My Dead Husband Ran Off With My Pregnant Best Friend

Seven days after my husband’s funeral, I saw him at the airport, about to leave the country with my best friend. He was holding my best friend’s hand with one hand and pushing a suitcase with the other. My parents were right behind them, apparently there to see them off. When I stepped into their path, Adrian Shaw didn’t look the least bit guilty. Instead, his first instinct was to pull Chloe Bennett protectively behind him. “Hailey, faking my death was my idea. Chloe had nothing to do with it. “She’s pregnant. If you want to lose your mind over this, take it out on me.” My fingers tightened around the pregnancy test results in my pocket until my knuckles turned white. Adrian only frowned at me. “Don’t worry. I still love you. “I’ll spend summers with her in the Southern Hemisphere, then come back north to be with you in the winter. That way, neither of you gets neglected.” The people around us stared at me like I was the punch line to some cruel joke. Chloe’s eyes reddened as she tucked herself against his chest. “Hailey, I’m sorry. I’ve been in love with him for years. “I know this is wrong, but feelings aren’t something you can control. Not when three people are involved.” With that, she reached for the suitcase that had already cleared inspection and started to leave. But I’d worked in customs enforcement for five years. I’d learned to spot things most people would miss. And the heart-shaped stone inside her suitcase was giving off a faint, icy glow unlike anything I’d ever seen from an ordinary mineral. I hit the alarm button without hesitation. “I’m sorry, ma’am. You’re suspected of carrying an unidentified restricted item.” “You’ll need to submit to an inspection immediately.” Chapter 1 The alarm ripped through the departure hall. Adrian’s first reaction wasn’t fear. It was a cold laugh. He grabbed my wrist. “Hailey, you’re nothing more than an airport security officer. Who gave you the right to set off an alarm whenever you feel like it? “I’m just taking Chloe overseas to have the baby, and you’re so jealous you’re willing to throw your professional ethics out the window?” Chloe shrank behind him, her eyes immediately filling with tears. “Adrian, don’t blame Hailey. “She’s always liked heart-shaped marble pieces like this. Maybe seeing the one you gave me was just too much for her.” With a single sentence, she painted me as a jealous, unhinged woman. My mother rushed over and grabbed my arm. “Hailey, haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough? “Chloe is pregnant, and you’re really going to fight her over a stupid rock?” My father’s expression darkened too. “When Chloe lost both her parents in that car accident, you were the one who begged us to take her in. That’s why we raised her like our own daughter. “She’s always given in to you. How did you become the one who can’t stand to see her happy?” When Chloe first moved into our home, I gave her half my room. I treated her better than I would have treated a real sister. Even when Adrian and I started dating, I brought her along all the time. But somewhere along the way, both my parents and my husband had started taking her side. Now Adrian had even gone so far as to fake his own death just to get away from me. I pulled my arm out of my mother’s grasp and pointed at the suitcase. “Open it.” “That stone needs to be inspected separately.” Adrian’s face turned cold. “What, you think someone hid a bomb inside a little rock?” I didn’t answer. But years of experience told me there was something inside that stone. Something that looked very much like a protected cultural artifact of national importance. There was no way I could allow it to leave the country. Chloe suddenly went pale. She clutched her stomach and collapsed against Adrian. “Adrian, my stomach hurts.” Panic instantly flashed across his face. He caught her and started toward the gate. “Don’t be scared. We already have a doctor waiting for you overseas. I’ll get you on the plane right now.” I stepped directly into his path. “The alarm hasn’t been cleared. No one involved is allowed to leave.” He laughed in disbelief. “Who the hell do you think you are, Hailey? You think you can stop me? “Get your supervisor. I’m filing a complaint against you for abusing your authority and harassing a pregnant woman.” I said nothing. He had no idea that I was the youngest division chief in the customs department. Every Saturday, I changed into a frontline uniform and personally inspected outbound items alongside the frontline staff. But my credentials were locked in a secure cabinet. If I told him who I was now, he’d only think I’d come up with another ridiculous lie. Suddenly, Chloe reached into her bag