Chapter 3
A week later, the Kane family’s monthly dinner came around like clockwork.
With Adrian still gone, Riley had to show up solo.
The moment Old Mrs. Kane spotted her, her face went ice cold. “Where the hell is Adrian?”
Riley kept her eyes down. “He’s tied up with something. Can’t make it back yet.”
Mrs. Kane was about to snap back when the butler came rushing over with a tabloid in his hands.
Right there on the front page was a photo of Adrian and Elena going at it on some yacht!
“Are you kidding me!” Mrs. Kane slammed her fork down so hard the whole table shook. “Ivy! Study. Now!”
Once they were behind closed doors, Mrs. Kane’s voice cut like a knife: “Get on your knees!”
Riley dropped down without a word.
“Useless! Can’t even keep your own husband in line!” Mrs. Kane was shaking with rage.
“Here’s your choice—either call him right now and get him back here, or… you face the family punishment!”
Riley’s lashes trembled.
She knew that even if she called, Adrian wouldn’t come back anyway.
And she couldn’t ruin his romantic getaway with his precious Elena. If he got pissed, the whole business deal could go south.
“I’ll take the punishment,” she said quietly.
Mrs. Kane’s face turned bright red. “What?!”
“I’ll take the punishment.” Riley met her eyes, totally calm. “Do it.”
That sent Mrs. Kane over the edge. She grabbed the riding crop from the wall and whipped it across Riley’s back!
“You calling him now?!”
Whack!
“How about now?!”
Whack!
Riley bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. her back was on fire, but she kept shaking her head no.
Eventually the pain got so bad that everything went dark and she just collapsed.
When she woke up, she was lying face-down on a hospital bed, her back all wrapped up in bandages.
Adrian was sitting right there next to her, looking seriously stressed.
“Mom was beating the crap out of you—why didn’t you just call me?” he asked, his voice cold.
Riley gave him a weak smile. “Didn’t want to mess up your romantic getaway with Elena.”
That stopped Adrian dead in his tracks.
He stared at her pale face, and suddenly what that nurse said hit him again.
“She’s so head-over-heels for Mr. Kane that she’ll even take care of his girlfriend…”
Was she really… that crazy about him?
Crazy enough to get beaten up instead of ruining his vacation?
That weird feeling in his chest just got worse.
The next few days, he actually hung around the hospital taking care of her—which was totally not like him.
Riley kept saying he didn’t have to stay, but he wouldn’t budge.
Then right when she was supposed to get discharged, Adrian’s phone rang. Some crisis at work—he had to bail for an emergency meeting.
“Get yourself home.” He threw that out and just left.
Riley nodded and slowly walked out of the hospital.
Right as she hit the front steps, she crashed into some dude.
“Watch where you’re going!” he totally lost it on her. “You know how much this shirt cost? Looking at your raggedy outfit, bet you can’t even afford to look at it!”
Riley was about to say sorry when this ice-cold voice cut through from behind.
“Beat it.”
Somehow Adrian was back, and he just chucked a stack of cash right at the guy’s face. “That cover it?”
The dude was about to go nuclear, but one look at Adrian’s expensive suit and that scary energy he was putting out, and he just bolted.
Adrian shot Riley this cold stare. “Ivy, what’s the deal? Don’t our families give you an allowance? Why do you look like you shop at thrift stores?”
Riley didn’t say anything.
Truth was, the Wells never gave her squat, and even though she had access to the Kane accounts, she wasn’t actually Mrs. Kane—so she never used them.
When she just stood there silent, something about that really ticked Adrian off. He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward his car.
“We’re buying you some decent clothes. Now.”
At the mall, Adrian picked out several designer outfits for her—each one worth more than most people’s rent.
Riley just went along with it quietly, like some emotionless puppet.
But right as they were walking out of the mall…
“Adrian?”
That shaky voice made them both freeze.
Riley looked up to see Elena standing there in a server’s uniform, looking like she’d been slapped.
Her eyes were already red as she stared at them in disbelief. “I thought you said you had meetings at the office?”
“Elena…” Adrian’s face went white.
“You don’t have to love me…” Elena’s tears started falling. “But how could you lie to me? I shouldn’t have come back. I’m just… I’m ruining everything for you two…”
And with that, she just ran.
“Elena!” Adrian took off after her immediately.
Riley just stood there watching him go, feeling absolutely nothing.
But then the next second—
BANG!
This massive sound exploded through the air!
A massive piece of glass from the mall’s upper level suddenly gave way and came smashing straight down onto Elena!
She didn’t even get a chance to scream—just crumpled into a puddle of blood…
