13: THE RULE HE MADE FOR HIMSELF
1056 Words
The door clicked shut and Andrian exhaled like he’d been holding it for years.
He didn’t sit back down, he couldn't If he stayed in that chair another second he would be the one breaking his own rule, and he wasn't one to break his own rules. Not even for Kayla or so he thought.
With her sharp tongue and the way she looked at him like he had personally offended her by existing.
He walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows instead. 45 floors up, the city looked small, controllable, unlike her, Kayla the wild one. The one he couldn't control
He thought to a while before for what he had said.
“You seriously can't stop thinking about keeping your hands off me. Can you Kayla?”
He meant it as a deflection. A way to shut down the conversation before it got messy. A way to keep his thoughts and desires in check.
And it hadn’t worked.
She’d gone quiet for half a second too long. That almost-kiss look in her eyes. The way her breath hitched when he stepped closer.
“Damn it.”
Andrian dragged a hand through his hair and turned back to the desk. The contract was still there, untouched. She hadn’t signed it. She wouldn’t sign it until she got answers.
Good. He didn’t want a wife who signed blind without answers in the first place.
He wanted a partner who could keep up.
His phone vibrated.
*Unknown Number: Be careful who you trust, Kayla*
Andrian’s jaw tightened.
A.
Yes, he’d bugged Kayla’s phone. That’s how he knew where she’d be.
But “A” was different.
Burner phone. Routed through three countries. Bought with cash at some corner store yesterday.
Whoever it was knew Kayla’s schedule. Knew about the contract. Knew how to use it against her.
He tapped the screen and forwarded it to his head of security.
Find whoever this is. Now.
If someone was threatening Kayla, they were threatening the deal. And the deal was the only thing keeping Carter Enterprises from being sold to his biggest competitor.
It was business. It had to be business.
He told himself that twice before he realized he was lying.
The first time he saw Kayla, she was arguing with security downstairs about unpaid invoices. Hair a mess, dress wrinkled, furious enough to make grown men take a step back. She looked nothing like the polished heiresses he dealt with daily.
She looked real.
And real? Real was dangerous.
His father had taught him that.
“Never let them see you care, Andrian. Never let them see through you The moment they do, you lose.”
That’s why clause 7.3 existed.
Not because he didn’t trust Kayla.
Because he didn’t trust himself around her.
The knock on his office door broke the silence.
“Enter.”
His assistant Ethan stepped in, tablet in hand. “Ms. Carter just left the building. She went to Carter Enterprises.”
Andrian didn’t react outwardly. Inside, his gut twisted.
“She’s not supposed to be there,” he said flatly.
“Her stepmom banned her from the premises. I thought you should know.”
I thought you should know. Like he didn’t already have eyes on her. Like he wasn’t checking the security feeds the moment she left his office.
“Anything else?” he asked.
He hesitated for a moment then continued. “She was kicked out by security, disheveled, in less than five minutes”
Andrian tensed for a while then dismissed the assistant with a nod. He didn't know if he should rush over or let her handle it herself.
“Don't worry Andrian, she's strong. She can figure this out” he tried to talk himself over going after her.
He tried to work to distract himself with work
He soon caught himself going through the same line over and over again.
He shut his laptop with a bang. Stood up abruptly and was walking abruptly towards the door.
Yanking his coat off the coat rack already out the door.
He didn't even wear his coat when he headed for the lift.
Caleb looked like he was already coming to meet him
“Mr Vance you have a meeting by 2pm” Caleb said following right behind him
“Cancel it.”
“But–” the glare Andrian gave Caleb made him gulp the rest of his words in.
He nodded to show he understood.
Andrain hurried to the parking lot. Not even waiting for his driver he hurriedly sped off.
His hands sweaty on the steering wheel. His heart quickened. He didn't want to admit it but he was nervous as hell.
He soon got stuck in traffic. He honked at the car in front of him in frustration.
“Damn it. I don't have time for this” He thought frustratedly as he tried to reverse and got blocked on both ends.
He rested his head on the steering wheel in frustration.
He should have come out since
Maybe he'd have gotten ahead of this traffic.
“Kayla, you better be okay.” He whispered.
He soon got through traffic.
He looked for her around the company she wasn't there, he looked everywhere for her and he couldn't find her. It was getting late, he was anxious/ panicked.
It was already getting dark, and she was still nowhere to be found. He knew she wasn't at home cause he has people around her house that'd keep him updated if she had gone back home.
Wait her phone! He remembered. He had her phone bugged.
He could track her down, he soon found her and sped over like a mad man.
Kayla was curled on a bench, her head between her knees, tears streaming like a waterfall.
She didn't remember how long she was crying but she knew she had probably cried for a long time.
She soon saw a black pair of leather shoes in her line of sight.
She raised her head up to meet who own the pair of shoes.
And there he was looking down angrily at her.
Her eyes were red and puffy. Her face swollen, it was obvious she had been crying for a long time. Maybe as soon as she got here.
They held a stare for a long time.
- Writer
