My Gorgeous Director

Chapter 2

They were supposedly discussing resignation. But both of them understood perfectly well that this conversation had never really been about work.

If Adrian left Winslow Capital, then he was choosing Wren. If he stayed, then he was choosing Yara.

Sooner or later, he would have to make a choice between the woman he once loved and the temptation standing right in front of him.

Outside, winter rain lashed violently against the windows while distant thunder rolled across the city. Inside the apartment, silence spread slowly through the living room.

Then Adrian's phone rang again on the coffee table. Wren lowered her eyes and glanced at the screen. It was Yara calling again. At this point, the woman was beginning to feel less like a person and more like a ghost that refused to leave them alone.

Adrian was still distracted by Wren's earlier question, so before he could react, she reached over and grabbed the phone first. The call connected immediately.

"Adrian..." Yara's soft, trembling voice came through the speaker. "There's thunder outside. I'm scared. I don't want to sleep alone."

The fake sweetness in her tone instantly gave Wren goosebumps. So Wren responded in the exact same sugary voice. "Scared to sleep alone?" she cooed lightly. "Want me to come over instead? I can hold you while you sleep."

There was a split second of silence. Then Yara's tone changed instantly.

"Wren?" The fake, delicate act vanished on the spot, replaced by naked irritation. "Who asked you to come? Are you insane?"

Wren smiled lazily. "So you want Adrian to come keep you company instead?"

Before Yara could respond, Wren continued calmly, "That might be difficult. He got a little too carried away in bed earlier and completely exhausted himself." She glanced sideways at Adrian with a faint smile. "He's asleep in my arms right now."

Adrian looked up at her helplessly, his handsome face filled with familiar resignation.

On the other end, Yara was clearly losing control. Jealousy seeped through every word she spat out. "Wren, what exactly are you so proud of? He doesn't even love you. The only reason he stayed with you was because…"

Wren never heard the rest. Adrian reached over, took the phone from her hand, and hung up directly.

Then he sighed and looked at her. "Yara has a bad temper. Why provoke her on purpose?" His tone sounded gentle, almost indulgent, but there was still a trace of quiet reproach beneath it. "You still work at Winslow Captital, Wren. Don't make things harder for yourself."

It was already close to one in the morning. Wren had no energy left for a pointless fight, so she calmly returned to the original topic. "I'm resigning." She looked at him steadily. "What about you? Are you leaving or staying?"

Adrian pulled a cigarette from the pack on the coffee table and lit it. Smoke slowly curled between them. He stayed silent for a long time, only speaking after half the cigarette had burned away. "If I stay..." His voice was low. "Are we really breaking up?"

Wren looked at him quietly. "If you stay, Yara will never stop coming after you." Her finger pressed lightly against his chest, directly over his heart. "And your feelings are already starting to waver."

A faint smile tugged at her lips, though it carried more bitterness than humor. "Maybe you don't realize it yet, but given enough time..." Her voice softened. "I won't be able to keep you anymore. Will I?"

Adrian said nothing.

Wren waited several seconds. Outside, the cold winter rain seemed to seep through the windows and drip straight into her chest. Slowly, she withdrew her hand.

Since he could not give her an answer, then she would leave the decision entirely in his hands. "So while there's still room for me in your heart..." she said softly, "and while my chances still matter, I need to pull you away from her."

Her voice remained calm and composed. "I'm not forcing you. Think about it carefully."

Then she looked at him and smiled faintly. "But if, in the end, you still choose to stay..." She paused briefly. "Then let's end things properly. I'll wish you a brilliant future. And I'll wish myself someone better."

That night, Adrian only said he would think seriously about resigning.

Wren gave him one month. At the end of that month, she would leave Winslow Capital. Either both of them would walk away together or she would leave alone.

Unexpectedly, the following week passed in unusual peace. Yara suddenly stopped causing trouble, and there were no more provocations or petty games.

