Início / Romance / I Married the Man My Ex Could Never Compete With / Capítulo 31 - Capítulo 40

Todos os capítulos de I Married the Man My Ex Could Never Compete With : Capítulo 31 - Capítulo 40

103 Capítulos

After the Confession

Adrian POV The problem with honesty is that it cannot be taken back. The words still exist in the room even after silence returns. I can still see the exact moment Lydia understood them. I married you because I was tired of pretending you belonged to someone else. It had not been planned. Not calculated. Not part of any strategy I built. And that alone makes it dangerous. Morning light spreads across the penthouse slowly, turning the glass walls pale gold. The city is waking beneath us. Markets will open in two hours. Normally I would already be reviewing overnight reports. Instead, I’m standing in the kitchen staring at a cup of coffee that has gone cold. Lydia’s footsteps appear behind me. Soft. Careful. She has always moved that way in the mornings, like she doesn’t want to disturb something fragile. I do not turn around. “You’re awake early,” she says. Her voice still carries sleep in it. I force my attention back to the tablet on the counter.

Silence Feels Different

Lydia POV Morning arrives without sound. No footsteps in the hallway. No low murmur of Adrian’s voice on early calls. No quiet movement signaling that the apartment is already awake before I am. Just silence. It feels wrong immediately. The penthouse has always been quiet, but not empty. Adrian’s presence used to exist like pressure in the air, invisible but constant. Even when we weren’t speaking, I knew exactly where he was. Working. Watching markets. Reading reports at impossible hours. Now the space feels… unoccupied. I sit up slowly, one hand resting instinctively over my stomach before I’m fully conscious of the movement. The habit formed quickly. Too quickly. Sunlight filters through the sheer curtains, pale and cold against the marble floors. My side of the bed is warm. The other side is untouched. He didn’t sleep here. Again. I tell myself it shouldn’t matter. The contract never promised closeness. The shared suite was his decision, not intimacy. Nothing has t

External Pressure Returns

Adrian POV The first alert arrives at 5:12 a.m. Adrian is already awake. Sleep has never been reliable. Not since childhood, not since boardrooms replaced classrooms, not since he learned that losing control happens in moments of inattention. His phone vibrates once against the nightstand. Encrypted channel. Priority tag. He reads the headline preview without opening the full report. FINANCIAL COLUMNISTS QUESTION COLE SUCCESSION TIMELINE His expression doesn’t change. Of course they do. Success invites curiosity. Power invites investigation. But timing determines intent, and this timing is precise enough to qualify as strategy. He sits up, already awake in mind if not in posture. Lydia sleeps beside him, facing away, her breathing soft and uneven. For a brief moment, his attention lingers there before returning to the screen. Work first. Always. He opens the report. Three separate media outlets. Different ownership groups. Same narrative structure. Que

The First Real Argument

Lydia POV The penthouse feels too quiet. Not peaceful. Not calm. Empty. I notice it the moment I step inside. No voices from Adrian’s office. No low hum of calls behind closed doors. No movement shifting the air the way his presence always does. Even the staff move more softly, like the apartment itself understands something has changed. For three days, Adrian has been… distant. Not absent. Worse. Present without reaching. I place my bag on the console table and wait, listening. The city glows through the glass walls, sunset bleeding into steel and gold. Normally he would already know I was home. Normally he would appear within seconds, asking clinical questions disguised as concern. Did you eat? How long were you standing? Why wasn’t security notified about the delay? Now nothing. I walk toward his office. The door is slightly open. He stands inside, back to me, jacket discarded, sleeves rolled neatly to his forearms. Screens glow across the room, numbers moving end

Protective Instinct Escalates

Adrian POV The threat report arrives before sunrise. Adrian reads it without sitting down. Tablet in one hand. Coffee untouched beside him. The city is still dark beyond the glass walls, lights blinking slowly as if the world hasn’t realized yet that something has shifted. Unknown photographer. Unregistered vehicle. Repeated proximity to Lydia’s last two appearances. Pattern confirmed. He reads the file twice. Not because he doubts it. Because confirmation sharpens response. “Who cleared perimeter rotation yesterday?” he asks without looking up. Behind him, Daniel, head of security, answers immediately. “Standard cycle. No breaches detected.” “There was a breach,” Adrian replies calmly. “You just didn’t recognize it.” He hands the tablet back. Daniel scans the images, expression tightening. “Could be paparazzi.” “Paparazzi sell photographs,” Adrian says. “This individual isn’t publishing.” Silence. Meaning understood. Observation without exposure. Surveillance. A

