Chapter 2

By the time I delivered the osmanthus cakes, I was already three minutes late.

The door opened from the inside.

Serena Vaughn stood there in a bathrobe, its loose collar revealing the suggestive marks scattered across her neck.

When she saw me, she swept her hair over one shoulder and smiled smugly.

“Claire, you actually brought them?”

“I only mentioned that I was craving them. I didn’t expect Adrian to make you come all this way yourself.”

I didn’t respond. I simply held out the pastry box.

“They’re here.”

Serena took it from me and frowned slightly.

“They seem to have gone cold.”

As she moved, the sweet fragrance of osmanthus slowly spread through the living room.

The moment I saw the neatly arranged pastries inside, my breath caught.

Noah had loved the osmanthus cakes from this shop too.

On his fifth birthday, he had stood in line with me for two hours.

When we finally reached the counter, we were told that some powerful customer had bought out the entire day’s supply.

Noah begged the clerk for a long time before we managed to buy the last box.

He couldn’t bear to eat them.

He took only the smallest piece and carefully wrapped up the largest, most perfect one.

“Mommy, this one is for Daddy. Daddy works so hard every day. He should have the biggest one.”

Adrian had promised to come home for Noah’s birthday that day.

But Noah waited from early evening until late at night.

Every time he heard the slightest sound outside, he grabbed the box of osmanthus cakes and ran to the door.

But the door never opened.

Close to midnight, Adrian finally sent me a message.

[Serena just came back from abroad, and she isn’t feeling well. I’m staying with her tonight.]

In the end, Noah fell asleep on the couch with the box of pastries in his arms.

Adrian finally came home to change his clothes around noon the next day.

Noah immediately held out the piece of cake, which had already gone hard overnight.

“Daddy, I saved this especially for you.”

Adrian barely glanced at it before impatiently pushing Noah’s hand away.

“It’s completely cold. Who would still eat something like this?”

The osmanthus cake fell to the floor and became covered in dust.

With red-rimmed eyes, Noah picked it up.

Then he turned around and comforted me instead.

“It’s okay, Mommy. Next time Daddy comes home, I’ll save him a fresh one.”

But Noah never got that next time.

“They’re this cold. Who could possibly eat them?”

Serena’s voice dragged me back to the present.

Hearing those exact same words made my chest tighten.

She picked up the largest osmanthus cake and looked it over casually.

“No wonder Noah used to love these. They really do smell good.”

My head snapped up.

“Don’t say his name.”

Serena seemed startled by my reaction. She blinked innocently.

“Claire, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

She glanced toward the staircase.

After confirming that Adrian hadn’t come downstairs yet, she leaned closer and lowered her voice.

“I heard that precious little boy of yours loved these cakes.”

“Too bad he’ll never get to wait for his daddy to come home and eat them with him again.”

“You didn’t know, did you?”

“On Noah’s birthday, Adrian bought every osmanthus cake in the city for me.”

My hand clenched at my side.

Serena watched the color drain from my face, and the corner of her mouth curved upward.

“Don’t be sad, Claire.”

“At least by the time Noah died, he must have been used to his father never coming home.”

“Shut up!”

I snatched the osmanthus cake from her hand.

Serena grabbed the pastry box and refused to let go, her expression still perfectly innocent.

“Claire, I was only trying to comfort you.”

“Ow! You’re hurting me!”

She suddenly raised her voice.

Footsteps sounded upstairs.

The next second, before I had even touched Serena, she abruptly released the box and staggered backward.

Her back slammed into the wine cabinet.

Several wineglasses crashed to the floor, sending shards flying in every direction.

At the same time, the pastry box fell between us.

Osmanthus cakes scattered across the floor.

“Serena!”

Adrian Hayes rushed toward her.

Without even stopping to understand what had happened, he pulled Serena into his arms.

Under his shoe, the largest and most perfect osmanthus cake was crushed into pieces.

My eyes burned as I stared at the crumbs stuck to the sole of his shoe.

Once again, I saw Noah holding that cake in both hands, waiting for his father to come home.

Adrian didn’t notice.

Just as he had never noticed the disappointment in Noah’s reddened eyes.

“Adrian, I’m fine.”

Serena leaned against his chest as her eyes quickly filled with tears.

A shard of glass had left a shallow cut across her palm.

“Don’t blame Claire. This was my fault.”

“I shouldn’t have mentioned Noah. And I shouldn’t have told her that you still remembered how he used to save osmanthus cakes for you.”

“Maybe Claire misunderstood something and lost control for a moment. That must be why she pushed me.”

With only a few sentences, she had already declared me guilty.

Adrian’s expression instantly darkened.

“Claire Bennett, are you out of your mind again?”

“I didn’t push her.”

I looked directly at him and explained each word clearly.

“She fell backward on her own.”

“Enough!”

Adrian cut me off sharply.

“I saw you holding on to her.”

“Even now, Serena is still trying to defend you, but all you know how to do is avoid responsibility.”

I suddenly found it almost laughable.

He had only seen Serena fall, yet he had immediately decided that I must have pushed her.

Whenever someone accused me of something in the past, Adrian told me that if I wanted to prove my innocence, I needed to produce evidence myself.

But when it came to Serena, she didn’t need evidence.

All she had to do was shed a few tears, and Adrian would convict me for her.

“Apologize to Serena.”

I didn’t move.

Adrian’s eyes turned completely cold.

“It seems your last round of treatment wasn’t thorough enough.”

“Do you want to go back to the psychiatric hospital and stay there a little longer?”

At the words psychiatric hospital, my body stiffened instinctively.

It felt as though those freezing restraint straps were tightening around my wrists and ankles again.

If Adrian sent me back there, there was no way I would receive my divorce certificate in six days.

I wouldn’t be able to marry into the Whitmore family.

And I would lose my chance to reopen Noah’s case.

I couldn’t let everything fall apart now.

After a moment of silence, I forced down every emotion and bowed to Serena.

“I’m sorry.”

Serena immediately shook her head.

“Claire, you don’t need to apologize.”

“I know Noah’s death affected you deeply. It’s understandable that you can’t always control yourself.”

“I won’t hold it against you.”

The more she defended me, the darker Adrian’s expression became.

Then he noticed the cut on Serena’s palm, and the anger in his eyes finally broke loose.

“You made her fall into broken glass, and you think one careless apology is enough?”

I followed his gaze.

Sharp shards of glass covered the floor.

A terrifying possibility flashed through my mind.

Adrian had already called to the bodyguards waiting outside.

“Make her kneel and apologize.”

Serena appeared startled and grabbed his sleeve.

“The floor is covered in glass. Claire will get hurt.”

“If she dared to push you, then she should have known there would be consequences.”

Adrian reached up and gently stroked Serena’s hair, his voice softening.

“You’re too kind. That’s why she keeps bullying you.”

By the time he finished speaking, two bodyguards had already stepped behind me.

I instinctively backed away.

“Adrian, I’ve already apologized.”