Chapter 115 My Girl
Adrian looked down at her, his indifferent gaze meeting her bright, hopeful eyes. A moment of silence stretched between them. But then he moved to push her away, as if he didn't know her at all.
Serena could tell he wasn't pleased, but she didn't have time to worry about that. Stuart was right behind her, and people on the second floor were watching. She couldn't just let Adrian walk away.
She gripped his arm tightly and lowered her voice. "Mr. Locke, please help me out here."
Adrian's eyebrow arched slightly, his expression cold and unimpressed. It practically screamed: Not enough that you dropped my name to bluff your way through this, now you want me to play along?
An awkward smile tugged at her lips, her eyes pleading. "I was desperate, okay? Come on, I designed that watch for you. Can't you just help me out a little?"
Adrian didn't respond. Instead, he lifted his hand and removed her grip from his arm.
Serena glared at him, fuming. He wouldn't even help with something this small?
Just then, Stuart caught up. Seeing Adrian actually standing there, all his earlier arrogance evaporated. His expression instantly shifted to fawning. "Mr. Locke, what brings you here?"
Adrian glanced at Serena first, then his cold gaze swept over Stuart. "If I hadn't shown up, what exactly were you planning to do to my girl?"
"Y-your girl?" Stuart looked like he'd been hit by a truck.
He genuinely hadn't expected Serena to actually have a connection with Adrian. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he rushed to explain. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Locke. I, I didn't know about you and Serena. I wasn't—"
"Whether you knew or not isn't the point. What matters is..." Adrian paused before continuing. "Forcing yourself on women—your father taught you well, I guess."
His tone was calm, almost casual, yet ice-cold and utterly crushing.
Stuart tried to explain further, but the words wouldn't come out right.
Adrian clearly had no interest in hearing him out. He turned to the person behind him. "Call Mr. Mole and tell him to come to Snowflake Club and pick up his son."
"Yes, Mr. Locke."
That's when Stuart noticed that the person following Adrian was his father's superior. His father had been in his current position for four years already. This was the fifth year, and if he didn't get promoted now, he'd never make it up the ladder. That's why his father had been desperately trying to curry favor with people lately. He'd made several trips to the Locke family alone, all with no results, which had already made him volatile. If Stuart got dragged home like this, a beating was guaranteed.
The thought nearly made Stuart drop to his knees.
But Adrian didn't spare him another glance, simply taking Serena's hand and walking past him. The people following Adrian hurried after him. As they passed Stuart, they shot him looks of contempt.
Stuart's legs trembled as he stared at Serena's retreating back, resentment burning in his chest.
Around the corner, Adrian released Serena's hand. The gesture was gentlemanly, giving her no sense of being violated. She looked up at him and said quietly, "Thank you."
Adrian didn't respond, just stared at her with those cold, penetrating eyes.
Her heart started hammering. Why was he looking at her like that? Was he about to tear into her? She knew calling him to deliberately mislead Stuart was wrong. He probably thought she'd been using his name to scam people.
She was about to explain when Adrian raised his hand. Was he going to hit her? Serena didn't dare dodge, instinctively closing her eyes. If he was going to hit her, so be it. He had just helped her after all.
But the expected pain never came. The back of his hand pressed against her forehead, cool to the touch.
Wait, what? He wasn't going to hit her?
She carefully peeked at him, only to find him staring right back at her. This time he wasn't so gentle. He rapped his knuckles against her forehead twice. "Your fever just broke and you're already out here causing trouble?"
"How did you know I had a fever?" she asked, surprised.
Adrian ignored her and strode toward the private rooms deeper in the hallway. The people behind him quickly followed.
He walked alone at the front, his tall frame wrapped in an impeccably tailored charcoal suit. The fabric moved with each steady stride in elegant, clean lines, like a solitary cloud drifting over a snow-capped peak. Growing more distant with each step.
A strange feeling washed over Serena, as if the hallway had suddenly become impossibly long. She couldn't help remembering years ago, when she was being bullied, how he'd always stepped in front of her, fierce and protective.
But those days were long gone.
It wasn't the hallway that was unreachable. It was Adrian himself. The distance between them.
At that thought, a self-deprecating smile crossed her face. She turned and went to find Jessica.
Jessica was still talking with the Snowflake Club staff. Monica had gone berserk earlier, smashing up a bunch of stuff in the private room and seriously disturbing other guests. When the staff came to talk to her about it, she'd gotten into another argument with them. Anyone who could get into this club wasn't exactly a nobody in New Valley—everyone had connections. So neither side was willing to back down, and things got pretty ugly.
Jessica had no choice but to call the Jones family to come pick Monica up, then went to the neighboring room to apologize to the guests. That's what had taken her so long.
When Serena found her, she immediately started venting. "I never should've come to this dinner. You have no idea what a nightmare Monica is. Looks all put-together, but turns out she's got some serious anger issues."
"What happened?" Serena asked curiously.
Jessica started explaining. "The Jones family has two daughters—the older one's Natasha, the younger one's Monica. Natasha's already exceptional in every way, plus she's about to marry into the Smith family, which puts a ton of pressure on Monica. Monica's got all this ambition but none of the skills to back it up. Over time, the pressure just built up until, well, mentally she kinda snapped."
Serena nodded with understanding but didn't say anything more. She hadn't been interested in Monica to begin with.
Jessica didn't want to talk about her anymore either. She turned to Serena. "Earlier when I was in the room, I thought I heard some kind of commotion outside. Did something happen?"
"Nothing major, just ran into Stuart—"
"Who?" Jessica's expression darkened instantly. She stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Serena. "You said you ran into who? Stuart?"