She merely looked at Wren with even more arrogance and satisfaction than before, as though victory was already sitting comfortably in her hands.

Wren could not even be bothered to care anymore. As long as Yara stopped creating drama, that alone was enough.

Friday arrived with another cold rainstorm over Seaport. Thin, endless rain draped itself across the city, showing no sign of stopping.

It was three o'clock in the afternoon at Winslow Capital. The meeting had just ended, and Wren was gathering the scattered documents in front of her when Lynn Hart, the director of Investment Division One, rolled her chair across the conference room and casually draped an arm over Wren's shoulder.

"Wren," she asked with poorly disguised delight, "you don't think Beacon's deal is dead, do you?"

Today was the review hearing for Beacon International's acquisition and restructuring of Fortuna Tech, a project valued at twenty billion dollars.

Wren had spent almost the entire year working on it. If the deal went through, it would generate enough profit to feed the entire company for years. Everyone inside Winslow Capital had been waiting anxiously for the outcome.

Coincidentally, a Deputy General Manager position had recently opened within the Investment Management Center. And during today's meeting, upper management had already made their intentions painfully obvious: If Beacon International's acquisition was successfully today, the promotion would belong to Wren.

As her direct competitor, Lynn naturally hoped the project would collapse spectacularly.

It was already three in the afternoon. Six full hours had passed since the review began, and there was still no news.

Everyone else had already left the conference room. Only the two of them remained. Without an audience, Lynn no longer bothered hiding the satisfaction in her voice.

"Looks like it failed..." she said gleefully. "Probably completely screwed."

Before Wren could respond, her phone suddenly rang. She calmly brushed Lynn's arm off her shoulder and answered the call.

The second the line connected, an excited shout nearly burst through the speaker. "It passed! We got it! The deal passed!"

It was the person in charge from Beacon International calling personally with the good news. The acquisition had officially cleared review. The deal was done.

After hanging up, Wren slowly turned toward Lynn and deliberately copied the exact smug tone Lynn had used moments earlier. "Sorry," she said lightly, "looks like I disappointed you again."

The moment Lynn heard the word “again,” it felt like a knife driving straight into her chest. Once more, Wren was about to outshine her and steal all the attention. The rage rising inside Lynn was so intense she could barely breathe.

Truthfully, when Wren first joined Winslow Capital, Lynn never considered her a threat. Sure, Wren graduated from a top university with dual master's degrees in mathematics and economics. So her résumé was undeniably impressive.

But Winslow Capital sat at the top of Seaport's investment industry, backed by the massive Winslow Group empire. Elite degrees were merely the minimum requirement for getting through the door.

Besides, women with impressive résumés were everywhere.

Wren was stunning, with fair skin, long legs, and a graceful hourglass figure. Her quiet elegance made her seem, at first glance, far more like a beautiful trophy girlfriend than a woman capable of dominating an investment firm.

Who could have guessed that this seemingly quiet "pretty face" would eventually become the most terrifying rising star in the entire company?

Winslow Capital was notorious for its brutally competitive promotion system, and most people did not reach the position of General Manager until they were around thirty-five years old.

Lynn had impressive credentials, outstanding performance, and even family connections within senior management, yet she still did not become the director of Division One until she turned thirty.

Wren came from nothing, yet by the age of twenty-seven, Wren had already reached the same level as Lynn. Many people resented her success, especially Lynn, but resentment meant nothing when the results spoke for themselves.

Wren truly was exceptionally talented. From her first day as an Associate Analyst to her promotion as Director of Investment Division Two, her department had ranked first in company performance every single year. The moment she joined Winslow Capital, she started breaking records and never stopped.

She possessed an almost frightening instinct for investments. Every project she invested soared in value, and every startup she backed went on to become a unicorn company. Quiet by nature yet ruthless in the way she handled business, she rose through the industry as if failure simply did not exist for her.

Over the years, only two people at Winslow Capital had ever received consecutive accelerated promotions. One was Adrian, the General Manager of the Investment Management Center, and the other was Wren.

