Billionaire Lawyer's Secretary - Chapter 129: Chapter 129

"You called off the engagement without even knowing if I'll say yes?" Disbelief saturated Elara's tone. "Doesn't that strike you as insanely reckless?"
Frustration spiked in Adrian. "You set the terms, Elara. Ending the engagement was your condition for even considering me." His voice turned razor-sharp.
"Now that I'm the one initiating it, I'm reckless? When I begged you for a chance, you hid behind the fiancée title to shut me out. How is that fair?"
Elara stammered, momentarily lost for words, and then sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't understand the significance the engagement held for you back then. If I'd known it was your leverage against Sadie, I would never have asked you to break it off."
"So what now?" Adrian pressed, his gaze searing. "You want me to keep it? Will that make you consider being with me?"
Of course not,' Elara thought helplessly, shaking her head.
"So ending it is wrong, but keeping it is wrong too?" Adrian's voice turned dangerous. "Elara, are you toying with me?"
"It's not like that," Elara said, her voice thin. "I'm... unsure of my feelings. And I'm terrified that if you end it, you'll—"
"You're afraid I'll lose both you and the fortune—end up with nothing. Is that it?" Adrian cut in, brutally blunt.
He understands, yet he's charging ahead anyway?' A mix of exasperation and something warmer stirred in her chest. She nodded silently.
"If I keep it, you deny us a chance. After I broke it, you were too scared to try." Adrian leaned in, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Elara, you can't straddle the fence forever. Choose."
"Do I have to choose?" Elara asked, her voice small.
Adrian set his empty glass down with a soft clink, his voice turning gravely serious. "After everything I'm offering, everything I'm willing to sacrifice, you won't even try?"
"Well..." Elara murmured, avoiding his eyes. "Maybe it's better for everyone if we just don't start down that road at all."
Adrian exploded, frustration spilling over. "Better? How could it be better? I'm breaking my back chasing you with nothing to show for it. Every damn day is torture for me. How the hell is that better?"
Elara flinched. When she spoke, her voice was threadbare. "If it hurts that much, why not just stop?"
"Stop?" Adrian's laugh was hollow. "After I've burned my engagement for you? And now you say stop?"
Elara twisted her head away, refusing to meet his gaze.
Fueled by frustration, Adrian cupped the back of her neck and forced her to meet his eyes.
"Since you refuse to choose, I'll choose for you," Adrian declared, his voice leaving no room for argument. "I'll break off the engagement, walk away from the Hartley legacy, and deal with Sadie. And then, you will be my girlfriend."
Elara mumbled under her breath, "Solving those three problems just earns you the right to chase me. It doesn't automatically make me your girlfriend."
Adrian huffed a laugh. 'The woman I want—no choice but to indulge her.' "Fine," he conceded. "I'll break off the engagement, walk away from the Hartley legacy, and deal with Sadie. Then I'll court you properly until you agree to be my girlfriend."
Do I even have a choice anymore?' Elara thought. She glanced up at him, meeting his unwavering, serious gaze. "But Adrian, the sheer scale of what you're offering to give up, it puts an enormous amount of pressure on me."
"Then you'll have to learn to carry that weight," Adrian countered. "Why should you get off scot-free? Little heartbreaker."
Elara huffed indignantly. 'I'm just being considerate,' she thought. "Who are you calling a heartbreaker?" she retorted. "If I were, I'd have bled you dry and vanished months ago."
Adrian's laughter rumbled deep in his chest, warm and magnetic. He pulled her into his arms. "Scam me out of everything." His hold tightened possessively. "But walking away from me? That's never happening."
Warmth bloomed in her chest, but Elara schooled her face into cool detachment. She pushed half-heartedly against him. "Boundaries, Adrian. No impromptu grabbing." Her tone was prim. "I'm not your girlfriend."
"Can't I cash in a few hugs ahead of time?" Adrian countered, a smirk playing on his lips. "You are going to be mine eventually."
"Wow, that's a... uniquely creative justification for harassment," Elara retorted, raising an eyebrow.
Adrian's chuckle was low and enticing. "You make it so damn difficult. How else am I supposed to win you over if I don't bend the rules a little, huh?"
Sinking back into the warmth and solid comfort of his embrace, Elara couldn't suppress a small smile. "You're utterly shameless," she murmured, the words devoid of sting.
"Sadie will take a bit more time to handle completely," Adrian said, his voice steady and reassuring. "But you have my word—she won't cause you any trouble."
A strange, fluttering sensation bloomed in Elara's chest, a soft, insistent thumping like the first stirrings of something new taking root. "Well then," she said, "I want to make an advance withdrawal too."
Adrian's eyebrow arched in curiosity. "Oh? What's the withdrawal?"
"A day off. I'm taking tomorrow off," Elara replied. It's already past 3 AM. 'If I have to show up at the office tomorrow, I'll be a zombie,' she thought, exhaustion washing over her.
Adrian's gaze was soft, almost tender, but his words held a businesslike finality. "Request for advance PTO: denied."
Frustration flared. Elara jerked her head up in protest—and cracked her forehead squarely against Adrian's jaw.
Adrian let out a pained grunt, clapping a hand to his jaw as he frowned down at her. "Trying to assassinate your future husband?"
"Why not?" Elara whined, exhaustion making her petulant. "I'm dead on my feet. Being your secretary is a 24/7 torture experiment!"
