Chapter 3
Fabian told me about the woman’s identity.
Sophia Sullivans—his stepsister from his father’s affair.According to him, she was deeply troubled, pathologically dishonest.
Mentally unstable, she’d been living in a psychiatric facility for years.
Today, she’d somehow escaped and tracked him down.
He looked exhausted, his face dark with frustration as he massaged his temple”If your family wants out of this engagement because of my family baggage, I wouldn’t blame you.”
I felt a flicker of annoyance and couldn’t help asking”Why am I just hearing about this now?!”
Fabian sighed, a flash of pain crossing his features, his voice heavy with resignation”Adeline, it’s not exactly something I put on my dating profile.”
After considering for a moment, I asked carefully”Could I meet her?”
To my surprise, Fabian shut that down immediately.
“Not happening,” he said firmly. “She’s not stable, and I don’t promise what she might do.”
This unexpected drama had effectively torpedoed what should have been our perfect engagement celebration.
More importantly, I realized I barely knew Fabian at all.
He probably hadn’t even noticed the transformation himself—how the usually polished, considerate champion of women’s rights had become coldly ruthless when dealing with his stepsister.
It was jarring to witness.
Though on second thought, if I have a stepsister, I’d probably be even more furious than Fabian appeared to be.
So I let it go….
But throughout the remainder of the party, the occasional screams from the guest suite upstairs kept me on edge.
After the guests departed, my father pulled Fabian aside for a brutal dressing-down.
“Fabian!You need clear my daughter has no shortage of suitors. You’ve embarrassed us all with this spectacle. What were you thinking?!”
Fabian kept his head down, accepting my father’s criticism without argument—a stark contrast to his usually confident demeanor.
Seeing the tension escalating, I tried to intervene.
My father wasn’t having it”You’re coming home with us tonight, Adeline.He can come back to you when he’s sorted out this shame thing.”
I dutifully followed my parents, but couldn’t help glancing back at Fabian’s defeated expression.
His lips curved into a faint, self-deprecating smile as he mouthed silently”It’s okay.”
“Wait for me.”
My heart clenched.
Back at the Montgomery estate, I paced my childhood bedroom until well past midnight. Then, in a moment of rebellion completely foreign to my usual rule-following nature, I snuck down to the garage and fired up my car.
My heart pounded as I pressed the accelerator. In twenty-five years, I’d never defied my parents like this.
I knew they only wanted to protect me.But I couldn’t stop thinking about the raw vulnerability in Fabian’s eyes when we’d parted.
I couldn’t sleep knowing he thought I might be having second thoughts.
At the very least, I needed him to know my heart hadn’t wavered.
