When Adriana saw all the reporters leave, she sighed in relief. She then frowned when she felt the same feeling she did back in the meeting.
Something was wrong with her, very wrong.
She gulped down the rest of her water bottle and was walking towards her car when she saw someone familiar walk past her with a box in her hands.
The blonde-haired woman froze.
Adriana halted her steps and signaled her bodyguards to make way.
"Melissa?"
"Holy mother of- it's really you."
Adriana looked at her in surprise.
She watched Melissa walked backward until she was facing her.
Melissa swallowed, it was too much for her to take in and so she reacted the opposite way of how she was planning to.
"You b*tch. I hate you."
She had wanted to say something else, but she felt a lump in her throat stopping her from doing so.
Melissa handed Adriana the box and closed her eyes, holding herself from crying.
"Do you want to have a drink and talk?" Adriana asked.
"Yes, because it's in my daily routine to sit down and have tea with dead people." She glared at her with tears in her eyes.
Adriana pursed her lips and was about to say something, but Melissa walked away, not wanting to hear it.
Adriana sighed deeply, and she looked down at the box again.
These were the things she left behind in their shared apartment, Melissa was her roommate and someone she shared a special bond with.
Cristy is someone Adriana trusts and can confide in, but Melissa was something else. She wasn't a best friend or a buddy; they had a unique relationship.
It was more sisterhood, it was difficult to explain. They could relate in so many ways, she was like her soulmate.
"Let's go," Adriana told her bodyguards.
She didn't expect Melissa to appear so suddenly, but like she had told Ralf earlier, people now know that Adriana Price had come back from the dead.
…...
"She's more desperate than I expected," Adriana mumbled, looking at her ringing phone.
It was an untraceable number that she bought to use, and contact Briana with.
She would play with her patience and then she would give her hope, and when Briana would think that she had saved her mother, Adriana would destroy and kill until she would crumble.
There is nothing more painful than watching helplessly as you lose every single person you love, drown in a sea of hatred, destruction, sin, pain, and eventually death.
Putting the phone on silent, Adriana placed it away and closed her eyes to take a short map.
She suddenly heard yelling from outside. She rolled down the window and her lips twitched when she saw the situation outside.
"Send someone to handle it, and take the cat to the animal hospital 15 minutes away from here," Adriana ordered Ralf, who made the call and passed them Adriana's orders.
She rolled the window back up and slept until they reached her villa.
Or 'Blue Rose Villa'
Yes, the Villa was basically nameless because neither James nor she could come up with a good name.
When Aria came into their lives, she wanted it to have the color blue involved.
They even set up a birthday date for the villa, and that was the day they named it. Every year they would dismiss all the servants and clean the house themselves and renovate it as a family.
Yes, it was also Aria's idea. She had definitely spiced up their lives when she arrived.
"Did Bryan report about the blood test yet?" Adriana asked.
"Not yet, I will inform you as soon as he does," Ralf responded.
She nodded and looked down at the box next to her on the car seat. Taking a deep breath in Adriana opened it and looked at all the well-preserved things inside.
Pictures and insignificant items. She was searching through them when she came across her old phone.
"Is it possible to still find a charger for this phone?" She asked Ralf.
"Yes, I know someone who can get me one," Ralf answered.
"Aright, get that done soon." She then closed her eyes and attempted to take a nap because of how hard her head was pounding.
This is not good. She felt her condition worsening.
When Adriana finally reached the Blue Rose villa, she exited the car and walked straight in.
"Welcome back, Madam." The servants greeted her.
She gave them a faint smile and a nod.
"Where are the kids?" She asked to remove her heels and change into the slippers placed near the doorway.
"They are in their room, Miss Kimberly and Cristy are in the kitchen." The butler informed her.
"Okay, all of you should go back home tomorrow morning. I don't want anyone except the guards, for a while. Think of it as a paid vacation." She told them and walked straight into the kitchen.
The servants were quiet, smart enough to tell she was not in a good mood.
"Do you need something to punch?" Cristy asked when she saw her walk in.
"No, I rather break everything apart," Adriana replied, walking towards the fridge and picking out an ice cream container.
She placed it down on the dinner table and then picked out a cup where she scooped all the ice cream and started eating it.
Adriana closed her eyes and took a deep breath in.
"How are you accommodating?" She asked Kimberly.
"I found an apartment only a few minutes away, and I think I'll stay there for a while." She responded with a smile.
"Want some?" Cristy asked her, picking out a bowl for herself. When Kim nodded, she also picked out one for her.
"You should stay here. It'll be good if you can bond with the kids."
Adriana pinched the space between her brows and grunted. "Can you make sure they sleep? I'm not feeling well."
"Thank you, night!"
When Cristy nodded, Adriana walked towards her study room.
Kimberly and Cristy exchanged glances.
"There's a guest room here, stay tonight. I'll go entertain the twins until they fall asleep."
"What about her?"
"She'll be fine. Something probably happened, but trust me, she won't talk yet."
Cristy then bid her goodnight and walked up the stairs to the twin's room.
Kimberly looked down at the ice cream bowl in her hands and dived into her thoughts.
The notification from her phone brought her out of the trance she was in.
When she saw who it was from, she bit her lip to suppress a laugh. Clearing her throat, she called the person who sent her the text message.
