Chapter 4
Three weeks passed quickly.
It was the day of Adrian and Vivian’s engagement party.
Early that morning, my mother brought a dress into my room.
“I know watching Adrian get engaged to Vivian will be difficult for you. But Vivian came to live with us when she was very young. She has no parents to plan this for her.”
“You grew up as sisters, so you need to attend.”
I had not planned to go.
In my previous life, Adrian and Vivian had already had a child in secret.
Now that I had stepped away from them, I wanted to see what their engagement would be once they finally got everything they wanted.
The party was being held at a hotel owned by Sterling Group.
I had a photo shoot that morning.
When it ended, Julian drove me straight to the hotel.
Before entering the ballroom, I checked my camera bag with the hotel concierge.
Julian looked at the time.
“I have a meeting upstairs. I will come get you when it is over.”
“All right.”
After he left, I entered the private lounge alone.
Before I could sit down, Adrian stormed toward me and threw a gift box onto the table.
Inside was a set of red lace lingerie.
There was also a card written in handwriting that looked almost identical to mine.
“I will be waiting for you at eleven tonight.”
Adrian looked at me with disgust.
“You claim you have moved on, but you send me this at my engagement party.”
“Are you really that desperate for a man, Claire?”
I looked past him at Vivian.
She appeared innocent, but I saw the satisfaction in her eyes.
“You can believe me or not, but I did not send this.”
Adrian laughed.
“Who else would do something this disgusting?”
I did not explain again.
I turned and returned to the ballroom.
Vivian followed me a few minutes later.
She asked a server to bring over a plate of white truffle risotto.
“Adrian knows white truffles are my favorite, so he asked the hotel to prepare this for me.”
“There is too much for me. You should try some.”
“I would rather not.”
Her smile became even sweeter.
“You used to love Adrian so much. You always taught yourself to enjoy everything he liked.”
I ignored her.
Halfway through the engagement ceremony, Vivian suddenly disappeared.
Adrian led a search through the hotel.
They finally found her in an empty guest room upstairs.
She was barely conscious, and her dress was disheveled.
When Adrian carried her out, she clung to his sleeve and cried.
“Someone drugged me. They dragged me into the room when I could not think clearly.”
“If you had found me any later, those men might have hurt me.”
She broke down before she could finish.
The guests immediately began whispering.
Adrian called the police.
When the officers arrived, they secured the ballroom and searched the room where Vivian had been found.
They discovered a sedative tablet on the floor.
The officers then asked to inspect the guests’ belongings, including the items stored with the hotel concierge.
When they searched my camera bag, they found a bottle containing the same pills.
Vivian’s phone also contained several threatening messages sent from my number.
She looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“Claire, I know you do not want me to marry Adrian.”
“But how could you hire men to destroy me?”
Every person in the room turned to look at me.
Adrian’s face darkened.
“What do you have to say for yourself, Claire?”
I stared at the bottle of pills.
I had never seen it before.
“I did not do this.”
Adrian gave a cold laugh.
“First, you sent me lingerie because you wanted to seduce me.”
“When that failed, you drugged Vivian.”
“What else are you willing to do to stop our engagement?”
He turned to one of the officers.
“Arrest her.”
An officer reached for a pair of handcuffs.
Before they could close around my wrist, a deep voice came from behind the crowd.
“Wait.”
Julian walked through the guests and stopped beside me.
He placed his suit jacket over my shoulders.
“Claire checked her camera bag with the concierge as soon as she entered the hotel.”
“She has not touched it since.”
Adrian frowned.
“How can you be so sure?”
Julian looked at him calmly.
“Because I drove her here.”
“This hotel belongs to Sterling Group. The concierge desk keeps a complete record of every item that is checked in or picked up.”
“Claire never took her bag back.”
The ballroom became silent.
Adrian stared at Julian’s hand on my shoulder.
“Even if this is your hotel, what does any of this have to do with you?”
Julian placed an arm around my waist.
“It has everything to do with me.”
“I am her boyfriend.”