He Made An Exception For Her But Never For Me Chapter 03
The funeral was three days later.
I gave every dollar of my personal savings, along with the Amex Black Card that had marked my status, to my sister-in-law, Rachel.
But it was not enough.
The only blood relative I had left, the pillar of an entire family, and it was not nearly, nearly enough.
When I pushed open the front door of the townhouse, the heating was turned up high inside.
My hand froze on my shoe.
On the sofa, Chloe Lawson sat with her knees pulled up to her chest.
And Adrian sat across from her in the single armchair, his laptop open on his lap.
Hearing the movement at the door, his fingers stopped tapping the keys.
I lifted my eyes and immediately saw the red [∞] hovering above Adrian’s head.
Three days had passed, and the symbol was still as vivid and glaring as ever.
“Sophia!”
Chloe saw me, and the hand holding her mug of milk gave a startled jolt.
Her face went pale as she stood up.
“Please don’t misunderstand. My apartment is covered in cat scratches everywhere.”
“Every time I see them, I think of Muffin and I can’t stop shaking.”
“That’s why Adrian let me stay here for a few days.”
I said nothing and walked straight toward the second-floor walk-in closet.
“Stop right there.”
Adrian’s cold voice rang out behind me.
He closed the laptop and got up to walk toward me.
“You’ve been throwing this tantrum for three days. You won’t even come home. How much longer are you going to keep playing the victim?”
His voice carried a weary, rational edge.
“I had someone check the admission records at Reinhardt Medical Center for that day.”
“There was no severely injured patient by the name of Ethan Callahan transferred there. Not that day, not any day.”
“You were willing to invoke a curse on your own brother, just to force Chloe out of that suite.”
“So?”
My voice came out hoarse.
“So, you owe Chloe an apology.”
Adrian stepped in front of me, blocking my path.
His eyes locked on mine.
“When you burst into that room and started shouting, it made her panic attacks worse.”
“For three nights she hasn’t been able to fall asleep on her own.”
“Adrian, let it go.”
Chloe walked over, her eyes rimmed with tears, and tugged at the corner of his shirt.
“Sophia still has an injury on her forehead. Now that she’s back, I really should move out.”
“I don’t want to be the reason your marriage suffers.”
She looked as though she was about to lose her breath again.
Adrian reached out to steady her, and when he turned his eyes back on me, they had gone glacial.
“How much longer are you going to keep this silent treatment going?”
His voice deepened, edged with warning.
“Apologize.”
“Adrian Bosworth.”
I looked into his eyes and spoke quietly.
“Of course there’s no record of my brother in the system.”
“Because his ambulance was blocked in the underground parking garage by your security team.”
“He was the only family I had left in this world. He was thirty-four years old.”
The fingers Adrian had used to steady Chloe went rigid, and something like shock passed through his eyes.
The seamless armor of his rationality had finally cracked.
“He was cremated this morning.”
I didn’t wait to see the look on his face. I began climbing the stairs, one step at a time.
“You can keep the shawl, Miss Lawson.”
“I never take back anything that’s been soiled.”