You'll Be in My Heart

Chapter Seventeen: Better off This Way

Iker rubbed his eyes as he woke up in his hotel room to whispering, he rolled over to look at the clock; it was early in the morning and he could only guess that Adriana on the phone.

Iker listened carefully trying to make out who she was talking to, he wondered for a moment if she was speaking to Marco; he felt jealous at the idea that she was speaking with her fiancé when he wasn't good enough for her.

Moving to climb out of bed, Iker yawned shaking his head wondering when Adriana would see that she was better off without Marco; he wished that he had kissed her yesterday when he'd had the chance but there was nothing that he could do about it now.

Iker stretched and moved to walk to the bathroom when he heard Adriana's sniffles, he stopped feeling his heartache before he walked over to the living room and looked at her.

Adriana took a shaky breath as she pulled her phone away from her ear and set it on the table, she hated to think what was going to be waiting for her back in Barcelona when she went home.

"Adi?" Iker murmured hating that she was crying, he wondered what had happened while he had been sleeping; he wondered what Marco had done to upset her.

Adriana jumped and turned to look at Iker, she wiped away her tears not realising that he was awake; she swallowed staring at him hoping that she hadn't woken him.

"Is everything okay?" Iker asked padding over to her, he hated that she was crying and he wished that there was something that he could do to help; he wanted Adriana to be happy and it was hurting him to see her like this, he wanted to make it better.

Adriana looked down at her hands and messed with her engagement ring, she felt horrible for what she had done and she knew that Marco deserved so much better than that.

"I broke off my engagement," Adriana whispered softly, not being able to look at Iker as she tried to calm herself down; she felt terrible for doing it over the phone but it needed to be done.

Adriana knew that she wouldn't have been able to do it to Marco's face, she was a coward and she hoped that one day Marco would understand why she had broken things off between them.

Iker stared stunned at her admission, he hadn't been expecting her to end things with Marco and he hoped that she hadn't done something that she might regret.

"Xavi was right... Marco was never the man that I wanted," Adriana whispered hating herself for letting things get this far, she had believed that Marco would change back into the man that she had fallen in love with but he hadn't.

Iker had shown her just how much Marco had changed and controlled her life, she felt loved when she was with him more so than she had ever felt with Marco.

"How did he take it?" Iker asked sitting down next to Adriana, he hated that she had to go through that alone; she was crying and he doubted that it was a good sign of how things went.

Iker could only imagine what would have happened if Adriana had done it in person, he feared that Marco would have lashed out and hurt her.

"Badly... not that I can blame him, I should have never said yes to marrying him," Adriana murmured hating herself, she was always second place to Marco and he had never supported what she wanted; hell he had even avoided helping her with the wedding plans that she would now have to cancel.

Adriana felt a little relieved that she had called off the wedding, the day had taken so much planning and she still wasn't happy with it especially with Marco's mother disliking everything that she did; her wedding didn't feel like hers anymore.

"What are you going to do now?" Iker asked softly, he was happy that she had ended a relationship that had been making her unhappy; Adriana deserved better and he hoped that she would get her happy ending.

Iker was curious if she would ever considered going out with him, he wasn't going to rush her since she had just ended things with Marco but he wanted a chance to make things work with her.

"I'll have to cancel everything for the wedding, move out of the house I share with Marco," Adriana said closing her eyes, there was so much for her to do and she doubted that Marco was going to help her in anyway; he hadn't liked her reasoning for breaking off their engagement.

Adriana had told him that she didn't feel loved, that she felt like he was looking for a stay at home wife instead of being supportive in what she wanted to do.

Marco hadn't even denied it and had tried to postpone their talk with mentions of a dinner that he had coming up that he needed her for; it was for some big company that could invest in his hospital and he needed her to look her best.

"I'll have to call my family to tell them," Adriana whispered dreading to think what her parents would say, she had been all set to get married and only have a few weeks with Iker now she was calling it off.

Iker had only shown her that she deserved to be treated so much better than Marco had ever treated her; she had made the decision to end things on her own and she wasn't going to change her mind.

"I can help," Iker offered knowing that Xavi was going to be thrilled with this news and he would be able to get Adriana's stuff for her from Marco's house; he didn't want Adriana doing it in case Marco lashed out and hurt her or the baby.

Adriana offered Iker a weak smile, she had so much to do and she had to act quickly since she knew that Marco wasn't going to be telling anyone anything good about her now.

***

Adriana took a deep breath as she slipped off her engagement ring and stared at it, she put it in a white envelope before she moved to place it in her suitcase; it felt weird not wearing it but she was making the right decision.

Adriana had spent the morning phoning her family to tell them that she had broken things off with Marco, most of them had actually been supportive while others were suspicious about why she had done so.

Iker had been wonderful and had spoken with Xavi about having her things moved out of the home that she had shared with Marco; they would be shipped to Iker's place in Madrid where she would stay with him for a while.

Adriana rubbed her ring finger, she doubted that Marco was ever going to forgive her but she had done the right thing; it was better to have a broken engagement than a broken marriage that ended in divorce.

Adriana was never going to be the person that Marco had tried to make her into, she had slowly started to hate him and Iker had shown that to her; she would have hated him sooner or later and how he had tried to control her life.

Marco had stopped Adriana from opening up another boutique and had been the reason that she was stopping surrogacy; this was to be her last one but she was now ready to start a family of her own with someone who deserved her and made her happy.

Marco had never really liked children and he had only agreed to have one because that was what Adriana had pleaded for, he had even told her that he would get a vasectomy afterwards so that they couldn't have anymore; they were better off this way now.

Adriana moved to sit down on her bed, she rested a hand on her stomach knowing that Iker's baby was growing inside of her; she was dreading the day where she had to give the baby away and walk out of Iker's life.