Chapter 2
Adrian did not come home with me.
He sent a driver.
He walked into our apartment after midnight.
I was still wearing the black dress from the dinner. My shoes were off, but the engagement ring remained on my finger. Adrian loosened his tie, set his phone on the kitchen island, and looked as calm as if he had returned from an ordinary client event.
"How long?"
"A few months."
For those months, I had still slept beside him.
Margaret had sent photographs of June flowers. I had revised drawings at two in the morning, and Adrian had kissed my forehead the next day.
"You were still engaged to me."
"I know."
"Then why..."
"Evelyn."
He cut me off.
"I am not going through tonight again."
I stared at him.
Not because his voice was harsh.
Because he was already tired of the subject.
As if the betrayal were a decision he had finished making and I was simply the last person to receive notice.
"You announced another engagement in front of six hundred people, and now I'm asking too many questions?"
Adrian opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water.
"The outcome won't change because we argue for two hours."
"That's your explanation?"
"I don't owe you another explanation."
He twisted the cap.
"The Whitmores matter to Vale. Charlotte fits the life I have now."
My fingers went cold.
Fifteen years earlier, he had hated that world.
When I could not afford the fabrication fee for my competition model, he sold the watch Richard gave him for his twenty-first birthday.
"Then win. Make it worth it."
Later, in our first leaking studio, he stood behind me and said, "One day, they'll know your name too."
Now he could barely be bothered to give me a reason.
"What happens to me?"
Adrian finally looked at me.
"You're still Chief Designer."
For a second, I did not understand.
"Your team stays yours. Your compensation stays the same. Your projects stay."
"What are you talking about?"
"The end of a personal relationship doesn't require you to destroy your career."
My stomach turned.
"Does Charlotte know?"
"Yes."
"She knows you expect me to keep working for Vale?"
"Yes."
"You discussed me with her?"
His brow tightened.
"I told her you're important to the firm. That's all."
I could barely breathe.
"So you and your new fiancee already decided what happens to me after you replace me."
"Don't make it sound ugly."
My voice rose.
"You planned my place in your life after throwing me out of it, and I was the last person you bothered to tell."
Adrian put the bottle down hard.
"Enough."
The kitchen went still.
"Whitmore meeting. Nine tomorrow."
"I'm not going."
"You are."
Not a request.
I stepped toward him.
"What makes you think..."
"Your team has worked on it for four months."
He cut me off.
"The client won't care how hurt you are. If you don't show up, the project takes the hit. Not me."
"Then let it."
Adrian studied me.
Then he gave a short smile.
"Fine."
He picked up his phone.
"I'll tell Richard you're refusing a client meeting for personal reasons. Your design team can hear it tomorrow too."
My stomach clenched.
He unlocked the screen.
I grabbed his wrist before I thought about it.
Both of us stopped.
Adrian looked down at my hand.
Then at me.
"Should I send it?"
He did not push me away.
He waited.
After several seconds, I slowly let go.
Adrian locked the phone.
"Six-thirty should give you enough time."
He walked out of the kitchen with his water.
I stayed beside the island.
Eventually, I picked up my phone.
The alarm screen glowed beneath my thumb.
I hesitated.
Then set it.
[6:30 A.M.]