Chapter 12
He grabbed the papers so tightly his knuckles became white.
Charlotte gulped. “Sir… she owns part of your company now.”
Adrian sprang up from his chair, his pulse thundering in his ears.
“No.”
No, no, no.
This wasn’t possible. This wasn’t happening.
His mind raced back to last night.
To her tranquility, her control, the way she had smiled when he signed.
She had played him.
He had gone straight into her trap.
Adrian’s breath came fast, his palms tightened into fists.
For the first time since she returned, he noticed it. She wasn’t the lady he had once known. She wasn’t Isabella anymore. She was something colder, sharper and ruthless. And she had just
won.
Across the city, Aria sat in her office, sipping her coffee, her phone humming with new news.
Liam chuckled from across the room, shaking his head. “You didn’t just beat him, Aria. You burned him to the ground.”
Aria grinned, setting her cup down. “He had it coming.”
Her phone vibrated: Adrian Marsden.
Calling. Again.
She stared at the screen for a time, then slowly, deliberately…
She pressed decline.
The world had hardly recovered from the shock of Isabella Marsden’s reappearance when another bombshell landed.
The headlines came first.
“Breaking News: Aria Laurent and Billionaire Liam Carter Are Engaged!”
“A Business Power Move or a Love Story? The Truth Behind Aria Laurent’s Engagement!”
“Adrian Marsden’s Former Wife to Marry His Rival!”
Then followed the speculation. The whispering. The disbelief.
The media went bananas. And Adrian? Adrian lost it.
Aria sat at her desk, skimming through a contract she wasn’t actually reading.
Her phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. Calls. Texts. Emails.
Everyone wanted a statement and a confirmation. Because no one had seen it coming.
No one but her.
She had planned this. Every step of it.
Liam had been more than eager to play along. The engagement announcement was just another move–another premeditated blow against Adrian Marsden. And judging by the manner he had been attempting to contact her since the news broke, it was working.
A strong knock rang at her office door, but before she could respond-
It flew open.
The moment Adrian stormed in, she knew he had snapped.
His hair was ruffled, his tie unfastened, his customary air of control nowhere to be found.
He looked like a man on the edge of catastrophe.
She tilted her head, unimpressed. “You really should learn how to wait for an invitation, Adrian.”
His mouth clinched as he stalked forward.
“You can’t marry him.”
Aria raised a brow, entirely unaffected. “Can’t I?”
Adrian paused just in front of her desk, his eyes dark, wild with something raw.
His hand crashed down against the wood. “No.”
A small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. She adored this. Watching him crumble, watching him come undone piece by piece.
“Why not?” she asked, her voice light. “He never betrayed me. He never made me feel worthless.”
Adrian’s entire body stilled, like her words had literally hurt him.
Aria leaned forward slightly, her eyes fixed into his. “Tell me, Adrian–what exactly gives you the right to storm in here like this? To demand anything from me?” His breathing was harsh, irregular. “Because I know you don’t love him.”
She laughed softly. “And?”
His lists clinched at his sides. “And you don’t belong to him.”
Her smile didn’t disappear. “I don’t belong to anyone.”
His control shattered.
In a rapid movement, his hand gripped her wrist, pulling her up from her chait.
Chapter 12
2/2
“Adrian,” she warned, her voice low.
His grip was firm but not harsh. Desperate.
“You don’t love him,” he cried again, his voice breaking.
Aria studied him, her expression unreadable. “I don’t need to love him.”
Adrian’s chest rose and fell fast, his fingertips shaking on her flesh. “Then what are you doing?”
She didn’t blink “I’m moving on.”
His throat clenched. “With him?”
“Why not?” she muttered. “He’s powerful. He’s regarded. And unlike you—-” she leaned in, her lips just inches from his ear, whispering the final blow-“he never made me feel like I was nothing.”
Adrian’s entire body locked.
Pain flickered through his eyes.
He had spent months seeking for her, grieving her, just to have her come back and obliterate him totally.
And now, suddenly she was selecting someone else.
His voice was hoarse when he talked. “I made a mistake.”
Aria’s eyes didn’t waver. “Yes. You did”
Adrian breathed, his grasp gently easing on her wrist. His eyes carried something deadly.
“Please….” his voice sank to a whisper. “Don’t leave me.”
For the first time, Aria felt something shift inside her. Not sympathy. Not regret. Just the weight of the past. The weight of what they used to be.
For a time, just a moment, she almost believed him. But then she remembered the treachery, the evenings she spent alone, grieving in solitude while he was with someone else.
She jerked her wrist free, stepping back. Her eyes were clear and steady.
“You already lost me, Adrian”
His breathing hitched
She watched as understanding settled in.
For months, he had convinced himself that if he could just find her, he could solve things. That she would come back. That she still belonged to him.
But now, when she gazed at him with nothing but detachment, he finally understood.
She wasn’t coming back. She was never his to begin with.
And for the first time, Adrian Marsden felt completely powerless.
Aria took a long breath, smoothing out the creases in her dress.
“You should go.”
Adrian’s fingers tightened into fists, his body rigid as if he was fighting himself.
But he didn’t argue. Didn’t fight. Because what was left to fight for?
Without further comment, he turned and walked away.
As the door clicked shut behind him, Aria sat back down, inhaling deeply.
She reached for her phone, opening a fresh message.
Aria: It’s done.
A response came within seconds.
Liam: Good Now we finish it.
Aria glanced at the screen for a second before setting the phone down.
This wasn’t simply about moving on. It was about ending Adrian Marsden for good.
