2026-08-04 20:29:09Chloe's eyebrows pulled together. She looked genuinely confused, like someone who had just been accused of something they did not do.
"What are you talking about? I have been paying the hospital every month. Julian handles all the financial transfers for me, including your mother's bills. He has never missed a single payment." She turned to Julian with soft, trusting eyes. "Right, Julian?"
Julian nodded quickly, his face a perfect mask of concern. "Of course. I have taken care of everything, just like you asked me to."
Adrian stared at both of them. Then he let out a laugh. Short, hollow, and bitter enough to leave a taste in the air.
"You let this man take care of my mother's medical bills?" He pointed at Julian, and his finger was steady even though everything inside him was shaking. "Him. The man who told me on the phone three hours ago that my mother was a bottom feeder who deserved to die. You trusted him with her life."
Chloe's expression tightened. Not with doubt toward Julian. With displeasure toward Adrian.
"Don't be dramatic, Adrian. Julian has been nothing but responsible. And it's not just the medical bills. Julian is the Chief Financial Officer of my company now. Every single expenditure, every contract, every payment goes through his approval. He is the most trustworthy person I know."
The words landed on Adrian one at a time, and each one felt heavier than the last. CFO. She had given Julian control of her entire company's finances. The CFO position was the heart of any business. You did not hand that role to someone unless they were the closest person in your life, the one you trusted more than you trusted yourself.
Adrian looked at Chloe and saw it all so clearly now. Julian was not just her first love. He was her partner, her confidant, her priority. He had been all of those things the entire time Adrian was sitting in a prison cell believing that his wife was waiting for him.
Something flickered across Chloe's face when she saw the look in Adrian's eyes. It was not love. It was not concern. But it was something close to guilt, the kind that comes when you know you forgot something important and someone is standing right in front of you reminding you of it.
"Look, Adrian. I will admit that I have been completely consumed by work. Running a company is not easy, and I lost track of a lot of things." Her voice softened, just barely, like a door opening one inch. "I should have visited your mother. I know that. I will go see her tomorrow, first thing in the morning. And I guarantee you, the payments have never stopped. I trust Julian with my life. He would never let something like that slip through the cracks."
She looked at Julian again when she said it, and her eyes were warm. Protective, even. The same warmth she had never once shown Adrian. Not before prison. Not during. And certainly not now.
Adrian watched the way she looked at Julian, and he felt the last thread snap. Not with anger. Not with sadness. With something that felt more like relief, the kind that comes when you stop trying to hold onto something that was never really yours.
"It doesn't matter anymore." His voice was flat and quiet. "The marriage certificate was fake. You just told me that yourself. There was never a real marriage between us. No legal bond. No commitment. Nothing."
Chloe opened her mouth, but Adrian kept going.
"I came back here tonight because I wanted to put an end to everything. I wanted to close this chapter properly, face to face, like two adults." He paused and let out a breath that sounded like it had been trapped inside him for three years. "But there is nothing to end. There was never a beginning. You made sure of that before I even walked into the courthouse."
He turned toward the door.
"Adrian, wait." Chloe stood up from the table. Her voice had a slight crack in it now, thin and uncertain, like a window that had just been tapped hard enough to leave a fracture. There was guilt on her face, real guilt, the kind that made her chest tight and her hands restless.
