He Gave His Assistant My Promotion, So I Left Him Forever Chapter 03

He Gave His Assistant My Promotion, So I Left Him Forever Chapter 03

I didn’t buy it.

But Adrian didn’t wait for my reaction. He walked straight into the kitchen.

Which left me alone with Camille.

She spoke first.

“I had no idea Adrian could cook. He’s so intense at the office, but here he is, making dinner from scratch. That’s really sweet.”

I wasn’t going to play this game. I gave her a polite nod and nothing else.

She kept going.

“He’s always looking out for me. Remember that data mix-up on the Henderson project? Everyone wanted my head. Adrian took the fall for me and then stayed late to walk me through the whole revision himself.”

“And when I missed my flight on that business trip, he rearranged the entire team’s schedule so I wouldn’t get in trouble.”

I’d heard all of this before, secondhand. Hearing her tell it, savoring every detail, was a different kind of pain.

I kept my face still and let her talk.

Something shifted in Camille’s expression. She hadn’t expected me not to flinch.

So she pushed harder.

“There was this one night we were pulling an all-nighter on the Mercer deadline. Everyone else had gone home. It was just us on the whole floor.”

“It got so cold. And Adrian just… took his suit jacket and draped it over my shoulders. Didn’t even say anything. Then he stayed up all night so I could rest.”

My stomach dropped.

“Honestly? I remember thinking, if this man were mine, I’d never let him go.”

Adrian came out of the kitchen with two bowls. He’d heard all of it.

He stopped in the doorway. His jaw tightened.

“That’s enough, Camille.”

The warmth was gone from his voice.

Even he knew she’d gone too far.

He turned to me, mouth half open, reaching for something to say.

I didn’t give him the chance.

“Soup’s getting cold.”

Adrian studied my face for a long moment. Whatever he wanted to say, he swallowed it.

“You barely touched dinner. I made you a bowl too. Eat up before it goes cold.”

Two bowls of chicken noodle soup, side by side on the table. A large chunk of chicken right in the center of each one. Identical.

Adrian and Camille fell into work talk before the soup was cool enough to eat.

He never talked to me like that. Never brought the messy details home, never walked me through his projects or his plans.

And he’d never looked at me the way he was looking at her right now. Like every word mattered.

I sat next to them, pushing the chunk of chicken around the bowl with my spoon. Flipping it over and over. Never taking a bite.

When they finally ran out of work to discuss, the silence landed like a weight.

Adrian looked at me then, like he’d just remembered I was there. He cleared his throat.

“The heating was out that night. Camille wasn’t feeling well. She reports to me. I had a responsibility.”

Then, like an afterthought…

“Don’t read into it.”

“I’m not.”

His frown deepened. He’d wanted a fight, or at least a reaction. My flat tone gave him neither.

He stood up.

“It’s late. I’m gonna drive Camille home. She shouldn’t be out alone at this hour.”

“Whatever you wanted to talk about, it can wait till I’m back.”

Not safe.

All those nights I’d worked late and asked him for a ride. Every single time, he’d said no. Couldn’t risk being seen together.

I nodded. “Sure.”