MY REJECTED BRIDE BECAME UNTOUCHABLE

THE HIDDEN CEO

Adrian Blackwood stood alone in his study long after the rest of the house had gone quiet.

The lights of the city stretched beyond the windows, bright and distant. From that height, everything looked small enough to control.

He knew better.

His hands rested against the edge of his desk as he stared at the folder in front of him.

Damian Cross.

He had been watching the man for months.

At first, the numbers had looked like ordinary mistakes. A payment here. An invoice there. Nothing large enough to attract immediate attention.

Then Adrian had noticed a pattern.

Money was disappearing.

Not from one account.

From several.

He opened the folder again.

Fake suppliers. False invoices. Transfers to companies that barely existed.

Adrian's expression hardened.

"How careless," he muttered.

A quiet knock came at the door.

"Come in."

Ethan stepped inside with another file under his arm.

"You are still working?"

Adrian looked up.

"You are still talking."

Ethan smiled.

"Someone has to remind you that it is almost midnight."

Adrian ignored him.

"What did you find?"

Ethan placed the file on the desk.

"More transfers connected to Cross."

Adrian opened it.

"There are three more."

"Four," Ethan corrected.

Adrian looked up sharply.

"Four?"

"The fourth one came through this evening."

He slid a document across the desk.

Adrian read it carefully.

His jaw tightened.

"This was hidden well."

"Not well enough."

Adrian closed the file.

"Does he know?"

"I don't think so."

"What about the investigation?"

"Nobody outside our team knows."

Adrian leaned back.

"Good."

Ethan hesitated.

"Sir, there is something else."

Adrian looked at him.

"Damian has been asking questions."

"About what?"

"About you."

The room went quiet.

Adrian's eyes narrowed.

"What exactly has he been asking?"

"Who you are. Why you married Elena. Where you came from. Why nobody seems to know anything about you."

Adrian gave a humorless smile.

"Then he is finally becoming curious."

"He may become more than curious."

"Let him."

Ethan frowned.

"That does not concern you?"

"It would concern me if he had something useful."

"And if he discovers your identity?"

Adrian's expression changed.

"Then Damian Cross will discover that he has been playing a game with the wrong man."

Ethan studied him.

"Do you want me to stop him?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know how far he is willing to go."

Adrian picked up the file again.

"People reveal themselves when they think nobody is watching."

Ethan nodded slowly.

"I will keep watching."

"Good."

He reached the door, then stopped.

"Sir?"

Adrian looked up.

"You are getting attached to Mrs. Blackwood."

Adrian's expression immediately became guarded.

"That is not your concern."

Ethan smiled.

"I did not say it was a bad thing."

"Goodnight, Ethan."

"Goodnight, sir."

The door closed.

Adrian looked toward the hallway.

For some reason, Elena's face came to mind.

Her smile.

Her nervous laugh.

The way she had looked at the mansion when she first arrived, as though she had accidentally walked into another world.

He smiled faintly.

Then the smile disappeared.

He had not married Elena simply because his grandmother had asked him to.

That was what he had told everyone.

It wasn't the whole truth.

He had known about Elena before she ever knew his name.

He had seen the reports.

He knew she was studying medicine. He knew she volunteered at a clinic. He knew she visited her parents whenever she could.

But what interested him most was what happened after Damian broke her.

Most people would have collapsed.

Elena had cried.

She had suffered.

But she had stood back up.

Adrian understood that kind of strength.

He had needed it himself.

After losing his parents, he had learned very young that people could disappear without warning.

His grandmother had raised him.

She had taught him to trust actions more than words.

Perhaps that was why Elena confused him.

She had nothing to gain from him.

She did not know he owned Blackwood Empire.

She did not know the power behind his name.

She had married Adrian the man, not Adrian Blackwood, the businessman.

And that was exactly why he had wanted her close.

The following afternoon, Adrian went to Blackwood Empire.

He rarely appeared at the main offices.

That was intentional.

To most employees, the real Adrian Blackwood was almost a myth. The company had a public face, but Adrian preferred to remain behind closed doors.

He walked through the lobby in a dark suit.

A receptionist smiled politely.

"Good afternoon, sir."

"Good afternoon."

Nobody stopped him.

Nobody knew.

That was how he liked it.

As he reached the executive floor, he saw Damian's office.

