The One He Left Became The One He Couldn’t Have Chapter 27
Extra 3
After he broke things off with Summer.
The entire Valentino family was dragged into a humiliating scandal.
Summer was confirmed pregnant.
His parents couldn’t bring themselves to make a girl end a pregnancy. They compromised again.
But he refused. Absolutely refused the child. And Summer.
He couldn’t accept it. His future wife. The woman carrying his kids.
Having schemed against him from the very first meeting.
The so-called heroic rescue.
The so-called beautiful echo of his parents’ love story.
All fake. Every bit of it fake.
Just Summer’s cold calculation to climb the ladder.
He pushed her to terminate the pregnancy.
Summer refused.
But when she saw his resolve was iron.
Summer brought in her parents and family.
Adrian had never seen street-level shamelessness like that.
They were immune to reason. Threw tantrums, rolled on the floor, pulled every dirty trick.
The Valentinos were a prominent family. His parents couldn’t afford the disgrace.
He couldn’t even call the cops.
Overwhelmed, he threw money at them to leave.
But once they’d tasted blood, they only clung tighter.
They were like leeches. Like vampires. Like parasites burrowed into bone.
Like a nightmare you never wake from.
Adrian was exhausted to the marrow by Summer and her family’s chaos.
And Summer’s belly grew bigger by the day.
In the end, he decided to tear off the veil himself.
When the police arrived at the Valentino house and threw those thugs out.
Summer seemed to understand she’d lost.
She demanded an enormous sum of money.
The day of the final reckoning.
Adrian felt like he was meeting Summer for the first time.
Cold. Calculating. Greedy. Twisted. Her beautiful face grotesque.
When he handed over the money.
He suddenly wanted to laugh at himself.
Laugh at his own stupidity. Blindness.
When you’re young, everything familiar feels ordinary.
Day after day of growing up together fades and loses its shine.
But a real man resists the lure of the newer, shinier flower.
He nourishes the one he loves until she blooms more radiant than ever.
And him? He was just a complete and utter bastard.
Later, Gianna’s husband arranged for her pony to be brought to Boston.
When Adrian went to the stables, the pony was already gone.
Only his horse remained.
Standing alone in the stall.
Adrian led it out.
He swung into the saddle and rode hard into the wind.
Lap after lap. No end. No rest.
Until finally, he closed his eyes in the wind and let go of the reins.
He broke his leg. Didn’t die.
His parents wept at his bedside, heartbroken.
It was in that moment that Adrian seemed to finally grow up.
He swallowed the searing pain and comforted his parents.
And told himself, the rest of his life.
Could not keep going down this ruinous road.
Not long after Summer ended the pregnancy.
She was sentenced to prison for extortion.
Her father and brother, who’d been the most aggressive, went in with her.
The rest of Summer’s family scattered like a receding tide.
They’d gotten some money out of it before.
Not as much as they wanted, but better than nothing.
They took the cash and went back to their hometown. The fate of Summer and the others no longer concerned them.
Only Summer’s mother, broken by her only son’s prison sentence.
Cried until she nearly went blind. And cursed Summer with all of it.
These old ghosts and stale stories in New York.
Were like ink fading on an antique painting.
And the new life that belonged to Gianna.
Was unfurling like a clean, bright scroll.
(Extra End)