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He held her hand for a moment, staring at it closely. “Perfect fit,” he said, then looked into her eyes with a playful smile. “Looks like this ring was made just for you. Look at your hand. It looks beautiful.”

Sienna grinned happily, her fingers wiggling in his hand.

Adrian’s gaze never left her.

He sat in silence, his eyes burning as he watched her laugh, so bright, so carefree, with someone else. Her smile used to belong to him. Now she didn’t even glance his way.

She had completely forgotten.

“She doesn’t even remember telling me about that ring,” Adrian muttered under his breath, his jaw tightening. His hand clenched into a fist on the table, a scoff leaving his lips. “Why would she? I’m not in her heart anymore. Those memories mean nothing to her now.”

The way Sienna looked at Theo, and the way Theo looked at her—it was clear. They were close. Very close. That radiant smile on her face, he hadn’t seen it directed at him in years.

He dropped the bloodstained knife on the table with a loud clatter and pushed back his chair. He pushed his chair back, his muscles taut with fury, and stormed out of the restaurant.

Sienna didn’t even notice when he left.

It was only much later, during dinner, that she glanced around and realized he was gone. By then, Rosie had already arrived, and Sienna felt a strange sense of relief that Adrian wasn’t there anymore.

A few hours later, her phone rang.

Seeing an unknown caller ID, she answered, bringing it to her ear.

“Hello? Is this Sienna?” a man’s voice questioned from the other end.

“Yes?”

“I’m calling from the Blue Orchid bar. Mr. Vaughn is here, and he’s heavily drunk. He kept calling your name again and again, so I checked his phone and found your number. Could you come pick him up?”

There was a pause.

Then the line went dead.

14 A Gift

The man, red streaks in his hair and tattoos running down his arms, glanced at the phone and sighed before looking up at Adrian, who sat across from him, still gripping his glass of whiskey.

“Sorry, Mr. Vaughn,” he said quietly. “She didn’t say anything. Just hung up.”

Adrian’s fury intensified. Without a word, he slammed the glass down and grabbed the bottle, chugging it straight from the neck.

“Mr. Vaughn,” the bartender tried to intervene, trying to pry the bottle from his hand. “You’ve been drinking for hours. You’re already too drunk. You need to stop—”

Adrian didn’t respond. He yanked the bottle back and downed another gulp like it was water.

The bartender ran a hand through his hair, tense. “She’s probably busy. Don’t take it personally. Maybe she’ll call back. Mr. Vaughn, you’ve had too much.”

Adrian didn’t listen. He pulled the bottle closer, almost protectively, and drank again.

"She doesn’t love me anymore," Adrian’s thoughts spiraled in a haze of alcohol and heartbreak. “She smiled at Theo. Leaned into him like I was never even there. She didn’t even glance my way. And now, even when I’m sitting here drunk out of my mind, she doesn’t care enough to check on me. She really doesn’t care about me anymore."

The pain gripped him so hard he shook.

His body trembled, his breathing uneven. Jealousy and rage churned in his chest, mixing with the burn of whiskey. His throat tightened, his eyes shut, trying to block out the image of her laughing in someone else’s arms.

Then came the sound of footsteps nearing him at the bar.

But Adrian didn’t lift his head.