CHAPTER 3 THE LOVE THAT WAS BETRAYED

The room remained frozen long after the stranger’s words fell into silence.

“You disappeared before our wedding day.”

Oriana could barely breathe. Wedding day? Her trembling fingers tightened around the old photograph while confusion crashed violently through her mind.

“What?” she whispered weakly.

The dangerous man’s eyes stayed fixed on her face. Not being cruel. Not with desire. But with something darker.

Years of searching. Years of anger. Years of unanswered questions.

Livia recovered first. “What nonsense is this?” she laughed nervously. “Mr. Devereux, there must be some misunderstanding”

“There is no misunderstanding.”

His cold voice sliced through the room instantly.

The underground men behind him straightened silently. Nobody dared interrupt him again.

She searched her memory desperately. But nothing made sense.

She had never met this man before. Never. Yet the photograph in her hands was real.

And worse, deep inside her chest, something felt painfully familiar about him. Like a forgotten nightmare trying to crawl back to the surface.

Mateo stepped protectively in front of her again. “She’s exhausted,” he said carefully. “Whatever this is can wait until tomorrow.”

The man’s gaze slowly moved toward Mateo.

For a second, the atmosphere became suffocating. Dangerous.

Like violence could erupt at any moment.

But then, the mansion doors suddenly burst open again. Everyone turned sharply.

A servant rushed inside, breathless.

“Sir Adrian was coming.” Oriana’s heart stopped instantly.

Adrian.

The photograph nearly slipped from her fingers. All this time, she had waited for him. Wholeheartedly.

She had longed for him while facing the whole humiliation.

The loneliness she felt all through was cruel. Every single night she told herself the same thing as well.

If Adrian comes, everything will be alright. Because he was her husband.

He promised to protect her.

Surely, he would never allow this to happen to her.

Hope rose inside her chest. Livia’s lips curved slowly. Adrian’s mother relaxed immediately. Even Mateo looked relieved.

Only the dangerous stranger remained unreadable. Heavy footsteps echoed from the entrance hallway.

Then Adrian appeared. Tall. Elegant.

Still painfully handsome in the way that first made Oriana fall in love with him years ago. But he looked colder.

Sharper. More distant.

His dark gray coat rested over broad shoulders dusted lightly with rainwater from outside, and shadowed his face from the break he took out of the mansion.

Yet the moment his eyes landed on Oriana, he stopped walking.

Silence swallowed the room again.

Oriana’s eyes immediately filled with tears. “Adrian” Her voice broke completely.

For one second, she thought she saw shock flicker across his face. Shock at her condition.

At the faintly visible bruises on her wrists. At the tears staining her cheeks, and the fear written all over her trembling body.

Mateo stepped forward immediately.

“Adrian,” he said sharply, “they tried to sell Oriana tonight.”

The words echoed heavily through the mansion. Oriana looked at Adrian desperately.

Waiting. Waiting for anger. For protection. For him to finally defend her.

Livia quickly moved first. “It’s not what it sounds like.”

Mrs Vivienne sighed dramatically. “This girl is causing problems again.”

Mateo looked furious. “Problems? You starved her for months!”

“Enough,” Livia snaps.

“No,” Mateo growled back. “Tell him the truth.” He pointed toward Oriana.

You've been treated like a prisoner in this house while they stayed enjoying it.”

Adrian remained silent. Completely silent. Oriana stared at him helplessly.

“Adrian…” she whispered again. “Please”

He finally looked at her properly. Really looked at her. At her trembling hands. Her tear-stained face.

The hopelessness in her eyes. For one terrible moment, she thought she saw guilt there. Then Adrian slowly exhaled.

And looked away. Just like that.

As though her pain exhausted him.

As though it meant nothing.

Oriana’s chest tightened painfully.

“Adrian?” Mateo said in disbelief.

Livia immediately moved beside Adrian and touched his arm gently.

“You know how dramatic she can be,” she said softly. “Your mother and I were only trying to discipline her.”

Discipline. Oriana stared at them in horror.

Adrian’s mother nodded sadly. “She refuses to behave properly whenever you’re away.” Mateo looked ready to explode.

“She was being sold!” Adrian finally spoke. His voice was calm. Cold.

“Enough.”

The room fell silent instantly. Oriana waited desperately for the rest. For him to defend her. For him to ask if she was hurt. For him to hold her the way he used to.

Instead, Adrian turned toward his mother. “Are you alright?” The words shattered something inside Oriana completely.

His mother smiled weakly. “I’m fine, son.”

Oriana felt like all the air had left her lungs. No. No, this couldn’t be happening.

Mateo stared at Adrian in disgust. “You’re seriously ignoring this?”

Adrian’s jaw tightened faintly. “I said enough.”

The dangerous stranger watched everything silently from the side of the room, his dark eyes unreadable.

Oriana took a shaky step toward Adrian. “You, you believe them?” Her voice cracked painfully.

Adrian finally looked at her again.

But there was no warmth in his eyes anymore. Only exhaustion, and distance. “You always create chaos when I leave,” he said quietly.

She froze.

The words hit harder than any slap.

“What?”

Livia lowered her eyes, pretending sadness. “We tried our best with her while you were away.”

Adrian rubbed his temple slowly. “I came home for peace, not some usual episodes.”

Usual episodes? Oriana’s lips parted soundlessly.

Months.

She suffered for months waiting for him. And this, this was all she meant to him?

Mateo stepped closer angrily. “She almost got trafficked tonight!” But Adrian’s expression barely changed.

“If nothing happened, then stop exaggerating it.” The sentence landed like a knife through Oriana’s heart.

She stared at him as tears rolled silently down her cheeks.

Nothing happened? Nothing?

The starvation? The humiliation? The terror?

Did none of it matter because they failed before finishing the act?

Mrs Vivienne crossed her arms victoriously. “You see? Even Adrian understands.” Mateo looked sickened. “I can’t believe you.”

Adrian completely ignored him.

Instead, his gaze slowly moved toward the dangerous stranger standing nearby.

The atmosphere shifted instantly.

“You’re still here,” Adrian said calmly.

The man in black smiled faintly.

Their eyes locked. Two dangerous men are silently measuring each other.

Then Adrian glanced back toward Oriana one final time.

And what he said next destroyed the last piece of hope left inside her. “Take her upstairs,” he ordered coldly.

Her face went pale. “Adrian” But he was already turning away. Like she no longer existed. The maids grabbed her arms again.

This time, she didn’t fight. She couldn’t. Her body felt empty. Broken.

As they dragged her toward the staircase once more, she looked back through blurred vision.

Adrian stood beside his mother and Livia.

Exactly where he chose to be. Not beside his wife. Not beside the woman begging silently for help.

Beside them.

And then, Oriana noticed something terrifying. The dangerous stranger was still watching her.

Not Adrian. Not Livia. Her.

His dark expression had changed completely now. No longer curious. No longer calm.

It looked murderous.

Then slowly, very slowly, he reached into his coat again and pulled out a second photograph.

This one was older. Damaged. Burned slightly around the edges.

And when Adrian saw it, his expression changed instantly.