After a moment, I raised my head and offered a small smile. "Of course. I'll make sure to prepare something special."
Satisfied with the answer, she turned and left, heels clicking down the polished corridor.
I watched her retreating figure. Then I took out my phone, dialed a number, and kept walking toward the cold storage unit. My thumb pressed lightly against the inside of my wrist, steadying a pulse only I could feel.
I waited outside the cold-storage facility for a while before the contact I'd arranged finally arrived. I wrapped the remains carefully once more and placed the bundle into their hands. My voice was so steady it barely carried any feeling at all.
"Two weeks from now, bring this to the feast-night celebration. Hand it to Julian Frost personally."
"This is my gift to him."
Once everything was handled, I drove back to the Moretti compound alone.
I had barely stepped through the estate's front doors when my phone buzzed.
I opened the message. It was from Adrian Lennox.
"Ungrateful girl. You think marriage makes you untouchable? How many years since you've shown your face at home? Tomorrow is my birthday feast. You will be there."
Every word dripped with accusation and command.
I glanced at the screen and typed three words back.
"Understood. I'll come."
It was true. I hadn't been back to that house in a long time. That place had only ever belonged to Adrian Winslow. I was just a surplus. An extra seat at a table that had never been set for me.
I'd gotten used to it a long time ago.
Growing up, Adrian Winslow was the treasure Adrian Lennox and Adrian Ashford held in the palms of their hands. No matter how I tried to please them, their eyes never lingered on me. All my effort couldn't compete with a single playful word from her lips.
Later, when I was old enough, I learned about the marriage pact between my bloodline and the Moretti Family. Julian Frost was my promised husband. I'd been naive enough to believe that marrying him would give me a home that was truly mine. So I gave every part of myself without holding anything back. What I received in return was his coldness and contempt. From beginning to end, the only one in his eyes was Adrian Winslow.