The Warmth of the Bullet Comments Chapter 2

"You're right, I won't go..." I managed a weak, submissive smile.

Seeing my compliance, he gave a satisfied nod and walked out.

I watched him leave, a sense of dizzying disorientation washing over me.

Adrian grew up in the slums, an orphan from a young age. My mother took pity on him, raising him alongside me. He was always my protector, the first to defend me from bullies at school. He still had a faint scar by his eye from a fight he'd gotten into for me.

On my eighteenth birthday, he'd held me tight, promising to go out and make his fortune.

"Seraphina, you wait for me," he'd whispered. "When I've built something for myself, I'll come back and marry you. I'll give you a life of luxury."

I never imagined that in just ten years, that earnest boy would become this monster.

I opened the box in my hand, my expression complex as I looked at the ring inside.

[OMG, she's looking at the ring! Did she figure out his plan?]

[Go find Conrad Stone! Hurry, before it's too late!]

[Please don't tell me she's still caught in his web. He's been sleeping with Chloe forever! They even have a kid together!]

I stared at the flashing text, my eyes stinging.

With me, Adrian had always been a perfect gentleman. Even in our most intimate moments, he would pull back, his voice strained.

"Seraphina... you... you shouldn't... stay away from me."

I would tease him. "What's wrong? Can't handle it?"

He would glare, pretending to be annoyed. "I want to wait for our wedding night."

The memory brought tears to my eyes.

He swore he wouldn't touch me, yet he was sleeping with Chloe.

They had a child!

All these years I spent by his side... what a joke.

No. I would not be a lamb to the slaughter.

I tore off the wedding dress. There weren't many options in the dressing room. I threw on a random assortment of clothes and ran towards the private room where the Stone reunion was taking place.

[Wait, is she ditching the wedding? Has our lovesick MC finally woken up?]

[YES! Look, she's heading right for the Stone Corporation president's room! She's going to change her fate!]

I crept up to the private room, only to find Adrian and a woman I assumed was Chloe already inside.

Chloe was sobbing, a perfect picture of tragic beauty.

"Mr. Stone, I really am your daughter," she wept. "This DNA report proves it."

"Twenty years ago, my mother met you while you were doing business overseas. But after you parted ways at the port, she never heard from you again. She had to raise me all on her own."

"When she died, I cried until I thought I'd go blind. All these years, I've been waiting for any news of you."

"Don't you remember any of it?"

Conrad Stone looked at her pitiful form, his stern expression softening.

"This report... it does show that you are my child."

A flicker of triumph crossed Adrian's face. He pulled a pair of earrings from his pocket.

"Not only that, Mr. Stone, but Chloe's mother also left her these."

The moment Conrad Stone saw the earrings, his eyes lit up with raw emotion.

"These... These are the ones I gave to Eleonora!"

He snatched the earrings from Adrian's hand, examining them closely.

"Yes! It's them! I put them on her myself!"

Tears welled in his eyes as he was lost in memory.

"Eleonora, my Eleonora! If I had known that would be the last time I saw you..."

Seeing his emotional state, Adrian and Chloe exchanged a subtle glance.

"Mr. Stone, surely this confirms that Chloe is your daughter?"

Conrad wiped his eyes. "These are indeed Eleonora's."

"However, there is one more thing I need to confirm."

He spoke slowly.

"As I recall, I also left them a ring."