Chapter 3

The next morning at the office, I realized a port contract had been left in Adrian's briefcase.

That document was tied to one of the Moretti family's legitimate shipping lines. I had to get it back.

I went to Black Group headquarters.

When I pushed open the door to Adrian's office, he and Chloe were sitting side by side at his desk, sharing a plate of tomato pasta.

He picked an egg off his plate and placed it on hers.

"You like eggs. Here."

Chloe smiled, sweet as sugar.

"I'm so lucky to have met such a wonderful man."

My presence shattered the intimate atmosphere.

A flicker of panic crossed Adrian's eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"My document ended up in your briefcase."

My voice was low, but cold enough.

I walked to his desk.

He forced himself to stay composed, pulled the document from his briefcase, and handed it to me.

I glanced at his plate — half the pasta already gone — then looked up at him.

"You really do love pasta."

Chloe jumped in immediately, her voice so soft it could shatter.

"Bella, please don't misunderstand. This is all my fault..."

"Did I speak to you?"

I cut her off.

Her mouth snapped shut. Her eyes turned red almost instantly, as if she'd just suffered the gravest injustice imaginable.

And that was the moment I saw exactly how fiercely Adrian protected her.

"Don't blow a small thing out of proportion."

He said that to me, then gently told Chloe to step out.

Chloe walked past me in her stilettos.

I looked down.

The black pointed-toe heels on her feet were mine.

They were my first pair of designer heels — a birthday gift from Nina three years ago.

I raised my arm and blocked Chloe's path.

"Miss Reed, stealing someone's man may not technically be a crime, but stealing their belongings is a different story."

"Bella, what do you mean? Is there some kind of misunderstanding?"

The words barely left her mouth before the tears started falling, as though I'd just humiliated her in public.

Adrian immediately pulled her behind him, shielding her.

"Bella! What the hell are you talking about?"

"Apologize to Chloe."

In eight years, I had never once lost my temper with him.

I went along with everything, so we almost never argued, never even raised our voices at each other.

Now, watching him bark at me to defend a woman he'd known less than six months, he suddenly felt like a stranger.

Like I had never truly known him at all.

Chloe stood behind him, wearing an expression of delicate, wounded thoughtfulness.

"Bella, please don't be angry. It was thoughtless of me — I had no sense of boundaries."

"I made you jealous and caused a misunderstanding. I'll be more careful in the future."

Adrian's voice was sharp with impatience.

"It's just a plate of pasta. Is this really necessary?"

My heart felt numb with cold.

"So it's not that you don't like pasta. You just hadn't met the person you wanted to eat it with."

"I just didn't want to turn down her kindness."

I laughed, but there was no warmth in it.

"Didn't want to turn down her kindness. So instead, you turned down the woman who invited you to eat pasta for eight years."

His face darkened further.

"Are you seriously making a federal case out of this with an outsider?"

I looked at him, my voice even colder.

"She's the outsider? I'm pretty sure I'm the outsider here."

"What has gotten into you today? You're jealous over something this petty?"

I pointed at the shoes on Chloe's feet.

"You brought her to our home. You let her wear my shoes."

"Adrian, I've been too good to you for eight years. That's what made you think you could trample my dignity underfoot."

Adrian froze for a second, then looked down at Chloe's shoes.

He recovered quickly.

"Those shoes — I gave them to her as a reward."

"She had a strong quarter. You're mistaken. They're not yours."

"And Chloe would never take someone else's things without permission."

Chloe immediately bent down to remove the shoes, tears falling even faster.

"Bella, I wasn't thinking. I caused a misunderstanding."

"Please don't be upset. I'll take them off."

Emotions churned inside my chest.

In eight years with Adrian, he had never once picked out a gift for me with his own hands.

Not once.

All he ever gave me was an account card, telling me to buy whatever I liked.

I used to complain that he wasn't romantic, that he never gave me gifts.

Every single time, he'd say, "The money's all yours. Buy whatever you want."

"I don't know how to pick things women like."

So it wasn't that he didn't know how.

He just didn't care enough to try for me.

"The floor is cold. Put them back on." When Adrian spoke to Chloe, his voice was full of concern.

I looked at the shoes, ice in my gaze.

"Every pair from that brand has a unique code on the inside."

"The pair Nina gave me has the code 8888."

I looked at Adrian.

"Don't tell me the pair you supposedly gave her just happens to have the same code."

Chloe picked up the shoe by her right foot and checked the code inside.

The next second, she cried even harder.

"I'm sorry, Bella. A couple of days ago, Boss had too much to drink, and I took him home."

"I didn't realize I'd put on the wrong shoes. It was careless of me. I'm so sorry."

I looked at her pathetic little act, and there wasn't an ounce of warmth in my voice.

"An apology won't cut it. You wore my shoes. I won't be taking them back."

"Pay me. Ninety-eight thousand."

She froze, then looked to Adrian for help.

Adrian spoke up immediately. "It's just a pair of shoes. I'll pay you back."

"Don't make things hard for the girl. She didn't mean to."

And with that, he transferred a hundred thousand to me.