CHAPTER 2

"Who did this to you, Chloe?"

The question hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. Adrian’s stormy gray eyes were locked onto mine, searching my face with an intensity that made my knees weak. He wasn't looking at me like I was a subordinate, or a fat girl who had made a scene. He was looking at me like I was something precious that had been vandalized.

Before I could even process the question, the sharp, aggressive clicking of designer heels shattered the silence.

"Adrian! Oh my god, what are you doing down here?"

Liam marched down the hallway, Bella trailing behind him like a pampered poodle. Liam’s face was flushed with annoyance, his eyes darting from his towering, imposing older brother to my tear-stained face. He didn't look concerned. He looked embarrassed that I was causing a spectacle.

"Chloe is having a bit of an emotional breakdown," Liam said dismissively, waving a hand in my direction as if I were a annoying fly. "I was just telling her to take the rest of the day off. You know how women get."

Adrian didn’t even look at his brother. His gaze remained fixed on me, his jaw ticking. "I didn't ask you, Liam. I asked her."

Liam blinked, clearly taken aback by the icy disregard. He puffed out his chest, trying to summon the authority of a soon-to-be Senior Director. "Adrian, come on. I’m in the middle of prepping for the board presentation. If Chloe is going to be hysterical, security should escort her out. She’s disrupting the floor."

Slowly, deliberately, Adrian turned his head to look at Liam. The temperature in the hallway seemed to drop ten degrees. The sheer, unadulterated disgust radiating from the CEO was palpable. The entire fourteenth floor was watching, pretending to work while straining to hear every word.

"You're prepping for a presentation," Adrian repeated, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "Based on the Q3 marketing projections. The ones you didn't create."

Liam’s face drained of color. "I... what? Adrian, I don't know what you're talking about. I put the team together—"

"You stole her work," Adrian interrupted, his voice slicing through the air like a whip. "You took Chloe’s preliminary drafts, stripped her name from the metadata, and presented them to the VP as your own. I saw the server logs this morning."

My breath hitched. Adrian knew. He had known since this morning.

"That's a lie!" Liam sputtered, his eyes darting nervously around the watching employees. "Chloe is just an assistant! She doesn't have the strategic vision for—"

"Enough," Adrian snapped. The single word cracked like a gunshot. He stepped closer to Liam, using his massive height to cast a literal shadow over his younger brother. "You are arrogant, Liam. You are lazy. And you are profoundly stupid. But the thing that makes you utterly unforgivable in my eyes... is how you treat the woman standing in front of you."

Liam swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Adrian, she's just my girlfriend. I can handle her—"

"She is not your girlfriend," Adrian said coldly. "Because if you were truly mine, I would have fired you for incompetence months ago. But you aren't mine. You're a liability. And you just became a very expensive one."

Bella let out a nervous, high-pitched giggle, trying to break the tension. "Mr. Vance, surely this is just a lovers' quarrel. Liam was just telling me how much he hates her eating habits, it's just a joke—"

Adrian’s head snapped toward Bella. His eyes were so cold they looked like frozen steel. "And you are?"

"Bella. I'm an intern. I'm in Liam's department," she said, her voice trembling slightly but her chin held high.

"An intern," Adrian mused. "Who is currently on the clock, drinking a seven-dollar latte, while her supervisor is busy embezzling intellectual property and emotionally abusing his partner." He pulled out his phone, his thumbs flying across the screen. "Security will escort you both out of the building in five minutes. Bella, your internship is terminated for violating the fraternization and conduct policy. Liam... you'll be hearing from legal regarding the stolen campaigns."

"You can't do this!" Liam shrieked, his handsome face twisting into an ugly, red mask of rage. "I'm your brother! Dad will hear about this! You can't fire me over a fat, crying mess like her!"

The silence that followed was absolute.

I squeezed my eyes shut, a fresh wave of tears spilling over. *A fat, crying mess.* The words echoed in my skull, a cruel reminder of my reality.

But then, a large, warm hand gently cupped my jaw.

Adrian’s thumb brushed away a tear from my cheek, his touch incredibly tender, a stark contrast to the lethal fury in his eyes as he looked back at Liam.

"Look at me, Chloe," Adrian murmured, his voice a soft, commanding velvet.

I opened my eyes, looking up into his face.

"Your brother is a blind, pathetic fool," Adrian said, his voice carrying just enough for Liam to hear. "He looks at a masterpiece and complains about the frame. If you ever speak to her, or about her, again, Liam, I won't just fire you. I will ensure you never work in this city again. Get out of my sight."

Liam stood there, mouth open, shaking with impotent rage. Bella was sobbing quietly into her hands.

Adrian didn't wait for them to leave. He kept his hand on my jaw, his thumb stroking my skin, grounding me. "Come with me," he said softly.