♞ Adrian: The private lounge above was where most of my business meetings took place…especially those that demanded discretion. Tonight was no exception. “We’ll finalize the contract revisions for the Oakridge project by Monday,” I said to the man walking beside me, Raymond Carlo, a long-standing business associate who handled acquisitions and international expansion within our firm. Also, he was an Italian and someone I trusted a lot to handle most of my international businesses. “Absolutely,” Raymond replied, his voice tinged with nervous energy as he nodded in understanding. “And regarding the Singapore proposal, shall I arrange a follow-up with Tripod firm? They had concerns about the zoning ordinances affecting the waterfront development we were working on earlier this year.” I nodded once, not missing a step. “Yes. Get legal to prepare an outline addressing the variances. If Tripod still hesitates, we pivot to Castle light. We can’t afford delays at this stage.” “Unde
♛ Aurora: I arrived at the apartment late that night, feeling heavy and drained, with the last look on Adrian's face before he stepped out stuck to my head. I was afraid he was going to say something. But to my utmost relief he left when I told him to, and I appreciated that. A deep breath escaped my lips and I slid my bag from my shoulders, dropping it on the couch before heading straight to the kitchen to get a cup of water. My gaze fell on the cooked meal on the stove and I immediately knew Trish was back. Without much thought, I walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, grabbing a bottle of water before bringing it out and pouring it into my glass. I walked over to the stove and opened the pot to see what Trish made. I wasn't surprised when I saw that it was just the usual. Pasta. Trish’s favorite food if you ask me. I closed the pot before bringing the cup to my mouth and gulping down the water. Placing the glass back to its place, my legs marched out of the ki
♛ Aurora: “Are you up?” Another message was sent almost immediately, and it read: “Can we meet?” I absentmindedly read the message out loud. A frown curved up Trish’s brows and she looked away from the movie she was watching, sparing me a side glance. “Who the fuck wants to meet you by five minutes to 12 A.M?” She asked, her brows pulled together and her gaze dropped to my phone. I mirrored her expression as I stared blankly at the screen of my phone, wondering exactly what Adrian was supposed to do. Why would he want to see me this late? What was so important that he couldn't leave till tomorrow? I stared at the screen, and answered Trish. “Adrian.” She scoffed, shifting on the couch, and turning her gaze back to the movie, “Of course, it’s him. What does he want now?” I didn’t reply immediately. Instead, I tapped out, “For what?” and sent the message. A response came almost instantly. “It's about the project. I received a response earlier about the p
♛ Aurora: I took the file from Adrian, feeling my fingers tighten around the edges as I flipped it open. My eyes skimmed through the documents inside. The first few pages contained financial records and transactions I didn’t recognize at first, until I saw my company’s name linked to some purchases. I frowned. “What… what is this?” My chest felt heavy, and my fingers trembled against the file I was holding. The purchases weren't something I recognized. “And what does it have to do with my assistant?” I couldn't help but ask, ‘cause why was he asking how much I trusted my assistant? What does this have to do with her? Adrian’s jaw tensed as he leaned against his seat, looking up front at first but then he glanced over at me. “It’s proof. The structural collapse wasn’t an accident, Rory. Someone tampered with the materials that were brought in for building, construction and all. Replaced them with cheaper, unstable substitutes. And they covered it up in the financi
♛ Aurora: The car suddenly felt suffocating for me. I inhaled and exhaled, before brushing my fingers through my hair and ruffling it. The air felt thick like it was pressing down on my chest. “I need air.” I muttered, and didn't wait for him to say anything before pushing the door open and stepping out into the night. I started walking. Not in any particular direction, not even to my house that was just a few steps away, just forward. Away. I could feel the frustration knotting itself in my stomach. Adrian didn’t call after me. But I heard the sound of the car being closed shut. Breeze brushed my hair, disheveling it as I kept walking down the dark street that had barely enough street lights around. I couldn't even see where I was heading to. I just kept walking anyway, because I was certain nothing would go wrong, especially since I knew Adrian was a few steps behind me. I appreciated the silence between us, with just nothing but lightning lighting up t
♛ Aurora: Adrian's throat worked as he swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He exhaled a shaky breath before speaking, his voice sounded rough, almost brittle. “I had to get a heart transplant.” He said finally, and as if on point, a thunderstorm rumbled somewhere close to us. The words crashed over me drowning out everything else - the rain and even the sound of my own heartbeat. I blinked, certain I had misheard him. “What?” His dark eyes bore into mine, heavy with different emotions swirling around them. “I was dying.” He let out. He was staring at me deeply to see through my reaction to his words. A minute passed with nothing but silence between us, before he added, “And I knew that if you stayed… if you saw me like that, you’d never leave.” My breath hitched, and something cold and sharp settled in my chest. He knew I'll never leave. So he chose to keep it away from me? I wanted to ask him, but he started explaining everything bit by bit even before I
♛ Aurora: His face contorted, and for a moment, he looked as wrecked as I felt. “I searched for you, and it took me months to find out you were in Chicago. I wanted to come back but I couldn't bring myself to. Because I thought you’d hate me.” I let out a choked laugh. “And if I did? If I hated you? Wouldn’t it have been better to hear it from me instead of assuming? Instead of letting me rot in my own self-blame?” He inhaled sharply, his hands threading through his rain-soaked hair. “Fuck, I was afraid. Afraid that after everything, you had finally moved on. That you were happy without me. And I didn’t want to destroy that.” I shook my head. “You never even gave me the chance to decide for myself. Everything you've done was just you deciding it would be the best for me! you never asked me about anything. Was our love that fickle to you?” I wanted to stop crying but I couldn't. The tears rolled out of my eyes like a dam that had been broken. I took a step back. Another
