Chapter 4 - The Rupture of the Engagement
"Daddy..." Lily whimpered, reaching her small, frosting-stained hands toward his neck.
Adrian brought his hands up, gently cupping her small shoulders, ignoring the grease and sugar transferring onto his knuckles. He took a crisp linen handkerchief from his breast pocket and began wiping the thick pink cream away from her eyes, his movements incredibly soft, contrasting violently with the dark storm in his eyes.
"I've got you, baby," Adrian whispered, his voice low and raspy. "Daddy's here. Look at me. Only look at me."
"I didn't break the cake..." Lily sniffled, her chest heaving as she hid her sticky face against his collarbone. "Vanessa pulled it... she smashed it..."
Adrian held his daughter securely against his chest with one arm, standing back up to his full six-foot-two height. He turned his face slowly toward Vanessa.
Vanessa’s smile faltered under the weight of his stare. "Adrian, darling, don't listen to a five-year-old's drama. You know how children exaggerate when they don't get their way. I was just trying to clean her up before the photographer—"
"Shut up," Adrian said.
The command wasn't yelled. It was delivered in a level, flat monotone that chilled every person in the mansion.
"Adrian!" Vanessa gasped, looking around at the prominent guests watching the scene unfold. "You can't talk to me like that! Our wedding is in two days! The press is coming, the caterers are paid, my father's board members are here—"
Adrian reached into his inner suit pocket with his free hand. He pulled out the heavy, silk-embossed wedding invitation that sat in his coat—a symbol of the merger between Vance Enterprises and the Sterling Group.
Slowly, deliberately, without breaking eye contact with Vanessa, he gripped both sides of the thick cardstock.
May you like
Rip.
The sound of tearing paper echoed off the high ceilings. He tore it in half, then tore it again, letting the white and gold scraps drop into the pool of pink icing and broken cake layers on the floor.
