Ms. Escape Marrying to Run Fighting to Rise novel Chapter 171

Everything inside his head went blank. His control was slipping, breaking apart like glass under pressure. The only thing that steadied him was Adriana’s face. Sweet. Gentle. The one thing that could calm the storm.

He knew what he was. He was broken. He was dangerous. He had killed before–his own mother, when he was only ten.

He wasn’t healed. He never would be. Adriana was the only thing keeping him human.

“You’re the one in charge,” Curtis said finally, his voice low as he looked down.

He turned, walked to the door, and shut it behind him. The sound cracked through the silence like a final blow.

Harold sank back into his chair. The anger drained out of him, leaving only exhaustion. He rubbed his temples and sighed, his shoulders slumping under the weight of

age.

He was getting old. Too old to watch Michael and that new family of his rot away in that tiny fishing village.

But he also knew there was no fixing what was broken between those two.

That kind of hatred didn’t fade. It just buried itself deeper until it owned you completely.

“Curtis, you’re amazing.”

“Curtis, you’re such a good man.”

Those words kept replaying in his head as the car sped away from the Lincolns‘ estate. He could still see Adriana’s face–her cheeks flushed from the sun, standing by the ocean in that tiny bikini, laughing when she said it.

Curtis let out a short laugh.

In this whole damn world, she was probably the only one who’d ever called him a good man.

He loved how she looked at him, like there was light in her eyes just for him.

That light made it easier to breathe.

It made him feel alive.

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Chapter 171 Disappointed

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“Sir,” the butler said quietly from the driver’s seat. “Don’t be too hard on Mr. Harold. Michael’s his only son. He used to hold that boy like he was made of glass. And that boy came from the woman he loved most.”

Curtis didn’t answer.

He understood the logic, but none of it mattered.

Nobody could understand the kind of pain he carried.

The hum of the car filled the silence until his phone started vibrating. It was Belinda.

He picked it up. “Yeah?”

“Curtis…”

Belinda’s voice was broken, shaking with sobs. “I’m sorry. I pushed Adriana down the stairs. I didn’t mean to. I swear I didn’t mean to.”

Every vein in his body turned to ice. For a second, everything went dark in his head. He couldn’t even hear her crying anymore.

Haldoria Hospital.

Adriana sat on the hospital bed, her skin white as the sheets.

Her stomach hurt like something inside her was tearing.

Belinda stood frozen in the doorway, her eyes swollen and raw. She couldn’t step inside.

“I’m fine,” Adriana said, her voice thin and quiet. “You should go home.” She didn’t want to argue or ask why.

Belinda had grown up with Curtis. Adriana couldn’t turn her in. Not when she knew how much Curtis still cared about her.

And deep down, Adriana knew Belinda wasn’t cruel. Just broken.

Belinda’s lips trembled. “The doctor said the baby’s gone. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Belinda cried.

Adriana shook her head hard, holding her breath to keep her emotions from spilling out.

She couldn’t even look at Belinda. Not now. Not after everything that had happened.

Belinda stood at the doorway, eyes swollen, face streaked with tears. She stared down at the floor, frozen in place.

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8:45 Sat, Jan 10

Chapter 171 Disappointed

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Finished.

The hospital room was dead quiet. The kind of silence that pressed against your chest and made it hard to breathe. Adriana sat on the bed, her mind a mess.

She didn’t know what to think anymore. She didn’t even know where to start.

She had promised Curtis she would give him a child. Everything had gone so smoothly, so perfectly, that she’d actually started to believe her luck had changed.

She thought her bad streak was finally over.

But maybe she’d been fooling herself the whole time.

Now that the baby was gone, what would happen to her? Would Harold throw her out? Would Curtis even want to see her again?

Her thoughts tangled together until her breathing turned heavy and uneven.

She realized then that it wasn’t the marriage contract she was afraid of losing. It was him.

She had fallen for him.

She had fallen for a man she could never keep.

And how could she not? Curtis was the kind of man who made falling in love feel inevitable.

The sharp clack of heels broke through the silence. “I heard she fell down the stairs?” Cynthia’s voice cut through the air before she even appeared. She must have rushed straight here after hearing the news.

A faint smirk curled her lips as she started toward the door.

Belinda stepped in her way and caught her arm. “Don’t go in there.”

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