Pretended to Need Quiet, Loved Another’s Chaos Chapter 08

Pretended to Need Quiet, Loved Another’s Chaos Chapter 08

After the meeting, I invited Liam into my office.

We hadn’t seen each other in years, and neither of us could believe how quickly the time had

passed.

“I saw on Instagram that your son is five now.”

Liam nodded and pulled up a photo on his phone.

“He’s a little menace. My wife can barely keep up with him. Once this campaign wraps, I’m taking a long vacation so I can spend more time with them.”

I smiled.

“You look happy.”

“I am. I used to think happiness had to be some huge, passionate love story. Now I think it’s the ordinary days you build with your family.”

He glanced at me.

“What about you? Are you and Adrian doing well?”

My smile stiffened. I looked away and gave a small shrug.

“We’re getting divorced.”

Liam stared at me.

“Why? You loved him so much back then, and he was crazy about you.”

“One of my employees went to college with you two. I’ve seen the old pictures. You looked perfect

together.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

I had loved Adrian once, and he had once said he loved me too.

But that belonged to the past.

Voices rose outside my office.

“Mr. Pierce, Ms. Dawson is meeting with a client. You can’t just…”

The door swung open.

The moment Adrian saw Liam, his expression turned dark.

Liam seemed to understand immediately and stood.

“We can finish catching up at the next meeting. I should get going.”

I motioned for my assistant to walk him out.

“Say hi to your wife for me. I’d love to take both of you to dinner sometime and thank you for the

opportunity.”

“You don’t owe me anything. Your team’s concept impressed my staff. I didn’t even know your agency was involved until today.”

Liam waved off my thanks.

“Besides, we haven’t seen each other in six years. Dinner should be on me. Consider it a thank-you for bringing my wife and me together. She’s always wanted to thank you too.’

“Sounds good.”

Liam smiled and headed out. He gave Adrian a brief nod as they passed each other.

Adrian’s back went rigid.

Once the door closed and we were alone, he asked awkwardly, “I thought you terminated the Pierce

account because Liam gave you another project.”

I frowned.

“I ended the partnership because you kept making things difficult for us. Liam had nothing to do

with it.”

Adrian swallowed hard, as if the truth had finally hit him.

“I was waiting for you to ask me.”

“Ask you what?”

“Why I didn’t name the brand IVY.”

“It was your company’s brand, Adrian. The name wasn’t my decision.”

“But we came up with IVY together in college.”

“And then you replaced it with FAYELLE, after Faye.”

Adrian struggled to catch his breath.

I couldn’t tell what was going through his mind, but the regret in his eyes was unmistakable.

“Did I ruin everything?”

He spoke more to himself than to me.

“I thought you’d never gotten over Liam. I thought you took sleeping pills because you couldn’t

stand being around me.”

“Then I saw the proposal for Liam’s automotive company on your computer. I assumed you’d been talking to him behind my back and giving my campaign so little attention because he’d offered you

another one.”

I cut off his rambling.

“All you ever did was assume. Why didn’t you ask me?”

I lowered my voice.

“Or did you never trust me at all?”

Adrian lowered his head and closed his eyes. He cursed under his breath, then strode toward me.

“Now I know I was wrong. It was all a misunderstanding, Ivy. We can’t get divorced.”

I didn’t respond to that.

Instead, I asked, “What if I had asked you about the name? What would you have said?”

Adrian stopped.

“If I’d asked why you didn’t use IVY, how were you planning to answer me?”

Adrian stopped short, his face tightening. He was silent for a long time before answering.

“I was going to say…”

His voice came out strained.

“If you wanted me to name the brand IVY, you had to have my baby first.”

“Once we had a baby, you wouldn’t think about another man again.”