♞ Adrian: “If you had taken my advice back then, I promise you that none of this would have been happening.” Dmitri clicked his tongue and shook his head in disappointment before he sat down and relaxed on the couch. Trust him to know the right time to bring up a fucking conversation. I spared him a glance from where I sat, but he simply shrugged it off. “Don’t give me that look. You know I’m right.” “Maybe you should shut up for once,” I muttered, bringing the rim of the glass to my lips before swallowing the bitter contents in one go. The burn in my throat was nothing compared to how dejected and wasted I felt at the moment. The last look in Rory's eyes kept haunting me, barely giving me a chance to think of anything else. After she ran away from me, I walked back under the rain to her apartment. I could hear her sobs from inside but couldn't do a fucking thing. I couldn't even go home straight to my place, so I crashed at Leon's new place which was around the
♞ Adrian: I wasn't sure what got into me. Perhaps the fact that I've been sending messages to Rory consistently for the past three days and she didn't answer any of them. She didn't even open it so I at least know she saw them but didn't have an answer yet. I couldn't go to her office, because she said she needed space. And that meant she didn't want to see me. All I could do was send messages like an asshole, but she didn't respond to them. And somehow I found myself deliberately following the road to her apartment on my way to work instead of following the shorter road and getting to work fast. I packed my car across the street and looked up from the screen of my phone, my gaze trailed over to her apartment. It was already 2PM so it was only wishful thinking that I assumed I'd see her at home by this time of the day. I stared at the window to her apartment, even though I couldn’t see past the closed curtains. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t really expecting her to be home. I jus
♛ Aurora: My heels crunched on the gravel as I made my way towards the small crowd forming around the scaffolding near the eastern side of the site. The workers looked up to meet my eyes the closer I got. Their heads turned in my direction as I approached. The conversation they were having was hushed and I could barely hear them clearly, but what I couldn't miss was the serious tone in their voices. A few men had taken off their hard hats, while a few were simply wiping sweat that trickled down their faces. Some of them looked pale. The strong smell of dust and concrete lingered in the breeze, and just beneath it, there was a stronger metallic smell. I looked up at the scaffold building that just crashed, and fear slowly creeped into my heart as I slowed into a stop. “It's so bad,” Bonnie pointed out from behind me as she stopped walking too. I was beyond shocked and scared to respond to her words. I clutched the strap of my bag tighter and pressed my lips together
♛ Aurora: “Oh My God. I'm not even surprised! I told you from the start that I absolutely do not trust her at all!” Mia said in a displeased tone. I released a deep breath, recalling the severe number of times she had seriously wanted me to be careful with Bonnie. But I hadn't listened. I needed someone effective back then and Bonnie was exactly what I wanted. So I hadn't even thought about the consequences at all. I easily trusted her when she displayed her clean ways of handling situations and making my work a little easier for me. “Yeah, I remember when you were warned me about her,” I said, tracing a path along the pocket of my pants as the car drove past the bustling city of New York. “But you didn't listen. Now see.” “I did listen, Mia. I just couldn't let a good employee go just because you had a bad feeling about her.” I said down the line. “Well, the signs were from the start that she’s not someone to be trusted.” “If a lot of employers simply removed their workers j
♞ Adrian: Leon didn’t say a word. Nothing at all. He didn’t move either. Not even an inch. The only sign he’d even heard me was the slight widening of his eyes. For a moment, we just stared at each other. I ran my fingers through my thick dark hair, because the longer it took to say a word, the more the turmoil in my head swallowed me slowly. Because what on earth do I do? Most importantly, how do I tell Rory? I sighed, when would this space she needs be okay? I don't even know. Finally, Leon let out a slow breath and leaned back into the couch like everything I said were finally settling in. “Say something,” I muttered roughly, fighting back the urge to run a finger through my hair and tug it. He scrubbed a hand down his face. “You’re serious about this?” he raised a brow and asked, like he was hoping I would say it was all a joke. Honestly I wish it was. It wasn’t a question. I nodded once, and tight. “Jesus Christ, Adrian.” Leon dropped his head back aga
Chapter 82 Aurora: Her question was so sudden and completely random from the conversation we had been talking about, that I was caught off guard for a moment. Trish’s brows were squinted tightly as she waited for a response from me. After a quiet moment I finally answered with a shake of my head, “Work.” “Work?” She didn't look like she believed me but after a while she nodded, “Alright. I made dinner before falling asleep earlier. Have you eaten?” she asked, completely changing the topic, and I felt light hearted that she did, because I wanted to get my mind off the message. I shook my head and let out a breath. I had been so occupied that I didn't eat anything today. I doubt I would have even been able to eat anything with the way my stomach has been tied in knots since morning. “I haven't,” I answered, before asking, “What did you make?” I turned around and made my way down the hallway, before making a turn and walking over to the kitchen, with Trish trailing right behind me.
