Chapter 41: Chapter 41.

Adrian's POV.

My phone rang, and I took it out from my pocket. "Listening," I answered the call.

"I can't see you, sir," Lena's voice rang from the other end of the line.

I looked around the park, and I saw her standing just a few meters away, looking around like she lost something.

"Look to your right," I instructed, and she did.

"Oh, I see you now," she responded, hanging up.

She walked over to me, and within three minutes she was standing in front of me. "Hello, sir," she gave me a slight bow.

"Did you bring it?" I asked.

She reached into her bag, and fetched out a file, handing it over to me.

Receiving the file, it felt heavier in my hands than it should.

I opened the file revealing the signed documents of I and Jane's divorce. I had kept it locked in a drawer in my office, hidden from Jane's reach so she wouldn't cause any troubles. But I guess I was wrong.

"Things are also changing in the company," Lena said, pulling me from my thoughts. "Mr Brandon Blackwood came to the company, asking for your things to be evacuated from the CEO's office. Of course we opposed him, almost kicking him out until he showed us the paper signed by your father, the chairman of Blackwood Holdings."

I knew it. I knew the company would be his next plan, that's why I stayed away.

"Did you help me pack my things? Are they safe?" I asked.

The question caught her off guard. She froze, a flicker of hurt cutting through her eyes. "You're not going to do anything about it?" She asked.

I chuckled dryly. "What's there to do about it?"

Everything is gone. I'm... I'm nothing now.

"And what are you going to do with that?" She asked, pointing to the divorce papers I was holding.

I looked at the papers, my eyes growing heavier at each passing second. "The right thing that I should have done a long time ago," I replied.

Lena said nothing. I didn't know how long she's stood there just looking at me, but I know she was there.

She finally moved, crossing the distance between us. Now standing beside me, she leaned on the car, I was leaning on.

"Technically, you're no longer my boss so I guess we can have a friendly conversation now, can we?" She said, and I scoffed but it wasn't unfriendly.

"I know this happened because of whatever happened between you, and your wife, but are you just gonna let everything be?" She said.

She was right, was I just going to let everything be?

"Yes," my voice was almost a whisper, and she turned to me in shock, definitely disappointed in my answer.

Adrian Blackwood would never answer a thing like that but the real question is. "is Adrian Blackwood still alive?"

What's left now is the media taking up the news of my downfall, and soon the whole world will know of it. How refreshing?

"No," Lena shook her head, refusing to believe me. "You can't just go down this way, you need to do something," her voice breaking.

I turned to her, and I saw her eyes...they were glassy with unshed tears. "What do you all see in this asshole?" I had to ask. "Why do you all love him?"

A tear finally rolled down her cheek. "Yeah... after breaking our hearts we shouldn't love you."

Her words hit harder than any insult ever could.

For a moment, I said nothing. I just stared at her… really stared, like I was seeing her for the first time.

Lena… had always been there, through my worst moods, through my cold orders, through the version of me that didn’t care... and yet she stayed.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips. "Then maybe you all should stop."

Her brows furrowed. "What?"

"Stop loving someone like me," I said quietly. "It’s a bad investment."

"That’s not how it works!" she snapped, her voice trembling. "You don’t get to decide that for people!"

I looked away from her, my gaze settling on the divorce papers in my hand.

Bad investment… Jane had been the worst victim of that.

"I already did," I muttered.

"What?" Lena asked softly.

"I already decided for her," I said, my voice dropping lower. "Three years ago."

Silence fell between us. The wind brushed past, light but it felt heavy.

"I gave her everything…" I continued, my grip tightening on the papers. "Money, a name, a home." I let out a hollow laugh. "Everything except the one thing she actually wanted."

Lena didn’t speak this time. She couldn’t because we both knew what that was... my heart.

I pushed myself off the car, standing upright. "For three years, she stayed," I said. "Even when I gave her nothing."

My throat tightened slightly, but I forced the words out anyway. "And the moment she finally chose herself…"

I looked down at the papers again. "I showed up and said I missed her."

Pathetic.

I was sure that would solve it all and she would return to me, and everything would be fixed but I was quite stupid to actually think that things would work that way... that things would always work the way I wanted them.

Lena wiped her tears quickly. "Then fix it," she said immediately.

I shook my head, "No."

Her eyes widened. "Why not?!"

"Because this time…" I paused, my voice quieter now, steadier. "…it’s not about what I want."

That seemed to confuse her so I turned to her fully. "For the first time…" I said, "...I’m going to give her what she wants."

My fingers moved before my mind could stop them.

I flipped to the last page. My signature stared back at me... Adrian Blackwood.

For years, that name had meant power, but now… it just felt heavy.

"Sir…" Lena’s voice broke again. “If you turn that in to the court… there’s no going back."

I knew. God, I knew... But maybe that was the point.

"But you really can't go down like this," she broke again. "You should do something," she urged me. "Apologize to her, work your charm. You're her husband, do something you know that would definitely bring her back."

"And then what?" I asked her. "What happens next?"

"Everything will go back to the way it used to," she replied.

"And then what next?" I asked again.

"Your life would be perfect again," she answered, her voice shaky.

"Then what next?" I questioned once more, and this time what I got was silence.

"She'll find out I used her again. My parents would find out that I used them too, I played on them, and it'd be a bigger catastrophe." I answered the question myself.

I really wanted to follow the suggestion Lena gave. God, I really wanted to do it so badly. I have thought of it a million times but one questioned settled in my mind... what next?

And for the first time... I was afraid of the answer.