Adrian softened, his voice coaxing. "You're the future lady boss of the Anchor Law Firm. Come in when you want. Stay home when you don't. No formalities."
Once again disarmed by his charm, but she still nursed a flicker of irritation. "In that case," she declared, "I want a whole week."
Adrian's brow shot up. His hand settled on her waist, giving a teasing squeeze. "You'd abandon me? Leave me helpless?" He launched into melodrama. "Printing documents, sorting emails, booking meetings, and even pouring tea for clients—"
The litany of imagined office horrors grew increasingly absurd. Elara clamped her hand over his mouth, cutting him off. "Alright, alright!" she conceded. "One day. Just one."
A victorious grin spread across Adrian's face. He captured the hand covering his mouth, brought it down, and enveloped it in his own, giving it a warm, satisfied squeeze.
With the tension between them finally dissolved, Elara felt a comfortable ease settle in. Remembering his soaked arrival, Elara asked, "Why did you walk here in that downpour tonight? Didn't you drive?"
"I had a couple of drinks, so I took a cab. The driver refused to enter the complex, so I had to walk the rest from the gate," Adrian explained.
"It was pouring. You could offer him extra tips to bring you to the door. He probably would've done it."
Adrian had never taken a cab in his entire life. He had no clue how any of this worked.
"Wait, you've got a ride-hailing app?" Elara asked.
"I just downloaded it tonight," Adrian replied.
Elara laughed. "Well, Mr. Hartley," she teased lightly, "looks like you've unlocked a whole new life skill. Congrats."
"Thanks to you, Ms. Langton," Adrian retorted, a playful glint in his eye. "Drop a text and vanish? Textbook ghosting."
Elara recalled that after she sent the message, she'd jumped straight in the shower and left her phone charging by her bed. "Well, how's Victor?" Elara asked, shifting the topic, "How is he doing?"
"Thoroughly wasted," Adrian replied.
Elara nodded, and the conversation lapsed into silence.
Sitting in the quiet, Elara reflected on how surreal it felt. 'We're practically still strangers—barely three weeks since we first met. How did he decide to pursue me so intensely?'
The prolonged silence, combined with the enveloping warmth of the room, became a potent sedative. Elara fought a losing battle against exhaustion. Her eyelids grew impossibly heavy, her head lolled gently, then sank decisively onto Adrian's chest as sleep claimed her.
Adrian softened at the sight of her, a chuckle escaping him. He gently smoothed a hand over her back. "It's late. Time to sleep."
Elara murmured, her voice thick with sleep, eyes barely slits. "What about you? Staying or going?"
"That depends entirely on whether my future girlfriend offers me sanctuary tonight," Adrian replied.
"The guest room's disaster zone. Sleep on the couch, okay?" Elara teased.
The priciest thing in Elara's place was the leather couch. It was huge, practically a bed. But the pampered Adrian? Who knew if he'd sleep on it?
"Okay," Adrian agreed readily, much to her drowsy surprise.
Moving on autopilot, Elara fetched a comforter from the guest room closet for Adrian before stumbling into her bedroom. Sleep claimed her the instant her head touched the pillow. Outside, however, Adrian found sleep elusive.
Sometime later, deep in the quiet heart of the night while Elara slept soundly, a soft but persistent knock-knock-knock sounded at her bedroom door.
Bleary-eyed and disoriented, Elara fumbled for the doorknob and opened it a crack. "What is it, Mr. Hartley?" she mumbled, her voice thick with sleep and irritation.
Seizing her drowsy vulnerability, Adrian effortlessly scooped her up. Before Elara's sleep-fogged mind could register what was happening, she was laid back on the bed, Adrian's weight settling over her as his mouth captured hers in a deep, claiming kiss.
Elara's feeble protest was lost beneath the drumming rain. "Adrian, I'm so sleepy..." she managed, her words barely a whisper against his lips.
"Baby," Adrian murmured against her lips, voice husky. "I need a fix. Kiss me instead."
Elara blinked awake at two in the afternoon to find the other side of the bed cold and empty. As consciousness fully returned, the hazy memories of the previous night began to replay in vivid, disconcerting detail.
The kissing quickly escalated. Adrian's hands got adventurous. She'd been too far gone in exhaustion to protest, letting it happen in a drowsy haze. The clearest fragment was the feel of his hand guiding hers...
Elara lifted her hand, scrutinizing it minutely. She even brought it hesitantly to her nose and inhaled. 'No trace... Good thing he cleaned up after himself,' she thought. 'Otherwise, he'd be dead meat today.'
She reached for her phone on the nightstand. Messages from Adrian waited.
Adrian: [There's a case. I need to go to Namukitts to handle it. Take the next few days off—rest up.]
Adrian: [Oh, and don't forget to attend your massage therapy class.]
Adrian: [Be ready for a test when I get back.]
But Elara's eyes zeroed in like lasers on one glorious phrase: [Take the next few days off—rest up.]
'Vacation. No work!' Elara thought. Pure, unadulterated joy surged through her. Grinning like a fool, she typed back: [Got it.]
His reply came instantly: [Woke up?]
Elara: [Yep.]
Adrian: [Wanna come over to Namukitts?]
Elara: [Pass.]
The "typing..." indicator blinked for a solid twenty seconds. Elara stared at her screen, expecting a whole essay to pop up any second. Finally. Adrian: [If Alex reaches out, do not see him.]
Elara: [Why?]
Adrian: [Dylan had an incident inside. He's in critical care, but it's not clear if he'll make it.]