The Bride He Betrayed: He Gave Her the Ring, I Gave Him Goodbye

By the time Clara arrived at the design institute, Adrian and Sienna were already waiting for her in the office.

Grant Holloway pulled two identical design drafts from his drawer and swept them with a sharp look.

"Your designs are exactly the same. One of you is suspected of plagiarism, and that person will be disqualified from the competition."

The moment Clara saw the two identical drafts, her face turned pale.

"Mr. Holloway, this is..."

"That's my design." Sienna cut her off and said timidly, "I created it myself. I don't know why it ended up looking exactly the same as Miss Whitmore's."

Clara froze. She had poured three months of blood and sweat into that design. Since when had it become Sienna's?

Forcing herself to stay calm, she swallowed her anger and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? I designed this myself, line by line. Since when did it become yours? I still have my original sketches."

She immediately pulled out the folder where she kept her drafts. But the moment she opened it, she found that every page inside had turned into blank paper.

Before she could even process what had happened, Adrian suddenly stepped forward.

"Mr. Holloway, I can testify that this design was indeed created by Sienna herself." He took out a stack of sketches and showed them to everyone. "These were all drawn by Sienna, line by line. I can vouch for that."

Looking at those painfully familiar sketches, Clara's fingers went numb as she stood frozen in place.

It was Adrian. He had taken her drafts…

For Sienna's sake, he was actually framing her for plagiarism. He knew perfectly well that design was her dream. He also knew that the word plagiarism could destroy a designer completely.

It felt as if a sharp blade had pierced straight through her heart, leaving nothing but cold emptiness behind.

Grant looked at her with disappointment, his tone turning colder. "Do you have anything else to say for yourself?"

Clara bit down hard on her lip and forced herself to stay steady.

"I still have proof. I saved my design process and concept notes, but I need to go back and get them."

Thank God. She had saved her design concepts onto a flash drive earlier. As long as she could retrieve those files, she could prove her innocence.

Grant nodded. "If you can't prove yourself within three hours, we'll revoke your eligibility to compete."

Three hours was more than enough for a round trip.

Clara rushed home at once. The moment she grabbed the flash drive, she hurried back toward the institute.

But the moment she reached the building entrance, someone suddenly rushed at her and drove a knife hard into her lower abdomen.

"It was you! You heartless doctor! You killed my dad, and I'm making you pay for it!"

Her lips parted. She wanted to tell him he had the wrong person. But the next second, blinding pain hit her, and she blacked out completely.

When Clara woke again, she found herself lying in a hospital bed.

Adrian was holding her hand, his face drawn with exhaustion. "Babe, you're finally awake. I almost lost you."

Clara pulled her hand away coldly and said with bitter mockery, "Adrian, is this act fun for you? You gave my design to Sienna. What else are you trying to take from me now?"

He paused, then explained softly, "I know you're angry, but you're a doctor. You're the Whitmore family's daughter. You already have everything. You even have me. Even if you never work another day in your life, I'd still take care of you. But Sienna is different. She graduated in design. If she doesn't place well in this competition, her career will be ruined. You already took her parents and her life as a rich lady. Don't take her future too."

Clara thought she had misheard him.

"What does that have to do with me? Those things were mine to begin with! Why should I be the one to give them up?"

She was shaking with rage, unable to believe that the man she had loved for so many years could say something so shameless.

A flicker of irritation crossed Adrian's face, followed by disappointment. "When did you become this petty? It's just one design. So what if Sienna gets it? And the deadline has already passed. You've already been disqualified from the competition, so stay here and recover."

His tone was indifferent, as though he were not talking about the dream she had carried for years, but some trivial thing that meant nothing at all.

Clara closed her eyes in despair. A self-mocking smile tugged at her lips. "Adrian, let's break up. I don't want to see you again."

"You want to break up over something this small?"

But Adrian did not get angry. Instead, he coaxed her the way one might soothe a pet cat. "You're not thinking clearly right now, so I'm not taking that seriously. Just calm down first."

With that, he turned and left, leaving Clara alone in the hospital room.

Some time later, Clara felt thirsty. Enduring the pain in her abdomen, she got up to pour herself some water. But as she passed the nurses' station, she overheard two nurses talking.

"What happened with that hospital incident? Dr. Whitmore wasn't the one whose surgery went wrong and led to the patient's death, was she?"

"It was Dr. Whitmore's boyfriend. He said she had a duty to protect her colleague, so he deliberately misled the patient's family into thinking it was Dr. Whitmore's fault."

With a sharp crack, the cup slipped from her hand and hit the floor.

Clara's mind went completely blank. She could not even feel the pain of the hot water splashing onto her hand.

Tears rolled down her face in heavy drops. Adrian had already disappointed her beyond words, yet hearing this still made every breath feel painful.

She had come so close. So close to dying.

Just so Sienna could steal her design, he had personally pushed her to the edge of death.

Darkness blurred her vision, and in her daze, she saw Adrian as he had been seven years ago.

The teenage boy had been covered in injuries as he carried her out of the fire. His voice shook, yet it was filled with the joy of getting her back alive. "Clara, I won't let anyone take you away from me. Not even death."

But now, for Sienna's sake, he had personally shoved her toward death.

It turned out that Adrian had long forgotten the promise he once made.