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Chapter 10 part-2
“You mentioned an arranged marriage. With someone named Julian.” Adrian watched her face carefully. “Do you know his full name?”The change was instant. Her whole body went rigid, like someone had pressed a knife against her spine. Her nostrils flared and her lips pulled into a thin, hard line. The cold indifference cracked open for a moment, and underneath it was something hot and furious.“Why do you want to know?”“Just tell me his full name. That’s all I’m asking.”“Julian Malcolm.” She said the name the way someone spits out food that has gone bad. “The most worthless piece of garbage walking on two legs in this city. A leech who feeds off his family’s money and treats every person beneath him like dirt on his shoe.”Adrian’s stomach dropped. The same Julian. The same voice that had called his mother a bottom feeder. The same man who told him to put a cup on the street and beg.“You know him well?”“I know enough.” Her voice was low and tight, controlled but burning underneath. “
Chapter 10 part-1
Adrian's whole body went still. Julian. The name landed in his chest like a stone dropped into deep water, and the ripples spread outward through every nerve in his body.The woman snapped two short sentences into the phone, her voice clipped and final, and hung up without waiting for a response. She tossed the phone onto the crumpled sheets and exhaled through her nose. Then she looked down.Her eyes moved over her own body, the bare shoulders, the sheet twisted loosely around her waist, and the realization hit her all at once. Her lips pressed together and color flooded up her neck and into her cheeks."What are you looking at?" The words came out sharp and loud, more bark than sentence. She yanked the sheet up to her collarbone and glared at him like he had committed a crime by existing in the same room."Nothing. I wasn't looking at anything.""You were staring.""I just woke up. My eyes were open. That's not the same thing as staring.""Get out."Adrian held up both hands and bac
Chapter 9 part -2
“I do not care what his family offered. I do not care how much money they have or how many buildings they own or how many people think he is some kind of golden prince.” Her tone did not rise. It stayed level, almost bored, like she was reading items off a list she had already thrown in the trash. “I have met Julian Ashford. I know exactly what kind of man he is.”Adrian’s stomach tightened. He turned to look at her fully now, and she must have felt his eyes on her because she glanced at him again, brief and dismissive, before returning her attention to the phone.“You want to know what kind of man Julian is?” She stood up and walked to the window, pulling the curtain aside just enough to let in a thin blade of light. “He is the kind of man who smiles at you while he is counting the money in your pocket. He is the kind of man who calls other people dogs when they are down and then goes to church on Sunday like his hands are clean. He treats anyone below him like garbage on the street,
Chapter 9 part -1
Adrian's eyes opened to a ceiling he did not recognize.The light was wrong. Too soft, too clean, filtered through curtains that smelled like lavender instead of prison bleach. His head was pounding, a slow heavy drum behind his temples that made the room tilt when he tried to sit up. His mouth tasted like something had crawled inside it and died.He blinked twice and pressed his palm against his forehead. Fragments of last night came back in pieces. The bar. The whiskey he had no business drinking after three years of nothing stronger than tap water. A woman's laugh somewhere in the haze, low and careless, like she had heard a joke that was only half funny. Her hand on his arm. The taxi. This room.A phone was ringing.Adrian turned his head and saw her. She was lying on her side with the sheet pulled up to her shoulders, her dark hair fanned across the pillow. Her face was still, almost severe even in sleep, the kind of face that did not soften easily. Her brow furrowed at the sound
Chapter 8 Part 2
The tall man looked at them. Then at the car. Then back at them. Whatever calculation was happening behind his eyes, the answer came quickly. He put his hands in his pockets, lowered his head, and walked away without a word. The other two followed like dogs called to heel.The second bodyguard turned toward the shadows where Adrian was hiding, and his voice softened."Mr. Adrian. We're here. Please come with us."Adrian exhaled and stepped out of the gap, still carrying the unconscious woman in his arms. The bodyguard opened the rear door and helped him set her down gently on the back seat before Adrian climbed in beside her. The car pulled away from the curb in silence, smooth as water."Where are we going?""The Grand Meridian. A suite has been prepared for you on the top floor. Miss Sarah arranged it.""What about her?" Adrian looked at the woman beside him. Her face was pale under the passing streetlights, but her breathing had steadied."We will have a medical team on standby at
Chapter 8 Part 1
The night air hit Adrian's face the moment he stepped outside the apartment building. Cold and sharp, the kind of cold that cuts right through your clothes and sits on your skin like a second layer you cannot take off.He walked. No direction. No destination. Just one foot in front of the other, moving away from the place he used to call home and the two people inside it who had carved out everything he ever believed in and replaced it with nothing.Three years. He had spent three years in a concrete box for a woman who never married him. For a man who called his dying mother a bottom feeder. For a lie so well constructed that he had lived inside it without ever seeing the walls.But it was over now. All of it. The lie, the marriage, the woman. His heart felt like a house after a fire. Still standing, but hollow, and everything inside it burned to ash.He found himself standing in front of a bar. The neon sign buzzed overhead, throwing red light across the wet sidewalk. Music leaked t
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