and pulled out a heart-shaped stone. Tears streamed down her face as she held it out to me. “Hailey, if you really want it that badly, you can have it. “Please, just stop making things difficult for me and my baby.” My mother immediately stepped in front of her protectively. “It’s just a rock! Are you really not going to stop until Chloe loses her baby?” I took the stone from her. One glance was enough to make my blood run cold. No. This wasn’t it. There was no icy glow. My head snapped up. “This isn’t the same stone. “Where’s the one from before? What did you do with it?” Chloe’s pupils contracted. I snatched her bag and started searching through it. My fingers had just brushed against something icy cold when Adrian violently yanked me away. My back slammed into the corner of a table. A sharp pain tore through my lower abdomen. “That’s enough, Hailey!” My parents grabbed me from either side, their faces filled with disappointment. “You’ve gone too far.” “Adrian, take Chloe and go. We’ll stay here and deal with her.” Adrian wrapped an arm around Chloe and started leading her away. I tore myself free from my parents and blocked their path again. “Stop!” This time, Adrian finally lost his temper. His eyes turned ice-cold. “Hailey, do you really think that if you make a big enough scene, everyone has to drop everything and revolve around you? “You did the same thing last time. I had one business dinner and didn’t come home, and you called me over and over, demanding to know where I was. “And what happened? “You lost the baby, and somehow you still blamed me.” His voice grew harsher with every word. “You already caused the death of your own child. “Now you’re trying to kill mine and Chloe’s too?” Chapter 2 His words cut straight through an old wound I’d never managed to heal. I hadn’t caused the miscarriage. That day, Chloe had suddenly sent me a photo. Adrian was sitting at a table during a business dinner, with a woman in a spaghetti-strap dress practically pressed against him. Her hand was almost resting on his thigh. Then Chloe sent me a furious voice message. “Hailey, that cheating bastard is messing around with another woman! Don’t panic. I’m getting someone over there to deal with him right now!” My heart had leaped into my throat. Even though I was pregnant, I rushed out into the rain to stop things from getting out of hand. On the way there, I missed a step and fell down a flight of stairs. When I woke up, my baby was gone. Later, Chloe held me while I cried and blamed herself for telling me. She said she’d only done it because she cared about me too much. And I believed her. Back then, it never occurred to me that her supposed concern had been calculated from the very beginning. And now, I was pregnant again. I’d planned to bring the pregnancy test results to Adrian’s grave and tell him about our baby. Except Adrian wasn’t dead. And by the time I had the chance to tell him myself, Chloe was already standing beside him, pregnant with his child. There was no point in telling him anymore. An airport operations manager hurried over with two security officers. “What’s going on here?” Adrian immediately pulled Chloe behind him, his expression turning grave. “Her name is Hailey Chandler. She lost a baby before, and she never recovered from it. She hasn’t been mentally stable since. “I don’t know how Customs could allow someone like her to conduct inspections. “She’s stopping a pregnant woman from boarding her flight. If something happens to the baby, which one of you is going to take responsibility?” The manager frowned at me. Ignoring the pain still throbbing through my lower abdomen, I pointed at Chloe’s bag. “I suspect that heart-shaped stone contains part of one of our country’s most important ancient treasures, the Stone Drums.” The moment I finished speaking, Adrian burst out laughing. “Hailey, you’re getting more delusional by the minute. “I studied history. I’m the deputy director of a museum now. “The Stone Drums you’re talking about are real. They’re among the country’s greatest national treasures, and they’re carved with inions dating back thousands of years. “But they weigh nearly a ton.” He gave me a mocking look. “So tell me, how exactly did Chloe stuff a one-ton artifact inside a tiny polished stone?” Laughter erupted around us. Adrian continued coldly, “I understand that losing the baby messed you up. But you don’t get to bring your delusions to work.” Chloe’s eyes filled with tears again. She pulled out her phone and opened her social media profile. It was filled with videos she’d made about traditional arts and cultural heritage. She had hundreds of thousands of followers. “Sir, I create content about traditional cultural heritage. I’ve spent years