The Arrogant Young Lady’s Awakening Chapter 09

The Arrogant Young Lady’s Awakening Chapter 09

“And…” 

Dad stood up and walked to the window. Pulled the 

curtain aside an inch. 

The harbor stretched out beyond. 

He stood there. Back straight. Shoulders sagging 

slightly, like he was carrying something too heavy. 

“Last month, their CEO went radio silent. The website’s 

down. The team I sent to Europe says even the office 

has been emptied out. Nobody can reach anyone.” 

My knuckles went white. 

I knew exactly what that meant. 

“You’re sure it was a scam?” 

“Still investigating,” he said. “Luxembourg is initiating proceedings, but cross–border recovery- 

you know how that goes. Basically a write–off.” 

If we lost all four hundred million, the Langford Group 

was finished. We wouldn’t recover. 

Uncle Burke had told me Dad wasn’t eating or sleeping 

over this. 

“At a time like this, the last thing he needs is for you to 

fall apart, miss.” 

He told me Dad had already prepared for the worst. 

If the company collapsed, he at least hoped Adrian could keep me safe for the rest of my life. 

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. 

“I’ll figure something out.” 

Four hundred million isn’t pocket change. It’s not the kind of money you raise on phone calls. 

I called everyone I could. It barely amounted to a drop. 

Days passed. The deadline the comments had warned about–three months till bankruptcy–drew closer. 

A week before the deadline, my dad suddenly told me: 

Adrian had not only recovered the entire loss. He had injected a substantial sum of fresh capital into the 

company. 

I went numb. 

My dad was beaming, ear to ear. Singing Adrian’s 

praises in front of me and Uncle Burke. 

“I knew it. I knew it. Old man Langford here, I never 

misjudge people.” 

“Pearl, Adrian saved us.” 

“He pulled all–nighters for a month straight to save the Langford Group from going under.” 

“By the way—he wants to see you.” 

“He has things to say.” 

I knew immediately my dad had been recruited as a 

peace negotiator. 

At that exact moment, I was online listing my designer bags for sale, trying to scrape money together. 

Helpless. He and Uncle Burke physically herded me out 

the door. 

Across the lawn, I could see Adrian waiting by the 

swing. 

The same swing he’d built for me with his own hands 

when we got married, under my barked instructions. 

The comments came back. 

“Hold up. Something feels off. The male lead seems… actually torn up about her?” 

“Wait wait wait, what?? Adrian recovered the losses for the Langford Group? AND injected fresh capital???” 

“This isn’t in the script! Where’s the three–month bankruptcy plot??” 

“I knew something was off! That night at the 

Hamptons, the way he looked at her–that wasn’t how 

you look at someone you hate.” 

“And he’s been dragging his feet on the divorce.” 

“Don’t tell me he actually fell for the side chick?” 

“Forget falling for her—at this point I’m legitimately wondering if the male lead has been in love with Pearl from page one.”