Chapter 3 - THE ABANDONED CONTRACT
The confirmation hit Adrian like an physical impact. Three years. Three years during which Clara had vanished completely from his life—disappearing without a trace from her Queens apartment shortly after he had taken over his father’s company, leaving no forwarding address, no phone number, and rejecting every search team he had quietly deployed to find her.
Lucy’s eyes filled with sudden, heavy tears. A single tear rolled down her pale cheek, catching the bright sunlight from the floor-to-ceiling windows.
"Mommy won’t wake up," Lucy sobbed softly, wiping her nose with the arm of her patched pink dress.
Abby stepped closer to her sister, wrapping her small arm around Lucy’s shoulder, looking directly into Adrian’s eyes with an eerie, mature quietness.
"She gave us her soup," Abby added. "She said she wasn't hungry, but she stayed on the floor."
Adrian shot to his feet.
The force of his sudden movement sent his heavy executive chair rolling violently backward until it slammed hard against the glass wall behind him. The sound rang out like a gunshot across the silent boardroom.
He didn't look at the seventy-page acquisition contract lying unsigned on the table. He didn't look at his chief legal officer, his Vice President, or the file folders containing millions of dollars in pending equities.
"The meeting is over," Adrian growled, his voice carrying an absolute, terrifying command that offered zero room for question. "Clear the room. All of you."
He didn't wait for them to gather their papers. Adrian reached down, his large, calloused hands—lined with dark tattoos across the knuckles—gently closing around Lucy’s right hand and Abby’s left hand. His grip was impossibly soft, holding their tiny fingers as if they were made of spun glass.
May you like
He looked down into their upturned faces.
"Take me to her," Adrian commanded softly.