The door was open.

Damian was inside.

He was laughing on the phone.

Adrian stopped.

For a moment, he simply watched him.

That was the man who had stood in front of Elena and chosen another woman.

That was the man who had made her feel worthless.

And now that same man was stealing from Adrian's company.

Adrian's hands tightened.

He could walk inside.

He could tell Damian exactly who he was.

He could watch the man's face change.

But Adrian had never been interested in easy victories.

He turned away.

"Not yet," he murmured.

Damian would fall.

But Adrian wanted him to understand exactly why.

That evening, Elena was in the library.

Adrian stopped outside the doorway.

She was curled up in an armchair with a book resting against her knees.

For a few seconds, he simply watched her.

Then she looked up.

"Are you going to stand there all night?"

Adrian blinked.

"I was not standing there."

"You were."

"I was thinking."

"While staring at me?"

He walked inside.

"I was deciding whether to disturb you."

Elena closed her book.

"You already did."

He sat across from her.

"What are you reading?"

"My medical textbook."

"Do you understand any of it?"

She gasped.

"Excuse me?"

He almost smiled.

"I am asking a reasonable question."

"I understand enough to know that you would fail the exam."

"I never said I wanted to take the exam."

She laughed.

Then her eyes moved toward the shelves around them.

"Adrian?"

"Yes?"

"Why are there so many medical books here?"

He paused.

"You needed them."

"You bought all of these for me?"

"Yes."

She looked at him carefully.

"Why?"

"Because you are studying."

"That is not an answer."

"It is the answer."

Elena shook her head.

"You are strange."

"So you have told me."

She smiled.

Then her expression softened.

"Thank you."

Adrian looked at her.

"For what?"

"For caring enough to notice what I need."

Something tightened inside his chest.

"I notice more than you think."

Elena studied him.

"Then tell me something."

"What?"

"Something real."

He knew exactly what she meant.

She wanted to know who he was.

Not the man who had rescued her.

Not the husband she had married in a courthouse.

The man beneath all of it.

Adrian looked away.

"Not tonight."

Her face fell slightly.

"Okay."

He stood.

Elena watched him.

"Goodnight, Adrian."

He reached the doorway.

Then he stopped.

"Elena."

She looked up.

"Yes?"

His voice was quiet.

"I need you to trust me."

Her brows pulled together.

"Why are you saying that?"

"Because something is going to happen."

"What kind of something?"

He turned to face her.

"I cannot tell you yet."

She stood.

"Adrian, you are beginning to scare me."

His expression softened.

"I am sorry."

"Then tell me what is going on."

"I will."

"When?"

"When I can protect you from the consequences."

Elena stared at him.

"What are you talking about?"

Adrian stepped closer.

"There are things happening at Blackwood Empire."

Her eyes widened.

"Does this have something to do with Damian?"

He said nothing.

That was answer enough.

"Adrian..."

"He is going to hurt himself long before I have to do anything."

"Are you investigating him?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because he has been stealing from the company."

Elena's mouth parted.

"Damian?"

Adrian nodded.

"He has been moving money through false accounts. We have evidence."

She slowly sat back down.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you have already suffered enough because of him."

Her eyes filled with emotion.

"Adrian, you cannot keep protecting me from everything."

"I know."

"Then why do you keep trying?"

He looked at her for a long moment.

"Because when I married you, I made a promise."

"What promise?"

"That nobody would hurt you again."

Elena swallowed.

"You barely knew me."

"I knew enough."

She looked down.

For once, she had no clever reply.

Adrian walked toward the door.

Then he stopped again.

His voice was colder when he spoke.

"I am going to destroy him."

Elena looked up.

"Adrian."

"He took eight years from you."

His eyes hardened.

"He does not get to take anything else."

And then he left.

Elena remained in the library, staring at the closed door.

She had married a stranger.

At least, that was what she had believed.

But strangers did not quietly buy medical books because they remembered what you needed.

Strangers did not investigate the man who had broken your heart.

And strangers certainly did not look at you as though protecting you had become personal.

Elena slowly touched the edge of the book in her lap.

For the first time, she wondered what else Adrian Blackwood had been hiding.

Because there was one thing she was beginning to understand.

Her husband was not simply a mysterious, wealthy man.

He was hiding something enormous.

And sooner or later, she was going to discover exactly what it was.