Adrian Hayes

Adrian's POV

The office door clicked shut behind Olivia.

My gaze remained fixed on the closed door, my fingers resting lightly against the edge of my desk.

I let out a slow breath before pressing the intercom. "Ethan."

The response came almost instantly. "Yes, Mr. Kingston?"

"Come to my office."

Less than a minute later, he knocked at the door. "You asked to see me, sir?"

I straightened in the seat. "I need you to look into Olivia Carter."

He simply out the small notebook he always carried. "What would you like to know?"

"Everything."

His pen hovered over the page. "Anything specific?"

My jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.

Then I said quietly, "Start with the child. I want a complete report on my desk as soon as possible."

He gave a single nod. "I'll get started immediately." Without another word, he turned and left the office.The door closed behind him. I walked back toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan.

Somewhere beneath all of it...Olivia had built a life that no longer included me.

My reflection stared back at me from the glass.

Then, slowly...the skyline faded. I wasn't looking at New York anymore. I was looking at a cramped off-campus apartment in Burlington, Vermont.

The front door clicked shut behind me. The smell of expensive Cuban cigars filled the room for some reason.

"Dad?" I frowned as I walked in. "You're here?" My father sat comfortably on the worn out sofa, one leg crossed over the other. Two men in black suits stood silently behind him.

His eyes lifted from the newspaper in his hands. "There you are."

I stared at him. "What are you doing here?"

He folded the newspaper neatly and placed it on the coffee table. "I came to remind you of our agreement."

My jaw tightened. "I haven't forgotten."

His gaze swept slowly around the apartment before settling back on me. "You graduate in a week."

"I know."

"When that ceremony ends..." He stood, buttoning his suit jacket with practiced ease. "You return to New York, take your place as CEO of Kingston Holdings."

"I said I know.” I gritted my teeth.

“Good.’ He took a slow step toward me. "And while we're discussing unfinished business...I've been hearing things."

I already knew where this was going. He looked me straight in the eye. "That little girlfriend of yours."

My expression darkened. “Don't.”

"The little slut you've been running around with."

Every muscle in my body tightened. "I said don't."

A faint smile touched his lips. "So protective."

I took one step closer. "You don't get to talk about her like that."

His smile disappeared. "You seem to be forgetting who you are."

"I'm not forgetting anything."

His voice hardened. "She's a scholarship student from a nobody family. She doesn't belong in this family."

My fists clenched.

"If you're planning to bring her back to New York..." He paused. "...don't."

"Because if you insist..." His eyes never left mine. "...I'll deal with the problem myself."

A chill settled in my chest. It wasn't an empty threat, I knew my father. If he believed Olivia stood in the way of the Kingston name… He wouldn't hesitate.

He watched the realization spread across my face. Then, almost lazily, he asked, "So…what exactly is she to you?"

The answer sat on the tip of my tongue….Everything.

Instead, I forced out a quiet laugh. "You've got the wrong idea."

One of his brows lifted.

"She's just a game…."

"I'll get bored eventually." I forced out.

My father studied me for a long moment then he nodded once. "I certainly hope so."

The next morning, I woke up with one decision already made, no more lies. The deal with my father ended the day we graduated. After that, I wasn't hiding who I was anymore. Olivia deserved the truth, she deserved to know that Adrian Hayes never existed…That I was Adrian Kingston. That I'd walked away from my family's empire because, for the first time in my life, I wanted people to see me…not my last name.

I smiled to myself as I drove toward campus. She was going to yell at me, probably refuse to speak to me for an hour. Then she'd forgive me…she always did.

By the time I parked on campus, I'd already planned everything. I'd tell her the truth, take her to New York after graduation, introduce her to my mother.

If she was willing…I'd ask her to spend the rest of her life with me.

I spotted her the moment I stepped into the cafeteria. She was sitting near the windows. Relief washed over me but it disappeared almost immediately.

Ryan Cole….Of all people. He was leaning far too close, one arm resting on the back of her chair, wearing that smug grin I'd wanted to punch off his face since freshman year.

Our eyes met across the room and his smile widened. He deliberately leaned even closer to Olivia.

I crossed the cafeteria before I'd even realized I was moving. Students looked up from their lunches as I stopped beside their table. "Olivia."

She looked at me, her usual smile wasn't there, even the sparkle in her eyes was gone.

"Come with me."

Ryan leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. "I think she's busy."

"I wasn't talking to you."

Ryan chuckled. "You hear that, Liv? Your boyfriend sounds jealous."

I ignored him, my attention never leaving Olivia. "Come with me."

She remained seated. "I don't want to."

I frowned. "What?"

"I said I don't want to."

I reached for her hand instinctively. The moment my fingers closed around her wrist, she pulled away as though my touch burned. "Don't touch me."

Confusion settled heavily in my chest. "Olivia..."

She stood, taking one slow step back. "I think we've done this long enough."

My heartbeat slowed. "...Done what?"

"This." She gestured between us.

"Us." I stared at her, certain I'd heard wrong. "What are you talking about?"

She laughed but it didn't sound like her laugh. "I've been trying to think of the nicest way to say this."

Her eyes met mine. "I couldn't find one."

Every instinct I had screamed that something was wrong. "Talk to me."

She shook her head. "There's nothing left to talk about."

I took another step toward her but she took one back. "I don't love you anymore, Adrian."

The words knocked the air from my lungs. No, she's lying, what's she saying.

"I don't believe you."

"You should." She folded her arms tightly across her chest, almost as if she were holding herself together. "I've been wasting my time."

Ryan stood beside her. Without taking her eyes off me, she slipped her hand into his.

Something inside me snapped. All I saw was another man touching the woman I loved. "Take your hand off her."

Ryan smirked. "Or what?"

I turned to her. "Tell me this isn't what it looks like."

She looked me straight in the eyes. "I chose him."

The cafeteria became so quiet that I could hear trays clattering somewhere in the distance.

"He's everything you aren't." Her voice remained steady. "Successful, ambitious and actually has a future."

A future….

The irony of those words would haunt me for years.

Because she had no idea…I already owned the future she thought I didn't have.

And I would've given every bit of it away...Just to hear her tell me she still loved me.

The memory shattered when my phone vibrated. I blinked once, forcing myself back to the present before answering. "Ethan."

"Sir, I found something."

I pushed open the glass door and stepped onto the balcony. "Go on."

"There isn't a husband."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I checked everything, no marriage certificate, no divorce records, no engagement…Nothing."

My grip tightened around the phone. "And the child?"

"I haven't identified the father yet."

My eyes drifted toward the skyline, but all I could see was Olivia standing in that cafeteria seven years ago... telling me she'd chosen someone else.

If there wasn't a husband...Then whose child....was she raising?