STUCK.

The words landed like a slap. Vanessa's face was drained of color. "That's ridiculous! Of course I—"

"You loved what I could give you. The power, the status, the access." Adrian stood slowly, his voice still calm…still measured. "But me? The actual man? You couldn't care less."

"That's not—"

"Don't lie to me." His voice sharpened, as his eyes pierced through her. "I've watched you for months, Vanessa. Every conversation, every touch, every whispered ‘I love you’ was calculated.”

“Shut up.”

“I don't think you're not capable of loving anyone."

Vanessa's mask cracked. Her eyes glowed with something that might have been tears or might have been pure rage.

"That's not true," she whispered, but her voice lacked conviction. "I did love you. I DO love you."

"No," Adrian said simply. "You don't."

“Why're you trying to project?!”

He walked around the desk, slow and deliberate, until he stood directly in front of her. He was close enough to see the tiny muscle twitching in her jaw…close enough to smell the desperation rolling off her in waves.

"You wanted the wife of a CEO," he continued, his voice dropping to something dangerously soft. "You wanted the penthouse and the cars and the name that opens doors. You wanted to walk into any room and have people whisper Vale like it was something sacred." Vanessa's breath hitched.

“No…”

"But you never wanted me.”

Silence stretched between them. The city hummed far below, indifferent to the war unfolding in this office…then Vanessa laughed.

It was a broken sound, sharp at the edges. She pressed a hand to her chest like she was trying to hold herself together.

"You think you're so smart," she said, her voice trembling. "You think you figured me out." Adrian didn't respond.

"Fine." She nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Fine. You want the truth? Here it is." She stepped closer, her eyes blazing with something ugly and raw.

"I never loved you. Not even once. You were a means to an end."

“Oh?”

“Yes!”

Adrian's expression didn't change but something shifted in his chest. Like a final piece of guilt, maybe, or a lingering doubt, just crumbling into dust.

"Then why?" he asked quietly. "Why go through all of this? The affair, the manipulation, destroying my marriage—"

"Because it was easy," Vanessa spat. "You were so fucking easy. All I had to do was look at you the right way, touch you the right way, and you fell for it." His jaw tightened. 

“I didn't fall for anything."

"You fool. You signed the divorce papers, didn't you? You let her go."

"I—"

"You chose me." Vanessa laughed again, wild and desperate. "You chose me over her. Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know about what kind of man you are?!"

Adrian was quiet for a moment. Then, slowly, the faintest smile curled at the corner of his mouth. It wasn't warm or kind.

"Actually," he said, stepping closer to her, "it tells me everything I need to know about you." Vanessa's laughter went wilder.

“You're pathetic.”

"You manipulated me," he continued, his voice low and cutting. 

“You wanted to be manipulated.”

"You lied, you schemed, you destroyed the only good thing in my life. And I let you—I know that. I own that. But here's the part you don't seem to understand." He leaned in until his lips were nearly at her ear. "I never loved you either."

She flinched like he'd struck her.

"Every time I touched you," he said, each word deliberate, "I was thinking about her. Every time I told you I cared, I was lying through my teeth. You were never a choice, Vanessa. You were a distraction. An escape from the guilt I felt about failing her."

Vanessa's face crumpled but she didn't falter.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

"You were a mistake." Adrian stepped back, his eyes cold. "And I'm done making them."

“We're stuck together, Darling.”

She stood there, smiling as her carefully constructed world crumbled around her. Her hands shook at her sides but she squeezed tight. The tears streaming down her cheeks were real now…ugly and raw.

"You'll regret this," she whispered. "After you try and fail, you'll remember that I was the one who actually wanted your shitty ass."

Adrian's expression didn't change. 

“You didn't want me. You wanted what I had."

"Same thing."

"No." He shook his head slowly. "It's not. And that's the difference between you and her."

“You don't get to say that after failing her.”

Damian opened his mouth to respond…to unleash whatever venom he had left, but the door swung open before anything.

Marcus Webb stood there.