All Chapters of Pretend to Be Mine: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The city lights streak past the car window like blurred warnings, neon flashing across my lap as if the city itself is whispering: turn back. My nerves buzz, but beside me Adrian sits like carved stone—silent, controlled, unreadable. Every flicker of a passing streetlight glances off his profile and leaves it harder to read.Finally, I can’t stand the quiet.“Why bring me?” I whisper. “You could’ve handled Clara yourself.”His gaze cuts to me—sharp but soft at the edges. “Because this isn’t just about me anymore. She came after you. That makes it our fight.”The words are simple, but they wrap around my chest like a net. Dangerous in their weight. For a moment I forget how to breathe.Clara Vance is too calm.She’s waiting at a corner table in one of Manhattan’s sleekest rooftop lounges, wine glass in hand, legs crossed like a queen surveying her court. The city glows beneath her—skyscrapers glittering like jewels—but all I see is the woman who tore my life apart.As we approach, Adri

Adrian Harrington wasn’t a man who reacted—he calculated. But tonight, calculation had teeth.I stood across the polished table from him in his penthouse office, the city glittering like a million unblinking eyes behind the glass. Marcus lounged at my side, but even his usual smirk felt sharpened. A folder lay open between us, spilling photographs and documents across the wood.Adrian’s voice cut through the quiet. “This,” he said, each word precise, “is Clara Vance.”I leaned forward. The dossier read like a confession: shell companies, charity accounts quietly siphoned, investments buried under fake names.“She’s been stealing?” I asked, disbelief and a strange thrill tangling in my chest.“Skimming,” Marcus corrected, tapping a page with the edge of his pen. “Enough to ruin her if the right people see it.”Adrian’s jaw flexed. “The board doesn’t know yet. She’s been careful. But if we leak this—her credibility vanishes. She loses her leverage.”I tasted metal, part fear, part fury.

I hadn’t felt this hollow in years. By morning, my bag sat by the door like a gravestone to everything I’d tried to build here. My decision sat heavy in my chest, an immovable stone. I told myself it was the only way—the only way to keep Maya safe. But every time I thought of Adrian—his steady hand, his impossible gaze—my resolve wavered, cracking like thin glass.Maya sat cross-legged on the couch, arms folded tight, glaring at me like she could burn holes through my choices. “You don’t have to do this,” she said for what felt like the hundredth time.I forced a smile, though it felt brittle. “I do. This isn’t about me, Maya. It’s about you. Clara won’t stop until she destroys one of us, and I won’t let that be you.”Her eyes shimmered, tears she refused to let fall glistening under the morning light. “You think disappearing will save me? She’ll just find another way. That’s what people like her do. They feed on fear.”The words stung. I swallowed hard. “Then I’ll give her mine.”I

The city was already waking when Adrian pulled into the underground garage of his private tower, but I felt like I was still trapped in the night.My ankle throbbed with every heartbeat, my hands trembled around the strap of my bag, and fear clung to me like a second skin. But none of that compared to the storm inside my chest. Clara’s voice still echoed in my head—sharp, venomous, unforgettable: You’re weak, Elena. You don’t belong in his world.Adrian killed the engine, but he didn’t move. He sat there, gripping the steering wheel like it was the only thing keeping him from unraveling. The silence between us stretched, too heavy, too thick.I swallowed hard, my throat dry. “Adrian—”“Don’t.” His voice was low, dangerous, meant for someone else but hitting me anyway.I stared at him, really stared, and for the first time I saw something behind the iron control, the cold steel of his gaze. Fear. Not of Clara. Not of the board. Fear of me slipping away again.The realization twisted so

The boardroom was ice.Twelve directors sat around the long glass table, their suits crisp, their eyes colder than the air-conditioning. Clara’s voice echoed through the speakers, her image flickering across the screen like a ghost that refused to die.“Elena is dangerous. She’s manipulating Adrian. She’ll destroy him—and everything he’s built.”Her words hung heavy, poisoning the air even after the clip ended.No one spoke for a long moment. I could feel their gazes slicing toward me, like I was the scandal personified. My palms were damp where they rested on my lap, and I couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. I didn’t belong here—among billionaires and board members, inside a world made of glass and judgment. But Adrian had insisted I come.“If she attacks you publicly, you face her publicly,” he’d said.Now, I wasn’t so sure he was right.One of the directors cleared his throat, the sound sharp as a blade. “Adrian, this situation has gone too far. The leak, the press conference, now this in