Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN WHO CHOSE HER OWN NAMESix months changed everything.
Helplessness.
She pressed both hands against his chest while blood soaked between her fingers.
“Stay with me.”
Adrian looked up weakly.
“That line sounds familiar.”
“Shut up.”
“I married you when you were nicer.”
“You married me unconscious.”
“Exactly.”
“Adrian!”
His eyes closed.
Emily screamed for the medics.
The bullet had entered below his right shoulder.
It missed his heart.
But damaged an artery.
He was rushed into surgery.
Emily sat outside the operating room wearing his blood.
Helena sat beside her.
Raphael paced.
Gabriel handled federal agents.
Isabella prayed quietly.
Emily stared at the gold ring on her finger.
“I thought I hated him.”
Helena looked at her.
“Do you?”
Emily swallowed.
“No.”
Helena smiled faintly.
“That becomes inconvenient.”
“You’re telling me.”
Three hours later, the surgeon emerged.
“He’s stable.”
Emily cried immediately.
Then laughed because crying hurt her ribs.
Samuel survived.
So did most of his network long enough to be arrested.
The evidence seized from his operations implicated dozens of people.
Business executives.
Former officials.
Organized-crime intermediaries.
Money launderers.
The case became national news.
Emily’s identity leaked within two days.
Headlines called her:
THE BILLION-DOLLAR WAITRESS.
THE VALE-SERRANO HEIR.
THE SEVEN-BULLET BRIDE.
Emily hated all three.
Reporters camped outside the estate.
Someone offered her ten million dollars for an exclusive interview.
She declined.
Her former diner manager called.
“Your Wednesday shift is covered.”
Emily laughed for five minutes.
Adrian woke forty-eight hours later.
Emily was asleep in the chair beside him.
Her head rested on the mattress.
He moved slightly.
She woke immediately.
“You’re alive.”
“Disappointed?”
She slapped his uninjured arm.
“Ow.”
“That was intentional.”
He looked at her ring.
“You kept it.”
She followed his gaze.
“So did you.”
His ring remained on his hand.
Emily became quiet.
“The lawyers say we can annul everything.”
“Yes.”
“Tomorrow.”
“If you want.”
She frowned.
“That’s it?”
“What?”
“No argument? No order? No weird billionaire declaration?”
Adrian studied her.
“What do you want me to say?”
Emily looked away.
“I don’t know.”
He reached for her hand.
“Emily.”
She looked back.
“The marriage began without your choice. I will not continue it without your choice.”
Something tightened in her throat.
“Good.”
“So whatever happens next belongs to you.”
“Our families may expect something.”
“I don’t care.”
“The press expects something.”
“I care even less.”
She smiled.
“And what do you expect?”
Adrian’s thumb moved over her ring.
“Nothing.”
That answer touched her more than any promise.
The following morning, the attorney brought annulment documents.
Emily signed.
Adrian signed.
The legal marriage ended.
She stared at her bare finger afterward.
It felt strange.
Adrian noticed.
“You can keep the ring.”
“It belongs to your grandmother.”
“She would have liked you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She once threw a champagne bottle at my grandfather.”
Emily considered.
“Maybe we would’ve gotten along.”
Adrian smiled.
Then Emily placed the ring in his palm.
“If I ever wear it again…”
She closed his fingers around it.
“…you’re going to have to ask properly.”
Adrian looked at her for a long moment.
“Understood.”
May you like
Emily walked out.
Her heart was pounding harder than it had during seven gunshots.
