Chapter 35 Wear Him Down Until He Agrees
After those words left her mouth, Serena wheeled herself straight toward the exit.
All she'd done was have one failed relationship. How the hell had that managed to reduce her to this? She had no idea why, but the moment she was around Adrian, every shred of rational thought just... vanished. She turned into a complete idiot who couldn't even hold her head up.
It was absolutely maddening.
So while waiting for the elevator, she sat slumped in her wheelchair with her forehead pressed against the wall, repeatedly banging her head against it. Humiliating. So utterly humiliating. And she'd almost antagonized Adrian again on top of everything else. Nearly made a catastrophic mistake.
That's when Ethan emerged from the elevator carrying bags of takeout, just in time to witness her little self-punishment session. He practically jumped. "Serena, what are you doing?"
Serena didn't even lift her head, voice utterly defeated: "Nothing."
Ethan opened his mouth—about to suggest she grab some food before leaving since he'd bought plenty—but Serena didn't give him the chance. She rolled into the elevator and threw him a quick goodbye: "See you."
"See... you."
Ethan stood there bewildered, forced into an abrupt farewell with zero clue what just went down. He scratched his head in confusion and headed home.
Inside the apartment, Adrian sat on the sofa lazily scrolling through his phone with slow, deliberate swipes. When he heard the door open, he glanced up. Ethan clearly caught the flash of light that sparked in his cousin's eyes before immediately dimming again, which only confused him more.
But thinking back to running into Serena just now, he pieced things together and couldn't help grinning. "Adrian, just because it's me walking in and not Serena doesn't mean you have to look that disappointed."
Adrian shot him an ice-cold look before dropping his gaze back to his phone. Conversation over.
Naturally, Ethan refused to read the room. He bounded over with barely contained excitement: "Adrian, what did Serena come here for? Did she realize she screwed up dumping you? Does she want to marry you now?"
"Which part of that scene made you think she regrets anything?"
Based on everything Adrian knew about Serena, even if she regretted getting together with Chase, she'd never regret breaking off that engagement.
"But I just saw her at the elevator literally banging her head against the wall! That's obviously regret, frustration, total heartbreak. She must be devastated because you rejected her, right?"
Adrian fell silent.
Heartbroken? He hadn't seen that. All he'd witnessed was that woman lashing back at him with claws out, saying things specifically designed to piss him off.
"But—"
Ethan tried to continue.
Adrian cut him off with a chilling glance: "You're awfully chatty. Must have tons of experience in this area. That girl who turned you down yesterday—what number was she this month? Eleven?"
Ethan's face fell. "You can't mock someone because they're just not good at something!"
"Not good at it, or just completely incapable?"
Ethan was too irritated to respond. Fine. Whatever. He'd just eat instead.
He opened up the takeout bags, and that's when something shiny on the floor caught his eye. He bent down and picked it up. "Huh, there's an earring here."
He held it up to Adrian. "Is this Serena's?"
"Bring it here."
...
Meanwhile, Serena had already made it home.
As she was getting out of the car, Zoey noticed something off. "Ms. Rothwell, I could've sworn you were wearing both earrings when you left. What happened to the other one?"
Serena touched her ear. Sure enough, one was missing. Must've fallen off somewhere along the way. She shrugged it off with a quick "No big deal."
Right now, what had her actually spiraling was the shares situation and the whole Tomlinson Group disaster. She only had fourteen days left until the one-month deadline. She needed to figure out both problems, and fast.
Once inside, she immediately called her best friend Jessica. Adrian was clearly a lost cause. She'd have to get Jessica to find her another buyer.
"Finding a new buyer's going to be really tough." Jessica's voice came through frank and practical. "If you want to sell it as one package deal, Adrian's literally the only person with the resources to buy it all at once. Otherwise, you'll have to break it up into multiple smaller sales."
Serena immediately shut that down: "Absolutely not. If we split it up, word will definitely get out. Chase will know for sure."
"Then what else is there to say? The Locke Group is your best option. Your only option, really."
Right now, Adrian was running the Locke Group. In other words, Serena still had to deal with him. But that man hadn't given away a single hint about where he actually stood on this whole thing. Serena had absolutely no read on what he was thinking.
The weight of despair settled back in.
After ending the call, she collapsed onto her bed, completely drained. Even though Jessica promised to brainstorm solutions, Serena still felt pretty hopeless about everything.
The more she replayed tonight in her head, the more she regretted how it went down. She shouldn't have left so easily. Why couldn't she have kept her cool? Why'd she let her stupid pride take over and storm off like that?
Storm off for what? Did she really have the luxury to throw tantrums right now?
Maybe... maybe she should try talking to him again? Next time she saw him, no matter how much he humiliated her, she'd just have to swallow it. Grit her teeth and take it.
Persistence. That's what she needed. Back when she first started building the Chasey Group, she'd landed plenty of partnerships by being absolutely shameless and relentlessly persistent. If that's what it took, she'd do it again. If Adrian refused to agree, she'd just keep pestering him until he caved.
But what if she tried to set up another meeting and he flat-out rejected her? Then she wouldn't even get the chance to make her pitch.
No, she needed an excuse. Some legitimate reason to see him that he couldn't easily turn down.
While she was still mulling this over, her phone suddenly rang. Unknown number.
She was already in a foul mood, and lately she'd been getting bombarded with spam calls because of all the wedding buzz. This was probably another telemarketer. She had zero patience for it and hit decline.
A few seconds later, the phone rang again. She declined again. It rang a third time.
She'd had enough. These salespeople were seriously dedicated, she'd give them that.
Annoyed beyond reason, she snatched up the phone: "Say what you need to say and then get lost."
The line went silent for a good ten seconds.
Then a cool, achingly familiar voice drifted through: "Ms. Rothwell, that temper of yours really has grown, hasn't it?"