♛ Aurora: “The simplest misunderstanding could crack even the strongest of relationships. At times it's just better to let things go than go round and round. Rough.” My heart dropped to my stomach when I read the first message. I staggered on my footsteps as I rushed out of my room, hitting my shoulders on the wall but hardly feeling any pain as I turned down the hallway and rushed towards Trish’s room. Before I could get there another message came in, and this time it stopped me dead in my tracks. “Did you ever try to find out the person behind the wheels? Not your accident. I mean, hit and run with your mom, or don't you think it’s important to seek justice for her dead poor soul?” The last sentence felt like a bucket of water had been splashed on my face, as it knocked me back to the image of my mother being rushed to the hospital with blood on her clothes, her face, her fingers. There was blood everywhere. My fingers gripped my phone tightly, trying to hold myself back to t
♞ Adrian: I wasn’t planning to stop. I had every intention of driving straight home, taking a long-ass shower, and figuring out what the hell I was going to do to make things right with Rory. But the next thing I knew, my hands had turned the wheel and my car rolled to a halt in front of Leon’s place. My phone buzzed in my pants, and I stepped out of the car, closing the door shut behind me before I brought the phone out and checked who was calling. I halted in my steps when I noticed it was Christian. I slid the answer button before pressing the phone to my ear, “What's it?” I asked the moment I answered. There was shuffling from the other end, before he finally spoke out, “I got in touch with the guy for the tracking.” I ran my fingers through my hair and released a deep breath before asking, “And what’s the update on it?” Christian didn't answer immediately, and after a long quiet moment he finally answered, “I'll text you the details in five minutes.” “Alri
♛ Aurora: “I can't do this,” I whispered, more to myself, but loud enough for him to hear me. I couldn't even concentrate on driving while I was on my way home. And it was all because of him. To make it all worse, Lucy's attempt at planting seeds of doubts in my head had somehow worked. I couldn't think. My heart felt like it was being shredded into tiny pieces, and it tore me apart. I was so tired of all this. And despite all the love I had in my heart for him, it was a pity that he didn't trust our love so much to be able to completely be honest with me. What on earth could he be keeping to himself that wasn't worth me knowing? Nothing, absolutely nothing serious. The only ever thing that had tore me apart in my years of living was my parents' death, because they left me all alone. Second to that was my divorce with Adrian. And third, was the child I lost. There was nothing else he could say that could destroy me so much that it would break our very fragile relations
♞ Adrian: I scrubbed my hands over my face, fingers digging into my eyes until I saw stars. My phone sat on the passenger seat, and I glanced at it, fingers itching to pick it up and call again. The last call had gone unanswered. The one before that too. I’d sent her a message. And it was simple, stupid, and fucking desperate. ‘I’m outside. Can we talk? I just need five minutes.’ Nothing back. I glanced through the car glasses, and my gaze fell on the windows of her house. Maybe she wasn’t home. Or she was and she’d seen my message and rolled her eyes and tossed her phone into a drawer. God, I wouldn’t blame her. I was parked across from her house, my car engine off, with my hands gripping the steering wheel. I had brushed my fingers through my hair countless times that it was all disheveled. My fingers tapped on the steering wheel, searching for something to keep my concentration in check. It didn’t work. I was still unraveling. She hadn’t answered my calls. I co