Love's Last Investment

Wake up, Clara, it's time to wake up

The voice was like a mantra in my head, beckoning on me.

I groaned as my eyes fluttered open, I held my head at the incessant pounding nearly brought me to my knees as I try to take stock if my surroundings.

Where in the world was I now?

I turned my head and came face to face with a frown on my man face, Adrian.

“Finally, how long will you continue to doze off like an untrained lady without any manners, I've been waking you up for ages to no avail.

Me? Asleep, I thought I was…..

I blinked, dazed, my body sore from the uncomfortable position I was in, memories rushed through my consciousness, the argument, the shouts, the suffocating weight of betrayal…. The accident.

I had died….. again.

I groaned, this was getting way too old

There has to be something I was missing, something that I failed to take care of and was pulling me back, back to the particular moment and time, back to him.

“Clara, can you hear me? I need you to get out of this car,”Adrian said, his voice sharp cutting through the eerie silence of the deserted road.

“Why?” I said even though I already knew the answer to it.

Adrian and I were heading back to his family's estate on the outskirts of Manhattan nestled in a secluded part of Westchester county. It wasn't my first time returning back to this life and to this particular moment.

But this time I've had enough, I rather be gone forever than have to deal with Adrian and the pain he put me through over and over again, no matter how many times, I try to hold on to him, no matter how many times I tried to change my story.

This time would be different, I could already feel it.

Just like previous times, Adrian received that blasted call from Sophia, and he one that changed everything between us, his face hardened and without a second thought he pulled over and shoved me out of the car in the middle of nowhere.

“Find your way back to the mansion, Clara, I've got something urgent I need to see to,” He said coldly, not even bothering to spare me a glance.

I looked around, the road was empty except for the towering trees that casted menacing shadows that seemed to whisper in the breeze. I could barely recognize anything.

It wasn't the first time Adrian had abandoned me like this, to him, Sophia was everything, even more important than I am to him.

“You must be joking right? Adrian you can't seriously leave me out here in the dark with nowhere else to go,” I said, but he had already gotten back into the car and was typing furiously on his phone. He threw one lastook at me and said with his voice clipped.

“If anyone asked of me when you get back, tell them I got called away for an important business, do I make myself clear,”

I swept a hand through my tangled hair and let out an agitated breath, “Why don't you just explain it to them yourself huh? Or better still tell them that you're running of to be with your lover Sophia just like you always do,”.

Adrian’s face darkened, his piercing ue eyes flashing dangerously.

“What's it with you, Clara? You know how serious Sophia's situation is, she's barely surviving the fallout from the inheritance scandal, coupled with her illness, this has nothing to do with her”

I met his gaze, my voice calm but firm, “Because Adrian, I'm tired of all this, of you leaving me behind, treatinge mine I don't exist at all, you know what, let's stop this charade, we need to end this.”

He froze, his grip on the wheel tightened. “Clara.. are you trying to say that you're leaving me?.”

I nodded,feeling the weight of years of neglect finally lift of my chest, it felt freeing.

“Yes, Sophia needs you more than I do, after all, you've already been acting like you and I are not in any relationship, once I'm gone you won't have to hide your relationship with her anymore, you can both be together openly.”

Adrian stared at me in disbelief, for a moment I thought I saw a flicker of regret in his eyes, but he quickly shook it off, his jaw clenched and without another word, he slammed the door revved up the engine and disappeared into the night leaving me standing alone on the quiet road.

Adrian and Sophia had been inseparable once, they grew up together, heirs to two of the most powerful families in New York City, after college they were expected to merge together their families by marriage, everyone thought they were destined for together.

But then Sophia disappeared, swept up in a scandal involving her family's business empire. Accusations of fraud, mismanagement, bankruptcy and betrayal filled the headlines, her name became synonymous with disgrace.

That was when Adrian and I met, he was a shadow of the man everyone feared in the boardroom, a broken figure who found solace in my presence, I had no idea about Sophia then, he only ever called her “An Old friend”.

I should have known better.

The first time I heard her name was the night after our engagement party. A phone call came in and Adrian's face went pale.

“I need to go,” He said, his voice distant.

“An Old friend…. She's in trouble.”

I offered to come with him, to help, but he refused.

“No, don't worry about it, I can take care of it.”

He left me standing alone in the penthouse staring at the city lights. That night I felt the first crack in our relationship. When he returned, he looked haunted, his usual air if confidence was replaced with something I hadn't quite seen before, fear, guilt.

It wasn't until later that I learned the truth.

Sophia was back.