All Chapters of The Billionaire's Rebel Fiancée: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Adriana's POVTuesday morning arrived with rain tapping against my window, and I woke up thinking about work, the algorithm we had cracked yesterday, and the presentation that will be due Friday. Only after I was dressed and halfway to the door did I realize I had not thought about Zayn first.The café was already warm with steam and conversation when I arrived, and Andrew sat in our corner booth with two coffees waiting. He looked up from his laptop and smiled in an easy way that made everything feel comfortable instead of complicated."You are early," I said while sliding into the seat across from him."So are you." He pushed the coffee toward me. "Black with one sugar, still your preference?""You remember.""I remember everything you say," he said casually, like paying attention was not a choice but a reflex. "Yesterday you mentioned wanting to start earlier today to review the data models before the team meeting."I wrapped my hands around the cup and felt something warm settle i

Adriana's POVThursday night bled into Friday morning somewhere around two when Andrew and I were still hunched over laptops in the conference room with coffee cups scattered across the table like evidence of how long we had been working, the presentation was due at nine and we were still refining the final algorithm visualization."Try rotating the axis," I said while leaning closer to his screen.He adjusted the model and suddenly everything clicked into place, the data pattern we had been chasing for hours finally revealing itself in clean beautiful lines that made sense."That's it," Andrew said, his voice rough from exhaustion and excitement, "that's exactly what we needed."We both stood at the same time and his hand came up for a high five that turned into something else when our palms connected, fingers lacing together instead of pulling apart, and for some seconds we stood there holding hands while the world narrowed to just the warmth of skin against skin and the way his eye

Adriana's POVSaturday morning arrived with sunlight that felt too bright for my feelings and I woke up thinking about yesterday's walk through Milan with Andrew looking at architecture and art and somehow I had laughed more than I had in weeks. And I must say that at some point during the afternoon it stopped feeling like colleagues exploring a city and started feeling like something else entirely.The realization sat heavy in my chest while I made coffee, Sage's words from the other night kept playing on repeat, a Milan tour is date territory and you know that right, and the worst part was she was right. I did know, I had known it when I agreed and gone anyway because I was tired and hurt and Zayn's jealous voice was still echoing in my head.My phone buzzed with a delivery notification, I answered the door to find a courier holding a small velvet box that screamed expensive before I even opened it. Inside sat a diamond pendant on a platinum chain, this would cost more than most

Adriana's POVSaturday evening came with the team suggesting we celebrate finishing the presentation and I almost said no because all I wanted was to stay home and wait for Zayn to finally read my message, but Andrew mentioned it would be good for morale and I did not have a good reason to refuse.Zayn had texted back earlier saying he loved me too but also mentioned he had evening obligations and would call me later, which felt vague in a way that bothered me but I have decided not to read too much meaning into it.The restaurant was warm and loud with people unwinding after a hard week, our team filled a long table near the back and I ended up sitting between Andrew and one of the junior analysts who kept asking technical questions about algorithm design.Andrew was different tonight, more careful with boundaries, keeping conversation professional and I appreciated that he seemed to understand my text about focusing on the project at hand."You did excellent work this week," he sai

Adriana's POVI sat on my couch staring at that photo while Andrew stood awkwardly near my door because somehow he had ended up following me home when I left the restaurant early and I was too upset to tell him to leave."You said her name is Isabella Nuel?" I asked without looking up from my screen."Yeah," Andrew moved a bit closer, "she used to model for major fashion houses, now she does consulting for luxury brands and high level mergers, she is pretty famous in the wealthy circles."Famous, beautiful, standing beside my boyfriend like she belonged there, and suddenly every inadequacy I had ever felt about dating someone like Zayn came crashing down on me all at once.I was a data analyst from a normal background wearing clothes from regular stores while he moved in circles with women who had their own Wikipedia pages.My phone started buzzing repeatedly and when I looked down I saw message after message from Zayn, not just texts but photo attachments flooding my screen faster be