The thought of Adrian seemed to make Lynn think of something as well. She lightly nudged the leg of Wren's chair with the tip of her heel, and a strange knowing smile slowly spread across her face.

"So tell me," she said lazily, "if it ever came down to choosing between his career and his relationship... which one do you think Adrian would pick?"

Wren immediately caught the implication beneath the question. "If you've got something to say, just say it." She glanced at Lynn flatly. "That creepy smile is honestly disturbing."

Lynn's expression twitched instantly. She nearly choked on her irritation before leaning closer and lowering her voice.

"Do you really think Adrian would choose to stay loyal to you?" she asked mockingly. "Or do you think he'll marry Yara and shoot straight to the top?"

She let out a soft laugh. "And honestly, what does it matter if Beacon passed review? Your boyfriend's slipping away from you anyway."

Yara was the chairman's only daughter and the undisputed princess of the Winslow Group. And from what Lynn could tell, Yara had already set her sights firmly on Adrian.

Meanwhile, Wren was just an ordinary employee with no influential background to speak of. There was no way she could compete with the chairman's daughter. If the two women ever ended up fighting over Adrian, Lynn would gladly sit back and watch the drama unfold. In fact, she almost hoped they would destroy each other.

Wren ignored her completely. Her phone started ringing again as news that Beacon had passed the review quickly spread through the executive floor. Several senior executives quickly invited her over for coffee, showering her with compliments while making their intentions painfully obvious.

As long as nothing unexpected happened, the position of Deputy General Manager at the Investment Management Center was practically hers already.

That evening, Wren left work half an hour early because it was the third anniversary of her relationship with Adrian. She had made a reservation at a Michelin-starred steakhouse nearly two weeks in advance for the occasion.

By the time Wren arrived, Adrian was already there, standing beside the floor-to-ceiling window with one hand tucked into his pocket as he spoke quietly on the phone. Dressed in a tailored black suit with thin gold-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, he carried himself with an effortless elegance that made him the kind of man people remembered after seeing only once.

As Wren approached, she caught part of his conversation.

"Your stomach is sensitive," Adrian said patiently. "Don't drink tonight." After a brief pause, his tone softened even more. "Be good. I really can't leave right now."

The call disconnected before he finished speaking. Adrian frowned faintly. The moment he noticed Wren standing there, he instinctively put his phone away. "You're here."

"Mm." Wren walked over and set down her bag. "How long have you been waiting?"

"About five minutes." Adrian loosened his cuff slightly. "I had a meeting at the bank this afternoon and came straight here afterward."

The private dining room was warm and softly lit. After taking off her coat, Wren revealed the fitted red dress underneath. Her black knee-high boots accentuated her long legs, and the hem of her dress swayed gently as she moved. She was so beautiful that people could not help staring at her.

As they waited for the food, Wren casually asked, "Who has stomach problems?" She poured herself a glass of water, then looked at him again. "And who called you earlier?"

Adrian sat across from her, replying to messages on his phone without looking up. "A friend."

Tonight's table arrangement had been specially prepared according to Wren's earlier requests. Fresh flowers decorated the table, candles flickered softly beside the plates, and warm golden light spilled down from the chandeliers overhead. Everything about the setting felt elegant and romantic, perfectly suited for an anniversary dinner.

But now, Wren suddenly felt that all her effort had been meaningless. The man sitting across from her never once looked at the flowers, the candles, or even her. His attention remained fixed on his phone the entire time.

"A friend?" Wren asked calmly. "Was it Yara?"

This time, Adrian finally looked up. Before he could answer, his phone rang again. The moment he saw the caller ID, he answered immediately. A few seconds later, his expression darkened. After ending the call, he shot to his feet so fast that the chair legs screeched harshly against the floor.

Wren calmly poured herself a glass of red wine and lifted her eyes toward him.

"You're leaving again?"

She had already seen the caller ID. It was Yara.