REJECTED BY THE HEIR AFTER DIVORCE

Chapter Two – The Call That Changed Everything (B)

The drive lasted nearly an hour, weaving from the city’s crowded streets into long, winding roads lined with towering trees. The skyline gave way to open hills, and soon, Adrian saw it, the Cole estate.

It rose like a fortress from the earth, sprawling across acres of manicured land, every inch a declaration of power. High walls guarded it, iron gates loomed, and the mansion itself stood proud and cold, its marble pillars reaching skyward as though defying time itself.

Adrian’s chest tightened. Memories clawed at him, echoes of childhood footsteps echoing on stone floors, the weight of eyes that measured him against impossible standards, the suffocating demand to become something he never wanted to be.

The car slowed as the gates swung open. Dozens of staff lined the drive, their heads bowed in silent acknowledgment. Adrian forced his face into neutrality, though unease prickled at his skin.

Inside the mansion, the air smelled of polished wood and old money. Paintings of stern ancestors lined the halls, their gazes sharp, judgmental. Marcus led him forward. “They’re waiting in the great hall.”

They. Of course it wasn’t just his grandfather. It would be the entire inner circle, the family board, the vultures who ruled industries from behind these walls.

The heavy doors swung open, and Adrian stepped into the hall. A dozen pairs of eyes turned toward him, sharp as knives.

At the head of the long table sat the man he had both feared and despised: Gerald Cole, the patriarch. His hair was silver, his presence commanding even in age, and his cane rested beside him like a scepter.

“Well,” Gerald’s voice cut through the silence, deep and unforgiving. “The prodigal son returns.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t come back for you.”

Murmurs rippled across the table, but Gerald only smiled thinly. “Perhaps not. But you came back. That’s all that matters.”

Adrian felt the weight of their stares pressing into him, dissecting him, measuring him. For years, he had endured mockery as a nobody. But standing here now, in this hall, he realized something. For the first time in his life… he wasn’t going to bow.

Gerald leaned forward on his cane, eyes sharp as steel. “You’ve been hiding, Adrian. Wasting yourself on a woman who never deserved your loyalty, living beneath the heel of those who mocked you. Pathetic.”

Adrian’s fists tightened at his sides, but he held his ground. “That’s none of your concern.”

The old man’s laugh echoed coldly in the hall. “On the contrary, boy. It’s very much my concern. Because while you played servant to a family of jackals, your blood, the Cole blood, has been waiting. And whether you like it or not, it demands its place.”

A file slid across the long table. Marcus placed it in front of Adrian. Adrian hesitated, then flipped it open. His breath caught.

Inside were documents, contracts, ledgers, acquisition papers. But not just any. These were moves in industries he had only dreamed of touching: tech, finance, energy, global holdings. And stamped across them all, the Cole insignia.

Gerald’s voice cut like a blade. “This empire will be yours. Not tomorrow. Not next year. Now. I am dying, Adrian. And the vultures in this room” he gestured to the watching board members “ would tear it apart if not for you. You will take the mantle. You will lead.”

The words thundered in Adrian’s mind. He felt the weight of it, the crushing gravity of the empire his name carried. For years, he had been invisible, a man mocked for being nothing. And now… they were telling him he was everything.

He met Gerald’s gaze. “And if I refuse?”

The old man’s smile was thin, ruthless. “Then the Grants will find out what they threw away. And you will watch from the dirt as your enemies grow stronger while your birthright rots. Tell me, Adrian… after what that woman did to you, do you still have the stomach to be weak?”

Silence.

The board waited. The air itself seemed to tighten, the weight of centuries pressing against Adrian’s chest. Finally, he spoke. His voice was steady. Cold. Different. “I’ll take it.”

A spark lit in Gerald’s eyes. Around the table, murmurs of approval mixed with unease. Marcus gave a sharp nod, as if he had expected nothing less.

But before Adrian could close the file, Gerald added one final sentence, one that froze Adrian’s blood. “Good. Then it’s time you learned the truth about why your parents died.”