The Underboss Voted No So I Chose A New Life Chapter 30
That night, I was in the meeting room confirming the next day’s shooting route when Hadrian knocked on the door.
“Can I come in?”
“Is it about work?”
“Yes.”
He set a packet of hotel history materials on the table.
“The old staircase you want to shoot will be under repair tomorrow afternoon. It can be opened for two hours in the morning.”
“Got it.”
He didn’t leave.
I looked up.
“Anything else?”
“The boss asked me to come back to the long table after this project ends.”
I waited.
“I turned him down.”
“That’s your business.”
“I know.”
Hadrian looked out through the glass wall at the city below.
Car lights passed, one after another.
“Every decision I used to make, I wanted everyone to be satisfied. When a subordinate needed money, I guaranteed it. When Chloe needed protection, I put you second. When the inner circle didn’t want restrictions, I told them you wouldn’t allow it.”
“In the end, I thought I was taking care of everyone.”
“But all I really did was make the person most willing to endure it bear all the consequences.”
I didn’t answer.
If he had said those words at that long table back then, maybe I would have stayed to hear the rest.
Now they were just answers that had come too late.
Hadrian slipped a hand into his suit pocket, then took it back out, empty.
His wrist was still bare.
“I got rid of the tin box.”
I looked at him.
“Not by throwing it away. I took the tickets out and shredded them all.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because before, I kept them because I was waiting for you to see them. Waiting for you to soften.”
His voice was low.
“I’m not waiting anymore.”
He paused. “Mireille, it wasn’t that I didn’t love you.”
“I know.”
A sheen of moisture rose in his eyes.
“You know?”
“You loved me. And you chose them. Those are two different things.”
That day at the long table, he loved me.
And still, he chose Chloe, chose the inner circle, chose the easiest path.
Hadrian nodded.
“You’re right.”
He turned and walked to the door.
This time, he didn’t say he’d see me next time, and he didn’t ask when I was coming back.