Chapter 6

Iris POV

People awkwardly set down their glasses. Luna's smile froze at the corners of her mouth.

"I... Iris?" Adrian's face went white as a sheet. He seemed startled, then instinctively dropped Luna and charged up to the third floor like a madman, pulling me into his arms.

"Let me explain!" He spoke incoherently, his voice shaking. "This is just shooting an ad! I wanted to surprise you for our anniversary!"

As he spoke, he pulled that ring from his pocket, trying to force it onto my hand.

The ring was the wrong size, jamming tightly at my knuckle.

"Luna!" Still holding me, Adrian shouted downstairs without turning back. "You explain this clearly to Mrs. Chase yourself!"

Luna's eyes reddened, her voice humble. "Mrs. Chase, this really is a surprise Mr. Chase prepared for you. I'm just the model cooperating with the shoot."

Adrian grabbed this lifeline like a drowning man, holding me tighter, declaring over and over in my ear. "Iris is my one true love for life. How could I possibly betray you..."

How hypocritical.

Luna said through tears, her voice clear enough for everyone to hear, "I wish Mr. Chase and Mrs. Chase eternal happiness and a child of your own soon."

A child of our own.

I trembled with pain throughout my body.

After Luna finished speaking, she couldn't keep acting. She covered her face and ran from the bridal shop.

"Luna!"

Adrian roared, shoving me aside and chasing after her recklessly.

He hit my shoulder. The force was great, making me stumble several steps and crash hard against the railing. The pain darkened my vision.

My friends and I. He just left us all standing there.

Luna ran out of the shop and dashed toward the private sightseeing cable car on the nearby slope.

Adrian caught up and squeezed into the same cabin with her.

The cable car rose slowly. Mid-air, the steel cable snapped with a piercing screech. The whole cabin lurched, then plummeted.

In the split second before impact, I saw Luna wrap her arms around Adrian and spin sharply, using her own body to shield him from the worst of it.

CRASH.

After the thunderous noise, the scene was chaos.

Adrian knelt beside the cable car wreckage, holding Luna as she coughed up blood. She gasped weakly, "Save our child..."

He looked back in anguish. Those eyes that once brimmed with love now held only hatred.

He looked at me standing unharmed on the third floor and used all his strength to roar, "Iris! I said it was just an ad! Why didn't you believe me! Why did you have to kill her and the child!"

Hearing this accusation, I was struck as if by lightning.

Friends downstairs also gathered around, pointing and whispering about me.

Grayson was first to speak. "Don't you all know how much Adrian loves Iris? For her, he even exiled Luna, who'd loved him for years, to a deserted island for five years! This video today? He just found a stand-in so Iris wouldn't have to tire herself out."

Another friend chimed in. "Exactly. Iris, how can you be so petty? Luna's so kind. She just loves Adrian. Why do you want her dead so badly?"

The accusations piled on, twisting black into white.

I looked at their faces, all so righteous, so angry for justice, and suddenly laughed.