No Road Home Chapter 2

Before Cecily could respond, I turned and left, marking the order as delivered on my phone.

When I looked up, the elevator had arrived.

A woman in a black suit dress looked me up and down. Just as I thought she had recognized me, my sister Lydia Nash frowned and brushed past me without a word. As the elevator doors closed, I heard her voice, dripping with disdain.

"The security at this hotel is terrible. They're letting delivery people just walk right in now? If one of them steals something, who's going to answer for it?"

After all these years, Lydia still looked down on everyone she considered beneath her. Adrian, to be precise, was the only exception.

Ten years ago, I had been the youngest director of cardiothoracic surgery at my hospital, with multiple patents to my name and a career full of promise. That same year, I proposed to Cecily, my girlfriend of three years. The following June, we had a beautiful daughter.

If the story had ended there, I would have been the happiest man alive.

In the fourth year of our marriage, Cecily's childhood sweetheart returned from studying abroad. He had also studied medicine overseas and was assigned to my department without issue.

The moment Adrian was back in the country, Cecily invited him to stay in our guest room.

At first, I did not think much of it. If Cecily had any feelings for Adrian, she would not have married me. During that time, I was consumed with one difficult surgery after another, spending days and nights at the hospital.

I took it for granted that his company would fill the gap left by my absence.

To show my gratitude, I mentored him personally, teaching him every surgical technique I knew. I even brought him onto my research projects, giving him the credentials he needed to establish himself at the hospital.

Adrian was endlessly grateful, treating me with a deference that seemed beyond reproach. Lydia used to joke about it, saying I had stumbled on a real bargain, since he was a reliable assistant who doubled as a free babysitter.

I had laughed it off at the time. Looking back, I had not found a bargain. I had let the fox into the henhouse.

On the night of Cecily's birthday, I finished surgery early and came home to find the two of them tangled together, half undressed.

I hurled the designer handbag I had reserved three months in advance onto the floor and demanded to know how long they had been sneaking around behind my back.

Cecily scrambled to get dressed. She sobbed and swore it was an accident, that Adrian had been drugged while they were out and she had only been trying to help him through it.

Adrian sank to the floor, smacking himself across the cheek. "This is my fault, Vincent. I wasn't careful enough. I'll move out right now. I'd never come between you two."

I was still deeply in love with Cecily then. Between that and Lydia's urging, I wavered back and forth before ultimately choosing to forgive them.

I never imagined that one moment of mercy would cost me everything that came after.

By the time my thoughts settled, I was already home.

I tried to take off my shirt, but my hands would not stop shaking. These were the same hands that once operated precision instruments with ease. Now I could not manage a single button without fumbling.

A knock came at the door. It was Lydia, the very sister I had just crossed paths with. She started in on me the second I opened it.

"You saw me just now and didn't even say hello? If Adrian hadn't told me you were here, were you really going to keep pretending you don't know me?"

I kept my grip on the door handle, blocking her at the threshold. "What do you want?"