Choosing Him

POV: Lydia The rumors start before breakfast. They arrive quietly at first. A headline buried beneath market reports. A commentator smiling too politely while suggesting concern. Is Mrs. Cole being isolated? Sources claim increased security restrictions around Lydia Cole. Is Adrian Cole protecting his wife… or controlling her? I read the articles without reacting. That surprises me. A month ago, I would have felt exposed and humiliated and defined by other people’s narratives. Now I only feel irritated. Because they’re wrong. Not entirely wrong. But wrong enough to matter. Across the kitchen, Adrian stands near the window scrolling through his tablet. His expression is unreadable, but I notice the stillness in him. The way he absorbs information rather than reacts to it. He already knows. Of course he does. “You’re trending,” I say, setting my phone down. “I’m always trending.” “That wasn’t a compliment.” He glances at me briefly. “Media cycles correct themselves.”

The Mother strikes again

Adrian POV Reputation attacks rarely begin loudly. They begin with invitations. I notice the shift at 6:12 a.m. Three cancellations arrive within five minutes. A charity board postpones collaboration. A private banking partner requests “review time.” An old-money foundation suddenly delays funding approval already signed weeks ago. None of it is accidental. Patterns never are. I set the tablet down beside my coffee. Across the dining table, Lydia reads quietly, unaware that the temperature of our world has already changed. Good. For now. My phone vibrates again. Elias Grant. Old investor. Loyal but cautious. I answer immediately. “You’ve seen it?” he asks without greeting. “I’m looking at consequences,” I reply. A pause. Then, carefully, “Victoria Hale hosted a dinner last night.” Of course she did. Elite warfare prefers private rooms over public statements. “What was discussed?” I ask. Elias exhales. “Your mother.” The word lands without impact on my expression,

The Hidden Account

Adrian POV Patterns hide inside numbers. People lie. Money rarely does. The office floor of Cole Group is almost empty when Damian enters. The glass walls reflect the city lights behind him, turning the room into a floating grid of blue and silver. He shuts the door quietly. “That contractor you asked about,” he says. I don’t look up from the tablet immediately. “Continue.” Damian walks to the desk and sets a folder down. “His name is Gregory Vance. Independent security installer. Small firm. Mostly private residential work.” Nothing unusual. “Background?” “Clean on the surface,” Damian replies. “But the payments funding his projects weren’t coming from his company accounts.” That gets my attention. I set the tablet aside. “Source?” Damian opens the folder and slides several printed pages toward me. “Charitable foundations.” I skim the documents. Three organizations. Each is structured differently. Each is registered in different jurisdictions. Yet the payment r

Fear Of Needing Someone

Adrian POV I wake before the sun. Not because of alarms. Not because of meetings. Because the space beside me is empty. For a moment, I don’t move. The ceiling above the bed fades slowly from darkness into a pale gray as dawn begins pushing through the glass walls of the penthouse. The city is still quiet at this hour. Traffic hasn’t started yet. The financial district sleeps for a few more minutes before numbers begin deciding people’s futures. Normally I would already be in the gym or reviewing overnight reports. Instead, I am lying still, aware of something unfamiliar. Absence. Lydia is not in bed. The sheets on her side are cold. Which means she has been awake for a while. That realization settles into my mind before I can dismiss it. I sit up. The bedroom feels larger than usual. Too quiet. The faint scent of jasmine still lingers on the pillow beside me. I remove my hand from the sheets as if touching the space too long might mean something. Across the room, the

Public Unity

Lydia POV The city has been waiting for this night. You can feel it in the air before the car even reaches the entrance. Spotlights sweep across the glass towers. Camera flashes burst like small explosions along the red carpet. Reporters press against velvet barriers, microphones raised, voices overlapping. The annual Helios Investment Gala is usually just another elite charity event. Tonight it’s something else. Tonight the market wants proof. Proof that Adrian Cole’s empire is stable. Proof that the woman he married at the altar scandal isn’t just a symbol. Proof that the story investors built in their heads is real. The Rolls-Royce slows to a stop. Inside the car, Adrian sits beside me, completely still. Perfectly composed. Black tuxedo. White shirt. No tie yet. His cufflinks catch the light each time the cameras flash through the tinted glass. He has already reviewed the market projections twice during the drive. Cole Group stock opened high this morning. But the a

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