Chapter 5
Vero laughed so hard, tears started streaming down her face.
"Andrew, who's really pressuring who here?" She pointed at Tamara, her voice trembling. "Her pregnancy is something to celebrate, but mine? Suddenly it's fake medical records, just a bunch of drama? Andrew, you're so biased!"
"Because you don't deserve it!" Andrew blurted out.
He was stunned himself, shocked at what he'd just said.
The whole dining room went dead silent, not even a breath could be heard.
Vero stared at the man she'd loved for three years, the man she'd spent three years as nothing more than a substitute for. She caught a flash of regret in his eyes, but it was quickly smothered by an icy determination.
She understood.
She was not worthy.
She was not worthy of his love, not worthy of his child, not even worthy of the dignity a wife should have.
Vero gave a nod, stepping back once.
"Fine, Andrew. I understand now." She wiped away her tears, straightening her back, trying to hold herself together. "I'm not worthy."
She turned and walked toward the door, without faltering once.
"Stop!" Andrew barked from behind her.
She didn't stop.
"Vero! Don't you dare walk out!" There was a panic in his voice Vero'd never heard before.
She didn't stop. If anything, she walked even faster.
"Stop her!" Andrew shouted at the servants.
Two servants stood blocking the doorway, their faces awkward and conflicted.
Vero looked at them and quietly said, "Move aside."
Maybe it was the intimidating look in her eyes that made them instinctively step aside.
She pushed open the heavy, carved wooden door and stepped out into the deep night.
Behind her, she could hear Andrew's furious shouts and Tamara's muffled sobs.
But she tuned it all out.
The night wind was freezing, felt like knives against her skin.
Vero touched her belly. It was still flat, but she knew there was a little life inside her, sharing her blood.
"Baby," she whispered, her words lost in the wind, "Mommy's taking you away. We're leaving this place, leaving someone who never loved us."
She never looked back. One step at a time, she walked into the darkness.
Behind her was the brightly lit villa, the cage where she'd been the lady in charge for three years.
Ahead, the darkness was full of uncertainty, but it was also the path to freedom.
Her tears finally flowed without restraint, but this time, it wasn't because of pain.
It was because, at last, she'd made up her mind to let go.
The downpour started at two in the morning.
Huge raindrops hammered the car windows, so heavy it seemed the glass might break. Even with the wipers going full blast, Andrew could barely make out anything beyond a haze. The sycamore trees on both sides of the road were whipped by the wind, thrashing like countless desperate hands reaching out.
He gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. He'd already circled the city three times, from the east side to the west, from the villas to the old town, even stopping by the rundown apartment building where Vero used to live.
There was nothing.
There was sign of her anywhere, no matter where he looked.
The woman who always waited quietly at home for him, who smiled even when her eyes were hollow, who tried so hard to play the perfect wife, was gone, disappeared like a single drop lost in the storm.
His phone rang again. It was his assistant, Charlie. "Mr. Cole, we've checked all the flights, trains, and buses, but there's no ticket purchases under Ms. Leyard's name. We've also called every hospital and hotel, but there are no check-ins. Her last credit card transaction was at three in the afternoon, at a pharmacy near Central Hospital. She bought a box of folic acid."
Folic acid.
Andrew felt his heart seize up, as if an invisible hand was crushing it, leaving him gasping for air.
It was real. She was pregnant.
She wasn't lying, wasn't acting out of spite. She really was carrying his child.
Just hours ago, in front of his entire family, he accused her of faking medical records and told her she wasn't worthy.
"Keep searching," Andrew rasped. "Check every camera, every place she might go. Turn the city upside down if you have to just find her!"
After hanging up, he slammed his fist onto the steering wheel. The horn blared, but its shrill cry was drowned out by the pouring rain.
How did it come to this?
He just wanted her to accept the truth, so Tamara could have a peaceful pregnancy. He always thought Vero would quietly take it, back down like she had for the past three years. After all, she'd always been sensible, always put others first, never once made trouble for him.
Why was she so furious this time?
Her final look at him flashed through his mind, no longer gentle, no longer empty, but cold, utterly hopeless, as if something inside her had finally shattered, never to be put back together again.
As she turned and left, her slender figure remained straight and firm as she walked step by step into the rain, never looking back.
Andrew felt a suffocating tightness in his chest. He loosened his tie and lowered the window. The icy rain and wild wind rushed in, soaking his face and jolting his muddled mind awake for a brief moment.