"Where are you?"
"Paris." She responded.
"Is that all?" He asked.
"Brother, what do you mean by that? Is there something I know that you don't?"
Noah replied with silence.
"Oh, no. I just wanted to inform you, you should come back soon. The family set up a small banquet. We will meet Diana Cavin, she's going to be our cousin's future wife. Father asked me to inform you so you could come and join us."
She bit her tongue and said, "Really? Since when is Chris interested in marriage?"
"Since he moved on from his first love," Noah responded nonchalantly.
"Oh...you know this is straight-up bullying, right?"
"No, I'm just informing you of an upcoming banquet, Kim." Noah sighed.
"And you know that's not why I called, but it's something I was meaning to tell you, anyway. Chris found out about your little boyfriend and he didn't take it in well. I don't enjoy involving myself in your love affairs, but you shouldn't have sent him so many mixed signals."
Noah looked at his laptop and shook his head, "He broke off any contact with his adopted parents for you as well. Because he was aware of how they were planning to use you for their own benefit."
"I get it. Please stop. You're so mean.."
"Would you rather have heard it from someone else?" Noah asked.
"No, thank you for telling me."
They shared a few seconds of silence and then at the same time they said.
"This is for the best."
"This is for the best."
"Okay, Noah, you can stop bullying me now." She rolled her eyes.
"That's what siblings are for." Noah laughed.
"Righ right...well sorry, I have to continue catching up with Adriana. Did you know she has such a beautiful home? I'm so glad she told me in advance that she would leave New York today."
"Whatever."
Kimberly chuckled.
"That's not why I called either." He told her. "I'll be waiting for you."
"Noah visiting my mother's grave is something I do only with you. It's an 'us' thing. If they cared, they would have asked to join us earlier. My mother's grave is not a party everyone gets to attend, and if it were the only person I gave an invitation to is you not them. So, if they want to see me ever again, tell them to forget it."
She then furiously hung up.
Noah sighed, and he placed his phone down. He agreed with his sister 100%, their relationship was always okay with their parents but it was never perfect. There were things, lines that they wished they wouldn't cross.
One of those lines was Kim's mother. It's something she doesn't share with people aside from Noah. She hated speaking about it with her father and her stepmother. She just didn't feel their genuine care, and so she didn't want people like that to disturb her mother's eternal rest.
…..
Adriana entered her study room, and then she opened a door in the room's corner. When she opened the door, she met a set of stairs that led to the next floor where her room was located.
As soon as she entered her room, she locked the door, removed her clothes, and jumped into the shower.
This is not good, she didn't like this at all.
Her health had never been a problem before. Aside from common colds and occasional fevers, nothing had ever lasted over 4 days.
She had a strong feeling that someone had drugged her or dosed her with some kind of poison.
With her hands against the wall of the shower room, she let the water droplets fall off her hair and on her body.
"Ah…" She placed her hand on her head, feeling another incoming headache.
That's when the scenery changed. She looked around the shower room and was shocked to see herself somewhere else, a familiar place.
****
7 years ago,
Adriana walked towards the car parked outside the clinic and she entered it in a hurry.
"How did it go?" Melissa, her roommate, asked.
"Okay... it worked, though. She thinks I'm pregnant." She responded in a quiet voice.
"Are you sure about what you're doing? You realize how dangerous this is right?"
"Yes, I do, and that's exactly why I'm doing it. I just need a little more time. As soon as we get solid proof of what she's been doing, my life can go back to normal."
Melissa sighed and grabbed her hand to grip it reassuringly, "Please be careful. And if it gets too dangerous, just tell your husband."
"You know I can't do that." Adriana shook her head.
"Not yet." She added.
Melissa pursed her lips and nodded. She then started driving.
"When will he be back?" She asked.
"I don't know. He hasn't contacted me in two days. I feel like our relationship is at the edge of some cliff right now."
"How do you expect to have a relationship without communication?" Melissa scolded her.
"You're right. I'll try to call him."
"...You just-" Melissa facepalmed.
"I can't Melissa. Because…."
"Because what? Communication shouldn't have an excuse."
"Yeah, except I'm actually pregnant not five weeks but one."
Melissa placed her foot on the brakes immediately.
"WHAT?"
"That's why I stopped taking the doses the doctor has been giving me. I try to appear weak, but I'm afraid she's getting suspicious." Adriana explained.
"Okay...okay yeah okay it's fine. Everything will be fine." Melissa took deep breaths in and then continued driving.
"It's going to be just great…."
Adriana placed her head against the window and mumbled, "She won't stop. If only I hadn't seen and heard anything that day…."
Yes, Briana wasn't coming after her because she loves Noah. But because she heard and saw something she shouldn't have, her obsession with Noah was just a bonus excuse to ruin Adriana's life.
The ringing from her phone interrupted her thoughts. She picked it out of her purse and when she saw 'Jerk' as the contact name, she put it away.
"You should answer," Melissa told her.
"I can't…" Adriana shook her head.
"I don't want to talk to him. Not in my current state."
***
Present Day:
Gasping for lost air, Adriana sighed in relief, seeing the shower room return to normal.
"It's just...a hallucination." She mumbled to herself.
Using all her remaining strength, she snapped herself back to reality and turned off the showerhead.