Amidst the furious pounding of her heart, Leah Sterling heard a soft chuckle.
She suddenly opened her eyes, only to see Adrian Hawthorne with a slight smirk playing on his lips.
He gently brushed his fingers against her cheek.
“Make sure to wash your face after playing in the mud…”
Leah finally snapped back to reality.
She must have accidentally smudged some clay on her cheek earlier while sketching and working on the pottery.
She raised a hand to rub her face.
Her cheeks flushed red, though whether it was from the friction of her hand or the sudden rush of her emotions, she couldn’t tell.
Leah tried to stand, but a second later, a heavy suit jacket was draped over her shoulders.
It enveloped her, carrying a crisp, cold cedar scent.
Standing up, she raised her gaze and met his deep, dark eyes.
“I’m not cold,” she whispered.
Silas Sinclair clicked his tongue nearby.
“You’re just hiding Leah from us because she looks so pretty.”
Silas’s teasing reminded Leah that her everyday clothes were still at Seaview Manor; she hadn’t brought them back to The Verdant.
Since moving back into The Verdant, she had simply been wearing whatever she pulled from the wardrobe—designer haute couture pieces that Adrian had ordered delivered every season.
There was a reason haute couture earned its name.
The tailoring was impeccable, perfectly accentuating her curves, highlighting her best features while masking any flaws.
After leaving Night River and getting into the car, Leah took off his jacket and handed it back to him.
“I’ll go pick up my clothes tomorrow and bring them to The Verdant,” she said.
Adrian sat in the passenger seat, an elbow resting on the door and his long fingers propping up his face.
He watched her lazily, his eyes half-closed.
“Why bother?
It’s not like you have nothing to wear at home,” he said, a smirk tugging at his lips.
“I only said you looked good, not that you couldn’t wear them.”
Her cheeks grew inexplicably hot.
She cleared her throat and started the car.
“When did you ever say I looked good?”
“In my head,” Adrian replied with perfect confidence.
Perhaps he was relaxed from the alcohol; after saying this, the man even raised an eyebrow, looking rather pleased with himself.
Leah opened her mouth but failed to produce a sound for a long moment.
She used to think Adrian was so sharp-tongued because he hated her.
Now, she was starting to realize that it had nothing to do with his feelings toward her.
The man was just naturally insufferable!
“You’re cursing me in your head,” Adrian drawled, leaning back comfortably in his seat.
“I’m not,” Leah murmured.
Adrian let out a low chuckle, lifting a hand to cover his eyes.
“Leah, ever since you were little, whatever you were thinking has always been written right in your eyes.
I can read you at a glance.”
Leah didn’t respond.
She tightened her grip on the steering wheel, her eyes fixed on the road ahead, its surface dappled with the uneven glow of the streetlights.
She wondered silently if that were true.
If he could read her so easily, did that mean all her foolish fantasies about him over the years had been completely transparent to him?
Leah had loved Adrian once, for many years.
She had thought that even though their arranged marriage was abrupt, it might yield a good outcome if she nurtured it carefully.
After all, most marriages in their social circle started out this way and relied entirely on mutual effort afterward.
But time and time again, she was met with his icy demeanor.
It was an exhausting cycle of constant tearing and healing.
At first, it hurt.
She felt sad and deeply wronged.
But gradually, her heart had just gone numb.
Leah had always thought she hid her feelings well, that no one had noticed.
She figured that as long as her love remained a secret, bearing the brunt of his misplaced anger in their marriage wouldn’t feel quite so humiliating.
To the outside world, they were just making do; neither was emotionally invested.
Before their impending divorce, she had received so much financial compensation that it almost looked like she had come out on top.
But the moment genuine feelings and true love were involved, the losses became incalculable.
The excruciating five-year process of watching her heart turn from hot, to cold, to frozen solid could never be quantified with money.
And in this marriage, in Adrian’s eyes, her devotion had likely made her look incredibly pathetic.
It felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head.
The pounding heart and boiling blood she had felt just moments ago, stirred up by his careless teasing, plummeted to freezing point in an instant.
Adrian remained completely oblivious to her inner turmoil.
In front of him, she had always been exactly like this—quiet and docile.
The next day.
Robert Rhodes handed an invitation for a charity auction to Adrian.
“Mr.
Hawthorne, an invitation from the Lancaster Family in Marinus.”
Adrian glanced at it.
“Tell the people at Elysian to send over their new season’s gowns for Leah to choose from.
Have her get ready to attend with me.” An image of Leah wearing that haute couture outfit last night flashed through his mind, and he quickly added, “Actually, send over all their new haute couture pieces, too.”
“Understood,” Robert said, immediately getting to work.
However, word soon came back.
“She’s not home?” Adrian tapped his fingers lightly against his desk.
“No, sir, and her phone is unreachable,” Robert replied.
“Then try again later.” Adrian didn’t think much of it and stood up to prepare for his next meeting.
But by the time he got off work, Leah’s phone was still disconnected.
Adrian got into his car, his brows knitting together.
Something felt wrong.
“To Cressida Corp,” Adrian ordered.
His driver reacted quickly.
He had already turned the steering wheel toward The Verdant, but he instantly made a sharp U-turn and headed straight for Cressida Corp.
Having recently secured investment for her project, Charlotte Quinn was naturally swamped.
Leaving work on time was a physical impossibility.
Still, a surprise after-hours visit from her biggest investor was the last thing she expected.
“Adrian…
Mr.
Hawthorne?” Charlotte’s eyes widened in surprise.
“What…
what brings you here?” As she spoke, she instructed her secretary to brew some tea.
“No need,” Adrian declined flatly.
“I’m not here on business.”
“Not on business?
Then…
are you here for Leah?” Charlotte asked.
Adrian pointed at Charlotte’s phone.
“Call Leah.
I can’t get through to her.”
In truth, Adrian had already had Robert try calling her on the way over, to no avail.
But perhaps because he had been blocked by his wife before, Adrian was incredibly sensitive about not being able to reach her.
Charlotte picked up her phone and dialed the number, but she couldn’t get through either.
Panic immediately began to set in.
Then, she noticed an unread WhatsApp message from Leah and suddenly remembered.
“Mr.
Hawthorne, my apologies, I’ve been so busy my brain is fried.
Leah told me earlier that she was going on a business trip to Lantheon.”
“Isn’t she just holding a nominal position at your company?
A business trip?
You really do squeeze every drop of value out of people.” Adrian fixed his sharp gaze on Charlotte.
“Ms.
Quinn, you don’t actually think I invested thirty million in your company just so my wife could slave away for you, do you?”
Charlotte had long heard that The Overlord had a venomous tongue, but she had never experienced it firsthand until recently.
After enduring it twice, she truly ached for her best friend.
What kind of agonizing life had Leah survived these past few years?
If it weren’t for the thirty million, Charlotte would have slapped him twice across the face.
Right now, she could only repeatedly remind herself that it wasn’t just thirty million.
The Overlord had poured over thirty million into her project, gifted Leah initial shares worth another thirty million, transferred a seaview penthouse worth over ten million, and handed her five million in cash.
Added together, the sum was inching toward a massive fortune!
As the internet joke went, for that kind of money, a person would gladly wait on his entire family hand and foot for three generations!
She had to bear it!
She had to bear it at all costs!
“Leah went to Lantheon to personally select a batch of clay,” Charlotte said, beaming brightly even as she violently cursed him out in her head.