Bitterness

Adalaine's hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her jaw was clenched, lips pressed into a firm, angry line as she drove through the city streets. The engine of her luxury car roared as she pressed down on the gas pedal harder than necessary, the speedometer needle climbing with her rising temper.

"That damn woman," she muttered under her breath, her nails digging into the leather of the steering wheel. Delphinia. Always Delphinia. It was infuriating how that woman always seemed to come out on top no matter what.

Adalaine had spent years making sure Kai saw Delphinia for what she truly was—worthless, disposable. And yet, every time she saw her, Delphinia looked anything but miserable.

She had been so sure that after the divorce, Delphinia would fade into nothing, that she would be left to rot in her own misery, abandoned and unwanted. But no. That woman was thriving.