CHAPTER TEN

ADRIAN’s POV

“Have we met before?”

The question left my mouth before I could stop it.

Selene Arden looked at me over the rim of her wine glass, calm, elegant and composed. The gala night continued normally. Conversations, soft laughter, glasses clinking against each, somehow everything felt distant standing this close to her.

“No,” she answered smoothly. “I think I would remember meeting Adrian Laurent.”

I chuckled at that.

Celeste stepped beside me almost immediately, her hand sliding naturally around my arm. “Selene Arden,” she said politely. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”

Selene shifted her attention toward her with a beaming smile. “I’m sure you have.”

Celeste smiled perfectly. “You’ve caused quite a stir since arriving.”

“I didn’t realize my arrival required permission.”

The response was polite enough to avoid offense, but sharp enough for the meaning to land underneath.

I glanced toward Selene again. She stood confidently beneath the ballroom lights, black silk wrapped around her body like it belonged there, the diamond choker resting against her throat, the calm confidence in her posture.

She didn’t move like someone trying to impress a room. She moved like someone who already owned it.

“I heard Arden Corporation recently acquired Blackthorn Holdings,” I said, shifting the conversation elsewhere.

“I did,” Selene replied calmly.

“That company supplies three of Laurent Group’s largest competitors.”

Selene took another slow sip of wine before answering. “Business is rarely personal, Mr. Laurent.”

That word struck me weirdly.

Serena used to say something similar years ago whenever I brought work stress home.

The memory appeared so suddenly it caught me off guard. I stared at Selene harder before I could stop myself. Her eyes met mine again, calm and steady.

“You seem distracted, Mr Laurent” she said softly.

Celeste noticed it too. I could feel the tension in her grip against my arm tightening slightly.

“Will you be staying in the city long?” Celeste asked.

“That depends whether the city becomes useful to me,” her voice was placid but yet carried weight.

People like Selene Arden didn’t need to prove power, it simply existed around them naturally.

Several investors nearby suddenly approached her for conversation, pulling her attention away from us briefly.

I found myself watching her move through the crowd. Every person she spoke to looked completely focused on her within seconds, even powerful men.

“Adrian.” Celeste’s voice pulled me back.

I looked at her.

“You’re staring.”

I took a glass of champagne from one of the waiters. “I’m thinking about business.”

Celeste became quiet after that, but I could feel her watching me carefully.

The rest of the gala passed in fragments. Business conversations, political introductions, investors trying to secure Selene Arden’s attention.

Every single time I looked across the ballroom, my eyes found her again. Near the balcony, speaking with foreign executives, walking through the crowd.

And every single time I saw her, I felt a strange sense of recognition.

By the time the gala finally ended, I was totally exhausted. The drive home with Celeste was a bit tensed.

Rain touched lightly against the windows while city lights blurred outside.

“You knew Serena longer than anyone,” Celeste said suddenly.

“What does that mean?”

“She used to make that same expression when she was irritated.”

I looked at her confused. “What expression?”

Celeste looked ahead quietly. “The tapping.”

My expression went still for a second. She was right. Selene had lightly tapped her fingernail against the wine glass several times throughout the night whenever conversation became tensed, almost unconsciously.

Serena used to do the exact same thing.

I looked back toward the rain-covered window quickly. “You’re overthinking.”

“Maybe,” Celeste replied softly. “But you’ve barely spoken since meeting her.”

That’s not true.” I said calmly, squeezing her hand lightly.

Celeste sat elegantly beside me, but I knew her well enough to notice the uneasy shift beneath her calm expression.

“She’s a powerful investor entering a competitive market. Of course I paid attention.” I continued.

Celeste nodded once, but I know she didn’t fully believe me.

“That wasn’t business attention, Adrian.”

Celeste is a very calculative woman.. After getting married to her after Serena’s accident and disappearance, she seems to know me better.

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” I said faintly.

“I want to know why you looked uneven tonight.”

I loosened my tie slightly before answering. “Maybe because she walked into a room full of billionaires and acted like none of them mattered.”

Celeste went quiet briefly, then she gave a small humorless laugh. “So that bothered your ego?”

“No.” I answered quickly.

That wasn’t what disturbed me at all, Selene Arden didn’t feel arrogant to me, she felt untouchable and somehow that stayed in my head long after leaving the gala night.

The car finally pulled into the driveway.

“I’m going to bed,” Celeste said as soon as we got into the house.

I nodded once. “I still have work.”

She studied my face for a moment like had something to say, then she walked upstairs quietly.

I loosened my tie completely before heading toward the study room, the house felt too large and quiet lately.

Rain battered softly against the windows as I stepped inside the study room. The city lights stretched endlessly beyond the glass while silence swept across the room.

I reached for a file on the desk before stopping halfway, my eyes had landed on the photograph near the shelf again.

Serena and Ethan.

For years I convinced myself I only kept the picture because of Ethan. But tonight, looking at it felt somehow different.

I picked up the frame slowly.

Serena looked exhausted in the picture, frosting smeared lightly against her fingers while Ethan laughed beside her.

I stared at it longer than I intended.Then suddenly another image crossed my mind.

Selene standing beneath the ballroom lights earlier tonight. She was completely different from Serena in every possible way, but yet her presence still lingered unconsciously inside my head.

I set the photograph back down roughly, frustrated with myself.

This was ridiculous. Selene Arden was a stranger, nothing more, so why do I keep drifting back to her repeatedly.

But for some reason, tonight felt like the first crack in a guilt box I had spent four years forcing shut.