The Arrogant Young Lady’s Awakening Chapter 04

The Arrogant Young Lady’s Awakening Chapter 04

For days after that, I didn’t go to the office. I didn’t go home. I just camped out at the Hamptons.

Partly because I needed to figure out what to do about us.

Partly because of those comments.

I had never given a damn about company business before. Now I was suddenly knee-deep in my dad’s books, auditing partnerships, hunting for vulnerabilities.

Get ahead of it. Don’t let us crash and burn the way the comments said we would.

Time was tight. I worked myself raw.

During those days, Whitman called me twice. I didn’t pick up.

Adrian didn’t call.

He only sent his usual weekly text.

“This week’s schedule. Sent.”

I used to demand his calendar every week, hour by hour. Where he was. Who he was with. I was possessive. Jealous. He had Whitman compile it without fail.

This time, I just typed back two words:

“Don’t bother.”

Maybe ever again.

The screen showed he was typing. But no message came through.

I didn’t dwell on it.

I tossed the phone aside and buried my face back in the spreadsheets.

The comments quieted down those days. A few drifted past now and then.

“Pearl hasn’t gone to the office in four days. That’s not normal.”

“Don’t tell me she’s plotting something against Vivienne?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. The Langford Group is having some issues lately. She probably doesn’t have time.”

“Here we go! Bankruptcy countdown!”

The mention of bankruptcy made me audit faster.

Then, that night, the trickle of comments suddenly exploded.

I caught the gist at a glance.

They were saying that, at this very moment, at some auction, Adrian Sinclair had just bid on a seven-hundred-thousand-dollar diamond necklace for Vivienne.

“He’s so romantic!! It’s her birthday today, he must’ve bid on it for her on purpose!”

“A reunion gift!”

“I’m SHIPPING SO HARD! The iceberg melts! The untouchable god descends from heaven for love!”

“See, only a sunshine girl like her deserves him. Not that obsessive psycho side chick.”

A small, sharp pain bloomed in my chest. Unavoidable.

So that’s what it looked like.

When the female lead got loved, this is what it looked like.

I’d known Adrian for years. Every birthday gift he’d ever given me, I’d pried out of him myself.

I started gulping for air.

My chest rose and fell, ragged.

I knew the symptoms by now. I was about to spiral.

Sure enough.

A second later, I bolted upright and scattered the floating comments. I grabbed a small knife and dragged it across my wrist. Hard. Several times. Until blood ran freely.

All these years of loving someone who didn’t love me back, this was how I coped.

Pain in the body meant less pain in the heart.

Outside the windows, the city’s nightscape glittered with starlight.

I didn’t hesitate anymore.

Voice thin and shaky, I dialed a number.

“Draw up divorce papers for me.”