promoting and preserving our country’s traditions. “Hailey is publicly accusing me of smuggling a national treasure out of the country. She’s trying to destroy my career.” The crowd immediately turned against me. “She makes cultural heritage videos. Why would someone like that steal an artifact?" “This woman is terrifying. Just because she lost her own baby doesn’t mean she has to hate every pregnant woman she sees.” “Someone get her out of here. She’s holding up everyone else.” Adrian turned to the manager. “Have security remove her. “I want to file a formal complaint for abuse of authority and harassment of a passenger.” I opened my mouth. “Adrian, actually, I’m pregnant too…” But before I could finish, one of the security officers clamped a hand over my mouth. The two of them grabbed my arms and started dragging me away. Then an announcement came over the speakers. “Final boarding call for the flight to Australia. The aircraft doors will be closing shortly. All remaining passengers should proceed to the gate immediately.” I watched helplessly as Adrian supported Chloe and led her toward the jet bridge. No. I couldn’t let that artifact leave the country. I bit down hard on the security officer’s hand. He cried out and instinctively let go. I tore free and sprinted down the jet bridge. Just as the aircraft door was about to close, I reached the emergency mechanism and yanked it down. Bang! The emergency slide deployed. Screams erupted throughout the plane. Adrian completely lost it. He raised his hand to slap me. “Hailey, how many people do you have to hurt before you’re satisfied?” But his hand never reached me. My parents got to me first. My mother slapped me across the face. Then my father kicked me hard enough to drive me down onto one knee. Chapter 3 Adrian’s slap never landed. For a split second, something shifted in his eyes. He looked at my face, still turned to the side from my mother’s slap, then at my leg, buckling beneath me after my father’s kick had driven me down onto one knee. For just that one second, he seemed to feel sorry for me. Then it vanished. All that remained was irritation. “Hailey, you followed us all the way from the security checkpoint onto the plane. Do you have any idea how insane you look? “If you put half this energy into your career instead of obsessing over me, maybe you would’ve gotten promoted by now. You wouldn’t still be standing at a checkpoint digging through people’s bags every day.” I braced myself against the aircraft door and forced myself upright. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. He had no idea. To outsiders, I was nothing more than a frontline customs inspector. But my real position was nothing like he imagined. I was the youngest division chief in Customs and the agency’s top Eagle Eye specialist. My eyes could detect abnormal light signatures hidden inside solid objects. That was exactly why I changed into a frontline uniform every Saturday and personally inspected items being taken out of the country. I wasn’t making a scene. There really was something inside that stone that could not be allowed to leave the country. “What’s going on?” An air marshal rushed over, followed by several flight attendants. Adrian immediately pointed the finger at me. “Officer, my wife is mentally unstable. “She found out I was taking Chloe overseas to have the baby, and she’s been causing trouble ever since Customs. Now she’s followed us onto the plane and deployed the emergency slide. She’s delayed the entire flight.” Chloe huddled against his chest, tears silently sliding down her cheeks. “I don’t blame Hailey. She just cares about Adrian too much. “But my baby is innocent. She keeps accusing me of stealing a national treasure, and she even wants to cut open the heart-shaped stone Adrian gave me.” The passengers were already furious about the delay. The moment they heard that, the cabin erupted. “She’s insane! Some of us have places to be!” “Her husband doesn’t want her anymore, so now the whole plane has to suffer?” “Get her out of here! Is she going to pay everyone back for the delay?” Even the air marshal’s expression changed. He and another officer seized my arms and forced me down beside the cold metal doorway. My knee slammed against the metal edge. Pain exploded through me, and my vision nearly went black. Adrian stood over me, his voice ice-cold. “Apologize to Chloe. “Admit you made all of this up because you were jealous. “Otherwise, I’ll press charges for disrupting the flight and disturbing public order. “You won’t just lose your job. You could end up in jail.” Chloe immediately took his hand and spoke softly. “Adrian, forget it. “Hailey is already hurting enough. She lost her baby, and now she has to watch you take me overseas. Of course she’s upset. “I don’t want to push her any further.” Still pinned to the floor, I suddenly laughed. “Apologize?” I lifted my head and looked straight at Adrian. “Hand over the stone now, while you still have the chance. “Otherwise, you’re going to regret this.” He stared at me as if I’d just told the funniest joke he’d ever heard. “Regret it? “Hailey, the only thing I regret is indulging you for so long that you started believing the entire world should revolve around you.” Chloe tugged gently at his sleeve. