2026-08-14 19:41:01
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chapter 13: Entry level
The lobby of Skyward Technology looked exactly like the kind of place that made ordinary problems feel small and far away, marble floors, glass elevators, the low hum of a company that had more money than it knew what to do with. Adrian barely had time to appreciate it before Mandy and Richard caught up, clearly unwilling to let their audience wander off unfinished."You're really just going to stand there gawking?" Mandy's voice carried across the lobby, drawing a few glances from employees crossing toward the elevators. "This is Richard's building, you know. He's practically running the place.""Practically," Richard echoed, chest out, clearly enjoying the word more than the accuracy of it. A few nearby employees exchanged a glance that Richard, wrapped up in his own performance, entirely failed to notice.Adrian said nothing, unbothered, content to let the man dig his own hole one syllable at a time."He's a department head," Mandy added, tightening her grip on Richard's arm like s
Chapter 12:Old rejection
Skyward Technology's headquarters rose out of the skyline like something built to be looked up at, glass and steel catching the morning light in a way that made every building around it look apologetic by comparison. Adrian had seen it a hundred times in photos over the last three years, always from a distance, always as an abstract number rather than an actual place. Standing in the parking lot now, it felt less like arriving somewhere new and more like finally walking into a life that had been waiting for him the entire time.He walked through rows of cars that got progressively more expensive the closer they sat to the entrance, a small unspoken hierarchy written in chrome and horsepower. Somewhere in there, he knew, sat a spot reserved for him, though he hadn't bothered asking Sarah which one. There'd be time enough to learn the geography of his own company.He was halfway to the entrance when a voice cut across the lot, bright and performative in the particular way that meant it
Chapter 11: Free information
She'd made it halfway to the door before Adrian spoke again."For what it's worth," he said, "the man your family wants you to marry isn't just juggling one fake fiancée. He's spent the better part of a year letting my mother's hospital bills go unpaid, blackmailing nurses to keep quiet about it, and calling her a bottom-feeder over the phone while I stood in the lobby listening."Kathy Morrison stopped with her hand on the door handle.She turned slowly, the anger from a moment ago folding into something closer to disbelief. "You're serious.""I don't joke about my mother." Adrian's voice stayed even, no theatrics in it, just fact laid out plainly. "The marriage he's currently in, on paper, is to a woman named Chloe. I know because until last night, I thought I was married to her too."Kathy's mouth opened, closed, opened again, the kind of absolute shock that didn't have a script ready for it. "That's not possible. My family vetted him. Extensively.""People who are good at lying te
Chapter 10: Someone Else's Problem
Adrian's eyebrows lifted, just slightly. Julian. Could it be that Julian? The city wasn't small, but it wasn't infinite either, and the coincidence sat heavy enough in his chest that he found himself actually paying attention for the first time all morning.She hung up a moment later, cutting her mother off mid-sentence, and set the phone down harder than it probably deserved. Then, seeming to notice all at once that she was sitting half-dressed in a stranger's bed with that same stranger watching her, her whole posture shifted.Color rose fast up her neck. She yanked the sheet higher, chin lifting into something defensive. "What are you looking at?""Nothing," Adrian said, mild as ever, already swinging his legs off the bed. "I'll wash up. Take your time."He gave her the privacy of a closed bathroom door and took his time about it, giving her space to gather her clothes, her composure, whatever pieces of dignity could be salvaged from a morning like this one. When he came back out,
Chapter 9: A bad night,twice
The bodyguards left without a word, the door clicking shut behind them, and then it was just Adrian and a stranger in a suite bigger than most apartments he'd lived in.He set her down on the edge of the bed, checked her breathing, checked her pulse the way he vaguely remembered someone teaching him once, and then stood there a moment, unsure what came next. He wasn't a doctor. He wasn't much of anything at the moment, if he was honest with himself. Just a man three years out of practice at being responsible for another human being.Up close, in better light, she looked younger than the alley had suggested, mascara smudged down one cheek, one shoe still missing. Whatever had chased her into that corner had done a thorough job of it. Adrian had seen that particular kind of exhaustion before, mirrored back at him from prison cell walls more nights than he cared to count.The suite around him looked like something out of a magazine he'd never had the money to buy. Floor-to-ceiling window
Chapter 8: The woman in the alley
Adrian walked without any direction in mind. His heart felt hollowed out, scraped clean, but at least he had money now. Money bought a new life, even for a man who no longer particularly wanted one.The streets thinned out the further he walked, storefronts giving way to narrower buildings, narrower alleys, the kind of neighborhood that looked different depending on whether you had somewhere to be or not. Adrian had nowhere to be. That made everything look the same shade of gray.He passed a man arguing with a payphone that no longer worked, a woman sweeping broken glass off a stoop at midnight, a stray cat that eyed him with more suspicion than the nurse at the hospital had. None of it touched him. He'd spent three years learning how to let a place move around him without letting it in, and tonight, apparently, the habit still worked.He found himself in front of a bar he didn't recognize, neon flickering weakly over the door, and figured a drink might dull the ache enough to think s
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