Chapter six.

Layla's POV.

I laid on my bed, staring at the ceiling, tracing invisible lines with my eyes across the patterns of light spilling through the half-drawn curtains. It was late, but sleep had long abandoned me.

My mind was a mess.. full of him.

Liam.

Every time I closed my eyes, the image replayed over and over, the sight of him standing there in Adrian’s room, the towel around his waist, leaving the rest of his body naked to my ogling eyes.

I hated how easily those thoughts came.

I hated even more how they refused to leave.

It was ridiculous, inappropriate, foolish... all of it. I’d barely gotten free from the wreckage of a marriage that had drained me of everything, and here I was, replaying the shape of another man’s shoulders in my mind like some hopeless teenager.

I turned over, pressing my face into the pillow as if I could bury the thoughts there.

“Stop,” I whispered to myself. “You can’t think about him.”

But I did.

Over and over.

It wasn’t just attraction. It was something deeper, something dangerous in how easy it was to think of him. His voice, that low steadiness when he spoke.

My mind wouldn’t let him go.

And then, suddenly, I heard a knock.

I sat up immediately, my pulse quickening.

For a second, I thought I’d imagined it. The house was too quiet; everyone should have been asleep by now. But then came another knock, softer this time.

“Layla?” came Adrian's voice.

I exhaled, brushing my hair back from my face. “Come in,” I called softly.

The door opened and Adrian stepped inside.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, his tone gentle.

I smiled faintly. “Not really. My mind’s too noisy.”

He nodded knowingly, closing the door behind him. “I figured as much. That’s why I came by.”

I frowned, curious. “At midnight?”

He gave a small shrug. “When have you ever known me to keep normal hours?”

That earned him a quiet laugh from me. “True.”

He smiled briefly, then walked closer, setting the folder down on my dresser. “I wanted to talk to you about the company.”

I blinked, caught off guard. “The company?”

He nodded, folding his arms. “I know you’ve only just gotten back, and I wasn’t going to bring this up yet, but… I think you’re ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“To come back,” he said simply.

I stared at him, unsure I’d heard him correctly. “Adrian…”

He held up a hand, anticipating my protest. “Before you say no.. hear me out. I’ve been thinking about this for weeks, ever since I heard you were coming home. The company needs you, Layla. I need you.”

His voice was calm, but the conviction in it made my chest tighten.

I shook my head. “You’re doing perfectly fine without me. You’ve built new branches, expanded operations, you don’t need me interfering.”

He smiled a little, the corner of his mouth curving with that mix of amusement and patience that only brothers seem to master. “You think that’s all it is? Expansion and management? You’re the strategist, Layla. You always saw things I didn’t. The way you handled investors, all that that wasn’t luck, that was brilliance. The company was at its strongest under you.”

I let out a quiet breath. “That was years ago.”

“And the woman who did that is still right here,” he said.

For a moment, I couldn’t speak.

He came to sit beside me on the edge of the bed, not too close but exactly the comfort of someone who’d known me my whole life. “I know what you’re thinking,” he continued. “That it’s too soon. That you’re not ready. But Layla, you can’t keep living like this.. hiding away, letting the past decide your future.”

I looked down at my hands, clasped tightly in my lap. “I’m not hiding.”

He rolled his eyes dramatically.

“Fine,” I muttered. “Maybe I am. But can you blame me, Adrian? Everything fell apart. I trusted someone who didn’t deserve it. I left everything behind for him,"

Adrian was quiet for a moment before speaking. “That’s exactly why I’m asking you to come back. Because you’re not just someone’s ex-wife, Layla. You’re one of the sharpest minds I’ve ever known, and you’ve been letting that brilliance rot under grief. You need something to remind you of what you’re capable of.”

I stared at him, a mix of emotions swirling inside me.

“You really think I can just walk back in and pretend nothing’s changed?” I asked.

“I don’t expect you to pretend,” he said. “I expect you to rebuild."

That word hit me right in the chest.

He leaned back slightly, watching me carefully. “We have a board meeting next week. I want you there. No pressure, no titles... just to sit in, listen, observe. If it feels right, we’ll take it from there. If it doesn’t, you can walk away, and I’ll never bring it up again.”

I bit my lip, processing his words. It sounded simple, but nothing about stepping back into that world was simple. It meant facing people who’d once looked up to me, some who’d probably whispered behind my back after I left.

“I don’t know,” I murmured.

Adrian smiled faintly. “You don’t have to decide now. Just think about it. You’ve been through enough. You deserve to feel like yourself again.”

I glanced up at him, my eyes stung with suppressed tears.

. “You always know what to say.”

He chuckled. “It’s part of my charm.”

I flashed him a warm smile. “You and your confidence.”

He shrugged, standing. “It’s only confidence when you’re wrong. I’m not wrong about you, Layla.”

I rolled my eyes lightly, but my heart felt warmer. “Thank you,” I said quietly.

He nodded, serious again. “I mean it, Layla. You’ve always carried the weight of the marriage for that scumbag, it's time to let go."

His words lingered as he walked toward the door.

“Adrian?” I called softly before he could leave.

He turned. “Yeah?”

“Thank you,” I said again, but this time my voice trembled just slightly. “For believing I can still be something.”

He smiled, “You never stopped being something. You just forgot for a while.”

Then he left, closing the door behind him.

I sat there in the quiet that followed, staring at the folder he’d left on the table. My fingers itched to open it, to see what he’d brought.

And for the first time in what felt like forever, I felt the urge to try out the business world again.

If love didn't work out, business should.