He Made An Exception For Her But Never For Me Chapter 04
The moment I pushed open the door to the study, my footsteps stopped.
There, in the center of the screen, glowed a single line of text: System Reset Complete. Restoring Factory Settings…
Every drop of blood in my body froze.
“Sophia…”
A small, timid voice came from behind me.
Chloe had followed me upstairs at some point, still holding the mug of hot milk.
“I’m sorry, Sophia. I was too scared to be alone downstairs.”
“Adrian said I could borrow your computer to watch old videos of Muffin.”
“But then the computer froze. And Adrian had taught me before.”
“He said when it freezes, I could press the reset button!”
Her eyes were red, tears trembling at the edges.
“I didn’t know it would do that. Please, please don’t be angry, Sophia.”
I stared at the screen. Every piece of data had been wiped clean.
The day of the accident, the memory card in the dash cam had been ejected from its slot.
The original card had been damaged after being read only once.
This computer held the only backup copy of the footage.
I lunged for the desk, trying to abort the reset.
But it was useless.
The screen went black, leaving nothing but the boot logo.
“Chloe Lawson!”
I spun around and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Who gave you permission to touch my things? Who?”
“Ah! Adrian, help me!”
The mug of milk crashed to the floor, glass shattering everywhere.
Chloe recoiled, her face white with fear.
“Have you gone completely insane?”
A sharp shout came from the doorway.
The next moment, a large hand clamped around my wrist.
Adrian stepped in front of Chloe, then threw me backward with a hard shove.
I lost my balance and slammed sideways into the sharp corner of the desk.
Pain tore through me, and I collapsed onto the floor.
Adrian didn’t even glance at me.
He was already gathering Chloe into his arms, patting her back to soothe her.
Once he was certain she was fine, he finally turned to look at me.
There was disgust in his eyes.
“It’s just a computer.”
Adrian stared down at me, crumpled on the floor.
“Bosworth Group’s tech team can recover your data tomorrow.”
“You physically attacked a woman with a mental illness over a couple of manuscripts?”
His tone held nothing but disappointment.
“I thought these three days would help you calm down. Instead, you’ve learned how to lie.”
“And now you’ve become this hysterical. It’s completely unreasonable.”
I clutched my ribs, and a bitter, broken laugh escaped my throat.
I laughed until the tears fell onto the back of my hand.
“Adrian Bosworth. Do you have any idea what was on that computer?”
Gripping the leg of the desk, I pulled myself, inch by inch, back onto my feet.
“That was the backup of the dash cam footage from the day of my brother’s accident.”
The hand Adrian had been resting on Chloe’s back went suddenly rigid.
“The other driver is insisting my brother caused the crash.”
“Without that footage, Ethan will take one hundred percent of the fault.”
I looked at him.
“You didn’t only take away his equipment at the hospital.”
“Now you’ve let Chloe destroy the only hope my sister-in-law and niece had of surviving on that settlement.”
Adrian’s face finally changed.
He released Chloe and took a step toward me, his lips trembling.
“The footage… Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I’ll have the Bosworth legal team on it immediately. Whatever the settlement amount is, I’ll cover it myself!”
“No thank you.”
I cut him off.
Then, right in front of him.
I slid the wedding ring I had worn for three years, slowly, off my finger.
Adrian’s eyes locked onto the ring.
“What are you doing? Put it back on!”
“Adrian Bosworth, I used to believe that even if you were cold-blooded, at least you had principles. At least you had limits.”
“As long as I was good enough, my life would be safe.”
I picked up my bag and stepped around the shattered mess on the floor.
I didn’t look at him. I didn’t look at Chloe.
“But now I finally see. Your principles and your limits are only cold-blooded when they’re aimed at me.”
I reached the door. I didn’t turn back.
I only left him with one last sentence.
“I want a divorce. I don’t want you anymore.”