Chapter 3 - Severing the Poison
Adrian sat motionless in the hallway for what felt like hours, the blood-stained letter held tightly in his fists. Every breath felt like inhaling ground glass.
The heavy doors at the end of the hall swung open. Madison emerged, dressed in her street clothes, her designer purse slung over her arm. She walked down the hallway toward him, her heels clicking angrily against the floorboards.
“Adrian, this is ridiculous,” she snapped, stopping right in front of him. “The doctors gave me a clean bill of health. I’m exhausted, and nobody is telling me what’s going on. We need to leave. My driver is outside, but I want you to take me home.”
Adrian slowly raised his head.
His face was deathly pale, his eyes hollow and dark. The grief that had been consuming him transformed instantly into something terrifying—a cold, absolute, predatory rage.
Madison took a half-step back, startled by his expression. “What... what is wrong with you?”
“Who told Julian Vance about my schedule today, Madison?” Adrian asked. His voice was barely a whisper, yet it cut through the hum of the hospital like a razor blade.
Madison blinked, a momentary flicker of panic crossing her eyes before she smoothed it over with a look of confusion. “What? Who is Julian? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You knew where I was going to be today,” Adrian said, standing up slowly. He towered over her, his presence suffocating. “You insisted on staying at that specific hotel. You asked me three times yesterday what route my security detail would take.”
“Adrian, you’re acting crazy!” she protested, her voice rising in pitch. “I’m your girlfriend! I love you! Your wife had an accident, and now you’re taking it out on me?”
“You are not my girlfriend,” Adrian said softly. “You were a mistake born of my own disgusting vanity.”
He pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and put it on speaker.
“Dominic,” Adrian said as soon as his head of security answered.
“Boss,” Dominic’s heavy voice rasped. “We heard about Mrs. Vale. I’m standing by.”
“Effective immediately, revoke all access to the Elm Street penthouse,” Adrian commanded, staring dead into Madison’s eyes. “Change the locks. Repossess the Porsche. Freeze the credit cards issued under the Meridian subsidiary. Gather every piece of clothing, jewelry, and luxury item in that apartment, put them in storage bags, and throw them on the curb.”
Madison’s mouth fell open. “Adrian! You can’t do that! I live there!”
“If Miss Cole attempts to step onto any Vale property,” Adrian continued without breaking eye contact, “have her removed for trespassing. And call our legal team. I want every asset transferred to her over the last eleven months flagged for fraud recovery.”
“Understood, boss,” Dominic replied. “And Julian Vance?”
“Put a detail on Vance,” Adrian said, his voice dropping into icy steel. “Don't let him leave the city. If he attempts to board a plane or step onto a boat, end it.”
Adrian ended the call.
Madison was shaking with rage and fear, her hands clutching her purse. “You can’t treat me like this! After everything I gave you? You think you can just throw me away for a wife who doesn't even talk to you?”
“My wife took a ramming truck to the driver’s side of her car to keep you and me from being blown to pieces,” Adrian said, taking a step closer to her. “She lay in her own blood while I was holding your hand. If you ever speak her name again, or if you ever come within a mile of my family, I will use every dollar and every man I own to ensure you spend the rest of your life in a dark room.”
Madison gasped, taking two steps back, completely terrified by the lethal sincerity in his voice. Turning on her heel, she fled down the hallway, her designer heels clicking frantically until the sound vanished into the distance.
Just as she disappeared, the doors to the operating wing swung open. A chief surgeon walked out, pulling down his mask. He looked exhausted, his scrub top spotted with blood.
Adrian rushed forward, his heart knocking against his ribs. “Doctor. How is she?”
The surgeon took a deep breath. “Mr. Vale... your wife is alive, but she is in critical condition. She suffered severe thoracic trauma, three broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, and a major concussion. We’ve stabilized the internal bleeding, but she is in a medically induced coma.”
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Adrian’s breath hitched. “And... the baby?”
The doctor looked at him with surprise, then soft sympathy. “The womb sustained trauma, but miraculously, the fetal heartbeat is stable for now. However, the next seventy-two hours will decide everything. She is fighting for two lives right now, Mr. Vale.”
