جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 60

☠️Adrian☠️I see Vivian before she reaches me. For a second, I don’t move.She walks through the ballroom with the same confidence she has always carried. Heads turn as she passes. Conversations pause. Cameras follow her.Vivian has always known how to command a room. Usually, I would find it amusing.Tonight, I don’t. Because I know exactly why she’s here, and I know exactly what happened the last time I saw her.Her eyes find mine.Recognition flashes across her face, followed by something I can’t quite name. Then she starts walking toward me.Fuck.I glance toward the corridor. Sophie is still somewhere across, she’s standing beside Sandy, watching us. The memory of her question returns immediately.“Do you actually want me?”My jaw tightens.Then Vivian stops in front of me. “Adrian.” Her voice is calm.I look at her. “Vivian.”For a moment, neither of us says anything. She studies me carefully. “You look surprised.”“I am.”A faint smile touches her lips. “I didn’t think you wou

❤️Sophie❤️ Vivian stops in front of us. Up close, she is even more striking. I understand immediately why people turned to look when she entered. There is something effortless about her. She doesn’t seem to need anyone’s attention, yet somehow the entire room keeps giving it to her. Her eyes settle on me. Then she smiles. “Hi. You must be Sophie.” My brows pull together. “You know me?” “Of course.” She gives a small laugh. “Adrian has mentioned you.” My stomach drops. Adrian has mentioned me? Before I can ask what exactly he said, Sandy practically jumps between us. “I’m Sandy.” Vivian turns to her. For the first time since she arrived, her expression changes. “Hi, Sandy.” Sandy’s mouth falls open. “You just called my name.” Vivian smiles. “Of course.” Sandy looks at me with an expression that says she might actually die right here. I almost laugh. Almost. Because my attention has already returned to Vivian. She turns back to me. “I’m Vivian Laurent.” “I know.” A smal

❤️Sophie❤️ I don’t sleep. I lie in bed staring at the ceiling, replaying Adrian’s words over and over. “Because I already know what I don't want.” I should feel relieved. He doesn’t want Vivian. That should be enough. So why isn’t it? I turn onto my side and pull the blanket closer. My mind keeps returning to the same thought. Vivian. Beautiful. Confident. Successful. And experienced with Adrian. I close my eyes. I shouldn’t care. But I do. The worst part isn’t that they slept together. It’s that Adrian seemed completely comfortable with her. He knew her. He trusted her. He had allowed himself to be something with her that he never seems willing to be with me. And suddenly, another thought creeps into my mind. Maybe the problem is me. Maybe I’m not beautiful enough. Maybe I’m not what he wants. Maybe when he looks at me, he sees a wife he was forced to marry instead of a woman he actually desires. My chest tightens. I hate that thought. I hate it even more because I can’t m

☠️Adrian☠️ I rarely come here. The thought crosses my mind as I step through the glass doors of my office. Most of my business is handled elsewhere. Meetings happen where I want them to happen. Decisions reach me before they reach most people who work for me. I don’t need to sit behind a desk to control a company. But today is different. Today, I need to see everything myself. “Good morning, Mr. Blackwood.” I barely acknowledge the receptionist. The entire floor becomes quieter as I walk through it. People straighten. Phones lower. Conversations stop. I don’t care. I head straight for the private office at the end of the corridor. The door closes behind me. For the first time in weeks, I sit behind my own desk. A file is already waiting for me. Mercury. I open it. The numbers are exactly where I expected them to be. Felix Harrison is in trouble. Not the kind of trouble a man can hide by selling a few properties or moving money between accounts. Real trouble. His outstand

☠️Adrian☠️ The Mercury deal is complete. I sit back in my chair and look at the final confirmation on my screen. Transferred. Felix Harrison no longer owns the company. For years, Mercury was the one thing he would never willingly surrender. Now it belongs to someone else, and Felix has no one to blame but himself. I take a slow sip of whiskey. The first part is done. But Mercury was never the endgame. It was only the first piece. I reach for the second file on my desk. Sophie Harrison. Her name is printed across the front. I open it. I have already had my people investigate the obvious things—bank accounts, properties, investments, trusts, companies connected to her family. Most of it is complicated. Her grandparents didn’t leave Sophie a simple inheritance that could be transferred into her father’s account. They had planned for her. Carefully. There are properties. Investment portfolios. Shares. Several private accounts. And one trust large enough to make me