Chapter 8: Definitely not yours

Nadine’s POV

The roar of the private jet’s engines died down as we touched the tarmac of the city I had vowed never to return to.

Seven years.

Seven years of running, hiding, and building an empire from nothing in the shadows, the contract with the Apex Global brought me back.

Keeping my identity as the mystery CEO and head researcher behind the nation's leading medical research facility hadn't been easy, but it had kept me safe. It had kept my children safe. But bringing our breakthrough project to its new home base meant coming face-to-face with the ghosts I had left behind.

"Mommy, are we there?" Natalie yawned, rubbing her eyes as she sat up in her seat.

"We are, sweetie," I murmured, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead while reaching over to brush back Nathaniel’s messy curls.

Roman unbuckled his seatbelt and gave me an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder. "The car is waiting. I’ll take the kids to the hotel and get them settled into the playground area while you head straight to the facility for the preliminary board meeting. Sound like a plan?"

"You're a lifesaver, Roman," I said softly, my chest tightening with genuine gratitude.

"Always, Nadine," he replied warmly, "Go show them who runs this place."

~~~

Walking through the double doors of the facility, wearing a sharp tailored suit and holding my leather briefcase, no one looking at me saw the struggling mother who once cried herself to sleep on a rented mattress. They saw the executive. The doctor. The mystery CEO.

I entered the top-floor conference room, my heels clicking rhythmically against the marble floor but my feet came to a sudden, grinding halt the second my eyes landed on the man sitting at the head of the table.

Adrian Kingsley.

He looked infuriatingly unchanged. Tailored navy suit, broad shoulders, dark hair perfectly styled, and those piercing grey eyes that was always void of any warmth. He turned his head as I walked in, and for a fraction of a second, his face contorted in absolute shock.

"Nadine?" he whispered.

I maintained an unreadable mask as I took my seat across from him. "Dr. Ivory," I corrected coldly, opening my leather folder. "Let's stick to professional titles, Mr. Kingsley."

The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a scalpel. The board members exchanged nervous glances as we sped through the operational handover and preliminary project details.

I dominated the presentation, speaking with authoritative precision about our clinical trials and biopharmaceutical research, never once letting my voice waver under Adrian’s relentless, burning gaze.

The moment the meeting was formally adjourned, the board members practically scrambled out of the room, sensing the invisible war brewing between us.

I stood up, packing my documents into my briefcase.

"Why are you here, Nadine?" Adrian asked, his voice cutting through the quiet room as the door clicked shut behind the last director. "After seven years of vanishing into thin air... why come back now?"

I snapped my briefcase shut and looked him dead in the eye.

"I came back to oversee the facility's expansion," I said smoothly, stepping around the table to face him. "And to finalize our divorce and end things for good. Considering the news of your upcoming wedding to my sister, I figure it’s time we finally sever the tie. Wouldn't want your new marriage to be bigamous, would we?"

Adrian flinched, a flicker of genuine pain crossing his sharp features before he masked it with anger. He took a step closer, closing the distance between us until I could smell the familiar, intoxicating scent of his cologne.

"Seven years, Nadine. You left without a word. Did you ever... did you ever feel a damn thing for me while we were married? Or was I just a mistake you couldn't wait to run from?"

My heart slammed violently against my ribs. A part of me wanted to scream the truth at him—to tell him how deeply I fell for him, how much he had broken me, and how jealous I felt that he still chose my twin.

But I looked at his handsome, arrogant face and remembered the silence, the coldness, and the way he had let me walk away. I wasn't going to feed his insatiable ego.

"No," I lied, keeping my voice as flat and emotionless as stone. "Never."

The air in the room instantly went rigid.

Adrian’s eyes darkened, a storm of frustration and raw desire flashing across his face. Before I could process his movement, his hand shot out, cupping the back of my neck and pulling me forward.

His lips crashed onto mine with a fierce, desperate passion that swept me off my feet.

It was a chaotic, punishing kiss filled with seven years of unspoken rage, grief, and undeniable hunger. For one terrifying second, my hands gripped his lapels, my body betraying me as I kissed him back, melting into the familiar sensation. The taste of him threatened to break every single wall I had spent nearly a decade building.

Suddenly, the door flew open.

"Mommy!"

The sound of the small, harmonized voices of the twins shattered the spell like a brick through glass.

I violently shoved Adrian backward, breaking the kiss as I gasped for air, my lips burning and my face flushed with heat.

Nathaniel and Natalie stood in the doorway, holding brightly colored balloons, with Roman standing right behind them, holding two small shopping bags.

Roman’s eyes drifted from my flushed face to Adrian, his jaw clenching as his relaxed composure instantly transformed into protective vigilance.

Adrian froze, his chest heaving as his eyes dropped from me down to the two children standing at my side. He stared at their faces, taking in Natalie’s sharp grey eyes and Nathaniel’s dark, wavy hair—features that were unmistakable carbon copies of his.

His face turned white. "Nadine... w-who are they?" he stammered, his voice trembling as he took a tentative step toward them. "We are still married, so whose children are these?"

I gave him a cold smirk, "Definitely not yours," I sneered, stepping swiftly in front of the twins to block his view. I reached down, grabbing their hands tightly and didn't even glance back at Adrian as I swept past him, marching straight toward the open door where Roman stood waiting.

"Let's go, Roman," I commanded quietly, keeping my head held high as I led my children out of the room, leaving Adrian alone in the silence of his own regret.