Chapter 1
She gave her last hot meal to a homeless stranger, never knowing he had fled a billion-dollar wedding hours earlier
“People with something to lose.”
He looked toward the window.
Rain streaked the glass.
Below, black cars lined the curb.
Reporters waited behind barricades.
Hundreds of guests drank champagne while floral arrangements costing more than some families earned in a year filled the ballroom.
And suddenly Adrian understood something that terrified him.
For years, he had been surrounded by people who knew exactly how much he was worth.
He could no longer remember the last person who had cared who he was when there was nothing to gain from it.
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“Where are you going?” Vanessa asked.
“I need air.”
“The ceremony starts in forty minutes.”
“I know.”
“Adrian.”
He opened the door.
His father was outside.
Graham took one look at him.
“No.”
Adrian almost smiled.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”
“Yes, I do.”
Vanessa appeared behind him.
“He’s panicking.”
“I’m not panicking.”
Graham lowered his voice.
“Son, whatever problem you have, solve it after the ceremony.”
Adrian stared at him.
“You want me to get married first and decide whether I should have afterward?”
“I want you to understand responsibility.”
“I’ve spent my entire adult life understanding responsibility.”
“Then act like it.”
Adrian removed his cuff links.
He placed them on a hallway table.
Vanessa’s face lost color.
“What are you doing?”
“Something I should have done months ago.”
Graham stepped forward.
“You walk away today and there will be consequences.”
“There are consequences if I stay.”
“Adrian.”
“I’m sorry.”
He turned and walked.
He heard Vanessa calling after him.
Then his father.
Then staff members whispering as he moved past service elevators.
Instead of entering the lobby, Adrian followed a catering worker through the back corridor.
Ten minutes later he was in an alley behind the hotel, standing in cold rain.
He had no plan.
Only certainty.
He could not go back.
A delivery worker smoking beneath an awning looked him over.
“Rough wedding?”
Adrian laughed for the first time that day.
“You could say that.”
He removed his jacket.
The worker eyed the expensive fabric.
“You’re gonna ruin that thing.”
Adrian handed it to him.
“Keep it.”
The man stared.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
Adrian removed the silk bow tie too.
“What about that?”
“You can have that too.”
“Buddy, how much did you drink?”