The CEO hidden heir

Chapter two

Reality Hits

Adrian

The velvet box felt heavy in my jacket pocket, while I felt a warm, stubborn weight against my chest. I stared at the door of Nora’s apartment, my hand trembling slightly as I pushed the key into the lock.

My grandfather’s signature had finally cleared through this morning. The board meeting was a bloodbath, but I won. I secured the position, the shares, and most importantly, I finally got his blessing to marry the love of my life….Nora.

Uncle Victor had tried to corner me before the meeting, rambling on about how the Beaumont alliance would be wonderful for the company and some trashy rumors about Celeste getting married to someone else, but I shut him down.

I told him straight to his face to stay out of my life.

I pushed the door open, a wide grin breaking across my face. “Nora?” I called out, kicking off my shoes. “Babe, you’re not going to believe this. We actually won. Granddad gave us his blessing.”

Silence answered me. The apartment was pitch black, except for the city lights bleeding through the windows. The air felt cold, stripped of the jasmine and vanilla scent she always left behind.

My chest tightened. I checked my watch. 9:42 PM. We were supposed to meet in the afternoon but after I called her she sounded sad and I rushed her to tell her the truth.

“Nora?” I walked into the kitchen. The stove was spotless. The wine glass that was set out earlier was half-filled on the counter.

I was beginning to get worried. I thought maybe, her period might have started again and she was having a bad day but this was more than I thought.

My phone buzzed in my hand. I unlocked it, expecting a text about her being stuck in traffic or finishing up her architecture models. Instead, my thumb brushed against an open notepad left flat on the kitchen island.

My name was written across the top in her messy, rushed handwriting.

Adrian,

The words blurred as my breathing slowed down. I grabbed the paper, my fingers gripping the edges until the cheap pulp tore.

I can’t do this anymore. Tonight made me realize how different our worlds actually are. While you’re playing boardroom games with your billionaire family, I’m trying to build an actual life from the ground up. I got an offer for a design firm out in Chicago. I’m taking it. My architecture career has to come first, and you... you were always just a distraction I couldn't afford to keep. Don't look for me. It’s over.

Nora.

“What is this bullshit?” I laughed, the sound hollow and sharp in the empty room.

I threw the note down against the marble counter. It fluttered and settled near the wine glass. A cold spike of unease pierced my gut as my mind suddenly flashed back to earlier this evening.

When she answered my call... she hadn't sounded like herself at all. There was no usual breathless rush of excitement, no tired teasing about my long hours.

Just dead, heavy silence, followed by that broken little whisper telling me she couldn't talk, right before she slammed the line dead.

Panic clawed at my throat. That wasn't the voice of a woman I knew.

“Nora!” I yelled, running toward the bedroom.

Her closet doors stood wide open. The hangers clinked together, empty. The spare hoodie of mine she always wore around the apartment was folded neatly on the mattress. Her makeup bag was gone. Her boots were gone.

“No, no, no.” I dragged both hands down my face, my fingernails scraping hard against my stubble. “This doesn't make any sense. She was so excited about us this morning.”

I pulled out my phone and dialed her number.

Beep. Beep. Beep. “The subscriber you have dialed is currently unavailable or out of service area...”

“Pick up your damn phone, Nora!” I shouted at the screen, dialing again.

It went straight to voicemail.

My fingers shook so badly I almost dropped the phone. I hit redial a third time, pacing the length of the hardwood floor.

“The subscriber you have dialed—”

I threw the phone against the wall. It shattered into three pieces, the battery popping out and skittering across the floorboards.

“Damn it!” I roared, kicking the edge of the bed so hard my toes screamed in agony.

I dropped to my knees, the cold air from the windows biting into my skin. My breath came in ragged, burning gasps. She left.

After everything we promised each other, after the late nights whispering in the dark about moving in together after graduation, she just packed up and walked away.

“You were always just a distraction.”

Her words echoed inside my skull like a gunshot, clashing hard against the memory of how shattered she sounded on the phone. None of it added up.

I pulled the velvet box out of my pocket, my thumb popping the hinge open. The diamond ring caught the dim city light, flashing a cold, mocking brilliance back at me.

She didn’t even want me or the future we were planning on building. The moment graduation was here, she took an out and left me holding a ring for a ghost.

A bitter, ugly heat rose in my throat, choking out the grief. “You lied to me,” I whispered to the empty room, my voice cracking entirely. “You never loved me at all.”

I slammed the velvet box shut, squeezed my eyes tight, and hurled it straight into the dark corner of the room.

I stood there for what felt like hours, staring at the corner where the ring had disappeared.

The apartment felt like a stranger’s home now. Every laugh we’d shared, every promise we’d said, every plan we’d made together had been swallowed by the silence she left behind.

I forced myself to move, maybe I’d missed something. I checked the bathroom but it was empty. The balcony where she’d spend hours sketching the skyline was also empty. The study where she’d complain about impossible deadlines while stealing bites from my takeout. Empty.

There was nothing left. She had taken every piece of herself with her.

My gaze landed on a framed picture of us from our first anniversary. She was smiling so brightly that I’d sworn nothing could ever dim that light.

I picked it up, stared at it for a long moment, then placed it face down on the shelf.

“I hope it was worth it,” I whispered.

The words sounded pathetic the second they left my mouth. I grabbed my keys and walked to the front door, stopping only once to glance over my shoulder.

This place wasn’t home anymore. It was just another empty apartment filled with memories that suddenly meant nothing.

I walked out, pulled the door shut behind me, and didn’t look back. As the lock clicked into place, I made myself one promise.

I would never love again.