Five Years Up I Reveal I'm The Richest He Kneels And Begs novel Chapter 3

Sienna instinctively tried to push him away, but a knock came at the door.

Céleste’s anxious voice rang out, “Adrian! Lila won’t stop crying. I’ve tried everything. Can you come help?”

Adrian frowned, then let go of Sienna. “I’ll go check.”

Celeste didn’t leave. She pushed Lila inside. “Miss Sloane, could you watch Lila for a bit? I’m holding the baby, it’s not convenient.”

Before Sienna could respond, she turned and left with Adrian.

As soon as Lila stepped in, she started wreaking havoc–screaming, jumping, throwing things everywhere.

Sienna couldn’t take it anymore but she still said gently, “It’s late. You should get ready for bed.”

Lila shot her a defiant look. “You’re just a maid. Why are you bossing me around? I’m not going to bed. What can you do about it?”

Sienna’s voice sharpened, “Who taught you to speak like that?”

Lila didn’t back down. She stuck out her tongue and ran to the balcony, her voice full of malice, “You’re just a poor maid. You don’t deserve Uncle Adrian. Let’s see what happens if something bad happens to me because of you.”

Then she jumped.

Sienna gasped, her heart leaping into her throat. Without thinking, she lunged forward and grabbed Lila’s hand just in time.

But the aging balcony rail couldn’t take the sudden weight.

With a loud crack, it snapped clean.

Sienna and Lila lost their balance and tumbled downward.

At the last second, Sienna caught hold of a rusty pipe on the wall with one hand. Her other hand gripped Lila’s wrist with all her strength.

They dangled from the third floor, bodies swinging in the wind, teetering on the edge of disaster.

“Sienna!”

“Lila!”

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The noise jolted Adrian and Celeste from inside. When they rushed out and saw what was happening, their faces turned pale.

Celeste screamed, “Adrian! Save Lila! She’s slipping! She’s only four! She’s our…”

“Enough!” Adrian snapped, cutting her off.

His eyes locked on the two figures hanging in midair. The moment had come–he had to choose.

Would he save Sienna, who was closer but hanging onto the pipe? Or would he reach for Lila-

more at risk, but his own blood?

“Adrian! Save your daughter! Hurry!” Celeste’s cries tore through the air.

Adrian’s eyes darkened. He leaned out over the balcony, reached past the trembling Sienna, and

grabbed Lila’s arm.

He pulled her up to safety.

In that exact moment, Sienna stared at his back—the back of a man who hadn’t hesitated to

choose someone else.

Her heart crumpled, her strength gave out, and in that final mment of despair, her fingers slipped

from the pipe.

Bang.

She fell like a wounded bird, crashing to the ground from three stories high. Blood spilled across

the concrete. Before the darkness swallowed her whole, she thought she heard Adrian shouting

her name in panic.

She woke up in a hospital bed.

A slight movement sent searing pain through her forehead and arm.

She turned her head and saw Adrian sitting at her bedside. His brows were furrowed, his eyes

bloodshot, like he’d been there a long time.

The moment he saw her eyes open, he leaned in, “Sienna, you’re awake? How do you feel? Does anything still hurt?”

She opened her mouth, but her throat was so dry she couldn’t make a sound.

Adrian quickly dipped a cotton swab in water and carefully moistened her lips. His movements

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were gentle as ever, but Sienna felt nothing but cold.

He set the cup down and took her uninjured hand, his thumb brushing her knuckles as he spoke low and heavy, “Sienna, I’m sorry.”

“It all happened so fast, and I only had the strength to pull up one person. I thought… if I saved the child first, I could come back for you right away. I didn’t think… you wouldn’t hold on…”

“She’s just a kid, I couldn’t let her fall. You understand that, don’t you?”

Sienna lay there, listening in silence. Her heart felt like it was being squeezed again and again by an invisible hand, so cold it hurt.

Understand?

Yes, she understood saving a child first.

But she couldn’t understand why, when it was life or death, he chose Celeste’s daughter–not her.

Not the woman he claimed to love most.

She thought of how many times he’d whispered in her ear, “Sienna, you’re the most important person in my life. Nothing, no one, means more than you.”

What a cruel joke.

Because in the end, the child who shared his blood–the child he made with someone else—meant more than the woman he called “his one and only.”

Chapter 3