Chapter 12 - Groveling in the Rain
That evening, the autumn weather turned cold and torrential once again.
Vivian exited the private side entrance of Vance Tower, accompanied by Raymond
Sterling. Her black town car was idling at the curb, its headlights slicing
through the sheets of rain.
As Vivian walked toward the open car door, a dark, drenched figure lunged out
from behind the concrete pillars of the parking structure.
"Vivian! Vivian, please!"
Two private security guards instantly intercepted the man, slamming him against
the wet pavement.
"Hold!" Vivian commanded, raising a hand.
The guards held the man down, but pulled his head up into the glare of the
streetlights.
It was Adrian.
He was completely unrecognizable. His hair was plastered to his skull with dirty
rainwater, his once-flawless designer clothes were torn, muddy, and reeking of
cheap alcohol. His eyes were wild, bloodshot, and filled with a terrifying,
pathetic desperation.
"Vivian... please, just listen to me for one minute!" Adrian sobbed, clawing at
the wet asphalt. "The feds came to my motel today! They froze my passport!
They’re going to indict me tomorrow morning! I have nowhere to go! I have no
money for an attorney!"
Vivian walked slowly over to where he was pinned to the ground. She looked down
at him, shielded from the rain by the large black umbrella Raymond held above
her.
"You should have thought about legal counsel before you forged my father’s name
on a loan deed, Adrian," Vivian said quietly.
"I was stupid! I was seduced by Celeste, she manipulated me!" Adrian cried,
tears streaming down his rain-soaked cheeks. "She told me she loved me, she made
me feel like I was a real man, not just your husband! Vivian, I made a terrible
mistake! I love you! I’ve always loved you! Remember our wedding in Venice?
Remember our promises?"
Adrian reached out a trembling, filthy hand, trying to touch the hem of Vivian’s
coat.
"Please, Vivian," he begged, his voice cracking into a broken wail. "Call off
Raymond. Drop the civil charges. Tell the feds it was an internal accounting
error! I’ll sign whatever you want! I’ll be your assistant! I’ll work for free!
Just don't let them send me to federal prison! I'll die in there!"
Vivian looked down at the man she had once adored.
She felt no anger. She felt no desire to scream or insult him.
She felt only a profound, clean emptiness—the realization that the man she had
loved had never truly existed. He was merely an empty actor who had played a
role until the curtain fell.
"Do you know what hurt the most, Adrian?" Vivian asked, her voice calm and quiet
against the roar of the rain.
Adrian looked up, his eyes wide with a desperate, false hope. "What, baby? Tell
me, I’ll make it right!"
"It wasn't that you stole the money," Vivian whispered. "It was that while I was
lying on that table, dying, I thought of you. I called your name. And you were
laughing on a red carpet, kissing another woman in an ivory dress."
Vivian took a step backward, stepping out of his reach.
"You told the world that I was an obligation," Vivian said, her eyes turning to
solid ice. "So consider this my final act of obligation: I will ensure that the
Department of Justice prosecutes you to the absolute maximum extent of the law."
"Vivian! No! Vivian!" Adrian screamed, thrashing against the guards' grip as
they pinned him back down.
Vivian turned her back on him, stepped into the warm leather interior of her
car, and closed the door.
May you like
Raymond closed his umbrella, sat beside her, and tapped the glass divider.
"Drive."
The black sedan pulled smoothly away from the curb, leaving Adrian Cole
screaming and sobbing in the gutter behind them.
