The Man Who Can Stand Up

Chapter 1 - The Test

The champagne soaked through the blanket covering Adrian Cole's legs.

Nobody moved.

His ex-wife, Vanessa, stood beside her new boyfriend with one arm linked through his.

The younger man looked down at Adrian's wheelchair and smiled.

"What a waste. You won't even feel it."

A few guests quietly turned away.

Nobody wanted to become involved.

Vanessa leaned forward, pulled the wet blanket from Adrian's knees, and dropped it onto the marble floor.

"Leaving him was the best decision I ever made."

Adrian lowered his eyes.

His hands tightened around the wheelchair.

Then someone stepped between them.

Emma.

The maid who had worked in his mansion for less than a year put down her serving tray and looked directly at Vanessa.

"Please leave. You're not welcome here."

Vanessa stared at her.

"Who do you think you are, telling me what to do?"

Emma did not move.

Instead, she turned and crouched beside Adrian.

She gently took the hand gripping the wheelchair.

"You are not worthless. Not to me."

Adrian looked at her.

For weeks, he had wondered whether those words were true.

Tonight had been designed to answer that question.

He placed both hands on the armrests.

Then stood.

Vanessa's champagne glass tilted.

Her boyfriend's smile vanished.

Emma stared up at him.

Adrian calmly adjusted his cuffs.

"The test is over."

Vanessa went pale.

"What...?"

Adrian looked first at Emma.

Then at his former wife.

"I was never paralyzed."

The entire room fell silent.

Emma slowly released his hand.

Understanding reached her before anyone else.

"The accident..."

"Was real."

"But the wheelchair?"

Adrian hesitated.

"The doctors cleared me months ago."

Emma's expression changed.

"And you told everyone you still couldn't walk."

"Yes."

Vanessa suddenly laughed.

"So this was all some pathetic loyalty test?"

Adrian did not answer.

Because it was not only a test.

It was bait.

And someone at that party had just reacted exactly as he hoped.