The Spark He Showed Her, the Flame I Lost Chapter 06
At 9:15 a.m., the scene shifted to the front of the Riverton County Courthouse.
Adrian sat inside a black Maybach and glanced impatiently at his watch.
“Mr. Grant, Mrs. Lawson still isn’t here. Should I call and urge her to hurry?” his assistant asked carefully from the driver’s seat.
“There’s no need.” Adrian snorted coldly and tossed his phone onto the passenger seat.
“She’s just posturing, trying to make me cave first. It’s been thirteen years. Do you think I don’t know her by now? She doesn’t have it in her to divorce me.”
He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled a stream of gray-white smoke.
“Let’s go back to the office. Once she’s done throwing her little fit, she’ll come home on her own.”
Just as he was about to tell the driver to leave, his phone chimed with a WhatsApp notification.
A smug smile tugged at Adrian’s mouth. “See? I told you she wouldn’t last half an hour.”
He picked up his phone lazily and opened the chat.
There was no apology, and there was no surrender.
On the screen were two high-resolution photos and one cold blessing.
[Adrian, I wish you and Sophie a lifetime of happiness.]
Adrian’s pupils contracted sharply. The fingers holding his cigarette trembled, and hot ash fell onto his expensive suit pants, but he did not notice at all.
He stared fixedly at the first photo.
It was a standard Divorce Settlement Agreement. On the signature line, Claire Lawson’s name had been written with firm, forceful strokes, without the slightest hesitation.
Under property division, she had written only one thing: she waived all claim to the marital estate.
Adrian’s heart gave a violent jolt, but he forced out a humorless laugh.
“Are you pulling this push-and-pull act again? Do you think waiving the money is enough to threaten me?”
He swiped across the screen and opened the second photo.
In the next second, his entire body froze in the seat.
It was an abortion procedure consent form from Riverton General Hospital.
Patient Name: Claire Lawson.
Procedure Date: Three days ago.
It was the same day Sophie had cut her finger slicing the cake, and the same day he had ordered Claire to go buy rice pudding.
[I’m pregnant. The doctor said it’s a high-risk early pregnancy.]
The message Claire had sent him a few days earlier flashed suddenly through his mind.
How had he replied back then?
[Oh. Okay.]
At the time, Sophie had been clinging to him in his office, pestering him to watch the trailer for a new movie. He had assumed Claire was using pregnancy as another excuse to compete for his attention, so he had not even read it carefully before dismissing her with a careless reply.
“No. This isn’t possible.” Adrian’s voice began to shake. He shoved the car door open, not even bothering to put out his cigarette, and fumbled with trembling fingers to call Claire.
His call went straight to voicemail again and again; it was obvious she had blocked his number.
He tried calling her on WhatsApp instead, but the call would not connect, and every message he sent stayed stuck on one gray check.
“Take me back to the house in the hills. Hurry. Go now.” Adrian roared at his assistant. The usual composure he wore so effortlessly, the kind that made him seem unshaken even if the world collapsed in front of him, was completely gone.
The Maybach sped all the way back, running two red lights.
The moment Adrian pushed open the front door, all the strength drained from his body.
The shoes Claire usually wore were gone from the entryway.
In the walk-in closet, the half that had belonged to her was empty. Not even a hanger had been left behind.
On the bathroom counter, her toothbrush, towels, and skincare products had all vanished without a trace.
The entire house had been stripped clean of her presence.
Adrian stumbled into the living room and immediately saw the shattered custom forest-green insulated ceramic mug in the trash.
It was the mug he had taken back from Sophie the night before and smashed in a fit of rage.
“Claire.” He dropped to his knees and picked up a ceramic shard engraved with their initials. The sharp edge sliced through his palm instantly, and blood welled up, but he felt no pain.
A terror unlike anything he had ever known, vast enough to destroy him, finally swallowed him whole.
She had not been making a scene.
She truly did not want him anymore.