Chapter Five
1210 Words
Chapter 5
The conference room fell silent.
Adrian Kingsley closed the presentation folder in front of him and rose from his seat.
"If there are no further questions, we'll end today's meeting here."
The executives exchanged quick glances before standing.
"Thank you, Mr. Kingsley."
One by one, they left the room.
His assistant, Ethan, gathered the remaining documents while Adrian loosened the cuff of his shirt. Meetings had never exhausted him. People did.
"Sir," Ethan said, "your next appointment has been waiting for almost twenty minutes."
"I don't remember scheduling another meeting."
"You didn't."
Adrian frowned.
"Then who is it?"
Before Ethan could answer, the office door swung open.
A young woman in an expensive cream-colored dress walked in confidently, carrying a bouquet of white lilies.
She smiled as though she belonged there.
"Adrian."
He didn't smile back.
"What are you doing here, Miss Lawson?"
"I was having lunch nearby." She placed the flowers on his desk. "I thought I'd surprise you."
"You've succeeded."
She laughed, missing the dryness in his voice.
"I heard you've been working nonstop again."
She walked closer.
"You should take a break."
"I'm working."
"You can work later."
She reached for his arm.
Adrian stepped back before she could touch him.
The smile on her face stiffened.
"I've told you before," he said evenly, "don't come to my office without an appointment."
Her expression fell.
"I was only worried about you."
"I don't need worrying."
"I..."
"You should leave."
The room became painfully quiet.
She looked at him for a long moment, hoping he might soften.
He didn't.
Without another word, she picked up her handbag and walked out, leaving the flowers behind.
The door clicked shut.
Ethan let out a quiet breath.
"Should I throw those away, sir?"
Adrian glanced at the bouquet.
"Do whatever you want with them."
"You don't think you're a little hard on people?"
Adrian gave a humorless laugh.
"People don't approach me because they care."
"They approach my surname."
"My position."
"My money."
He looked out through the glass wall of his office.
"I've seen enough to know the difference."
Ethan said nothing.
He had worked for Adrian for years.
Behind the cold exterior was a man who had stopped expecting sincerity from anyone.
A soft knock interrupted the silence.
Ethan walked out and returned moments later carrying a slim brown file.
"You asked me to investigate the young woman from the trivia lounge."
Adrian looked up.
"The troublesome one?"
"The very one."
He placed the file on the desk.
"I thought she was just another loud drunk."
"So did I."
Adrian opened the folder.
A small identity photograph stared back at him.
No makeup.
No forced confidence.
Just a young woman with tired eyes.
Name: Clara Bennett.
Age: Twenty-two.
Occupation: Waitress.
He paused.
"A waitress?"
"Yes, sir."
He continued reading.
She worked long shifts at a neighborhood café.
No influential family.
No wealthy relatives.
No scandals.
Nothing remarkable.
Until he reached the final pages.
Hospital receipts.
Medical reports.
Lists of unpaid bills.
His expression changed almost imperceptibly.
"What happened?"
"Her mother."
Ethan's voice became quieter.
"She was involved in a serious road accident."
"The surgery she needs is expensive."
"From what we found, Miss Bennett has been working extra shifts and borrowing money wherever she can."
Adrian turned another page.
There were receipts for medications.
Deposits made in small amounts.
Some were so modest they barely covered a day's treatment.
He imagined Clara standing in front of him at the trivia lounge.
"If I had even a tiny piece of what you have... my mum wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed."
At the time, he'd assumed it was drunken exaggeration.
It wasn't.
She had been telling the truth.
"What else?" he asked.
Ethan hesitated.
"I spoke to her manager."
"And?"
"He said she's never missed work unless it was to visit the hospital."
"I also spoke to two of her coworkers."
"They all described her the same way."
"Responsible."
"Quiet."
"The type who helps everyone else before herself."
Adrian closed the file but didn't push it away.
Instead, his fingers rested on the cover.
For reasons he couldn't explain, the irritation he'd felt that night had disappeared.
In its place was something unfamiliar.
Curiosity.
"Sir?"
Adrian looked up.
"Leave the file."
Ethan nodded.
"Yes, sir."
After the office door closed, Adrian remained seated.
The room was silent except for the ticking of the clock.
His eyes drifted once more to the photograph clipped inside the folder.
The woman who had called him arrogant.
The woman who had told him to smile.
The woman he'd dismissed as nothing more than a nuisance.
He had been wrong.
Very wrong.
For the first time in years, Adrian found himself wondering about someone whose life had nothing to do with his own.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
Then he opened it again.
The same photograph greeted him.
Clara Bennett.
She looked nothing like the girl who had stood before him at the trivia lounge, pointing a finger at him with flushed cheeks and slurred words.
Here, she looked... exhausted.
There were faint shadows beneath her eyes.
The kind that didn't disappear after one good night's sleep.
He found himself reading the medical reports again.
Hospital admission.
Emergency surgery.
Outstanding bills.
Small deposits made every few days.
Each payment was painfully modest, as though someone was giving everything they had and still falling short.
Without realizing it, he remembered her voice.
"If I had even a tiny piece of what you have..."
His fingers tightened around the file.
For a brief moment, something stirred inside him.
Pity?
No.
He closed the file with a firm snap.
"What am I doing?" he muttered.
He leaned back in his chair and rubbed a hand across his face.
"This changes nothing."
People lied.
People acted.
People cried when it benefited them.
He had seen it before.
Too many times.
A tragic story didn't prove someone was genuine.
He looked toward the city outside his office window.
His mother had once trusted someone who promised forever.
His father had believed that money could fix a broken family.
Both had been wrong.
Then there was the woman Adrian had once imagined spending his life with.
She hadn't loved him.
She had loved what came with his name.
The expensive gifts.
The influence.
The status.
When a wealthier man appeared, she walked away without looking back.
That lesson had cost him more than his heart.
It had cost him his faith in people.
He let out a quiet, humorless laugh.
"Maybe she's no different."
Maybe Clara Bennett was simply better at hiding her intentions.
Maybe the hospital bills were real.
Maybe the tears were real.
But that didn't mean she was trustworthy.
He pushed the file toward the edge of the desk.
"I've already wasted enough time on this."
Yet...
Instead of putting it away, his eyes drifted back to her photograph one last time.
There was something about her expression that refused to leave his mind.
Not because she was beautiful.
But because she looked like someone carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Adrian frowned.
He hated that he had noticed.
He hated it even more that he couldn't stop thinking about her.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD