“Soon,” he answered flatly. “Everything is already in place. I can’t break it off immediately because of that child. But once I push things in the right direction, she’ll remove herself.”
My stomach dropped.
“Push things…?” I whispered without meaning to.
Mira let out a small sigh, like she was exhausted by me. “It’s just hard seeing her still there… acting like she belongs with you. I can’t stand it.”
“She won’t be there for long,” Adrian said coldly. “Once everything is finished, she’ll be gone.”
My grip tightened on the wall beside me.
Then his voice shifted—lower, sharper.
“I shouldn’t have gotten involved with her in the first place. If I knew she’d end up deaf, I wouldn’t have wasted a second. She’s nothing but trouble now. I can’t get rid of her easily because of politics—and because she somehow clung to me with that child.”
The words hit harder than anything I had felt in years.
Clung?
Me?
I stepped back slowly, shaking. My hand pressed over my mouth as if that could hold me together.
Five years ago, he said it was love.
Five years ago, he looked at me like I mattered.
Five years ago, he chose me—or so I thought.
And five years ago, I gave up my hearing saving him.
So all of it…