with the dark blue sky, the stars shining in the sky.

“You’re a coward, Adrian,” I speak, voice loud and firm. “I never want to see you again.”