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out the heart-shaped stone, her eyes turning red. “If Hailey really believes I stole Adrian from her because of this stone, then fine. “Cut it open.” Her voice trembled as she held it out for everyone to see. “Let everyone see for themselves whether there’s really a national treasure hidden inside it.” Chapter 4 The grinding sound of the cutting tool against stone made my teeth ache. Pinned to the floor by the air marshal, I could only watch as the heart-shaped stone was slowly cut open. Fine white dust scattered across the table. There was nothing inside. Nothing at all. It was just an ordinary piece of marble. The cabin immediately erupted in laughter. Chloe looked as though she could no longer hold herself together. She threw herself into Adrian’s arms and burst into tears. “Hailey, I let you cut it open. Will you leave me alone now?” Adrian stared at the pile of stone dust on the table. Whatever trace of doubt had remained in his eyes disappeared completely. “Happy now, Hailey? “You keep saying I was responsible for losing our last baby. But do you even know what really happened?” My chest tightened. He looked down at me. His voice wasn’t loud, but everyone around us could hear every word. “When you were rushed to the hospital, the doctors said there was still a chance of saving the pregnancy. But there was no guarantee it would work.” “I told them not to take the risk.” All the blood drained from my body. “Your mother agreed. She signed the consent form.” “What did you just say?” Adrian’s expression didn’t change. “I knew that once you woke up, you’d cry and make a scene and use the baby to tie me to you for the rest of my life. “So instead of letting you get even more obsessive, I told them to end it.” I stared at my parents in disbelief. Neither of them looked shocked. They just avoided my eyes. My mother clenched her hands and finally admitted in a low voice, “That consent form authorizing them to terminate the pregnancy was signed by me. “Hailey, we did it for your own good. “You were in such a bad state back then. Keeping the baby wouldn’t have been good for you or Adrian.” For a moment, I couldn’t even cry. The miscarriage I had spent all this time believing was an accident had actually been a decision. A decision they had all made for me. Adrian crouched in front of me, his tone almost patronizing. “You can always have another baby. “If you stop this nonsense today, I’ll still come home and spend the second half of the year with you after Chloe has the baby. “But if you keep acting like this, I can’t promise I’ll come back at all.” The air marshal tightened his grip around my wrist and prepared to drag me off the plane. “Take her away.” Adrian immediately urged him on. “Hurry. We still need to take off. Chloe has a prenatal appointment to get to.” I struggled desperately, digging my fingers into the edge of the doorway. I couldn’t leave. The real stone had to still be on Chloe. If she got it out of the country, we might never recover what was hidden inside. Seeing me continue to struggle, Chloe suddenly spoke in a timid voice. “Why don’t we bring Hailey with us? “But once the baby is born, if she tries to hurt the baby, we’ll have no choice but to send her home.” Adrian’s face instantly darkened. “She wouldn’t dare.” The next second, he raised his foot and kicked me hard in the lower abdomen. Agony exploded through me. I collapsed onto the floor at the aircraft doorway. Then I felt something warm rush between my legs. Blood spread beneath me, staining the floor a horrifying red. The entire cabin fell silent. My mother’s face went deathly pale. She stumbled backward. “Hailey…” Adrian froze too. His lips began to tremble. Just as the aircraft door was about to close again, the pounding of synchronized footsteps came from the jet bridge. A heavily armed Customs Tactical Unit stormed toward the plane. The officer in command rushed to my side. The moment he saw the blood beneath me, his face changed. “Director Chandler! “You’re bleeding badly. Your baby may not make it!” I raised a trembling hand and pointed at Chloe’s carry-on. “Lock down the entire airport. “Search everything.”