Chapter 6 - The Night Everything Fell Apart
Camille read Victor's message twice.
“What does that mean?”
Adrien didn't answer.
“Adrien.”
“I don't know.”
She studied him.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“You do something with your left hand when you're lying.”
He looked down.
His thumb was rubbing the edge of his watch.
He stopped.
Camille's expression hardened.
“You know something.”
“I know why your résumé reached my desk.”
“That isn't what he said.”
“No.”
“Then tell me.”
Adrien looked toward the empty Ardan House.
Six years earlier, Camille had been an operations coordinator at a hospitality company.
Adrien had met her once before interviewing her.
She didn't know.
“I saw you at the Bellweather dinner.”
Camille frowned.
“What?”
“You were working.”
“I remember the event.”
“A donor collapsed.”
Her expression changed.
An older man had fallen near the ballroom doors.
Everyone panicked.
Camille hadn't.
She had cleared the area, called emergency services, found the man's medication information, calmed his wife, redirected guests, and somehow kept the event running.
“I asked who you were.”
Camille stared.
“The manager gave me your name.”
“So you recruited me.”
“Yes.”
“You told me HR found my résumé.”
“I told HR to find it.”
Her mouth opened.
“Why?”
“Because in five minutes you noticed twelve things everyone else missed.”
Camille said nothing.
Adrien continued.
“I needed someone like that.”
“Needed.”
“Yes.”
There was the wound.
Six years reduced to usefulness again.
Camille picked up her bag.
“I'll deal with Victor tomorrow.”
“No.”
“Don't order me.”
“He's trying to provoke us.”
“Then let him.”
They went together.
The boardroom was dark except for the city lights.
Victor stood near the windows.
He was fifty-four, immaculate, and smiling.
“You came.”
Adrien's voice was flat.
“You sent the photographs.”
Victor shrugged.
“I encouraged clarity.”
“You invaded Camille's privacy.”
“I photographed paperwork she left at the office.”
Camille stepped forward.
“You went through my desk.”
“I was protecting the company.”
“From an event-planning business?”
“From losing the person holding Adrien together.”
Adrien's jaw tightened.
Victor smiled.
“You see? Even now.”
“What do you want?” Camille asked.
“You to stay.”
“No.”
“Name your price.”
“No.”
“Double your salary.”
“No.”
“Equity.”
“No.”
Adrien watched her.
Victor's smile disappeared.
“You don't understand what happens when you leave.”
Camille's voice remained calm.
“Yes, I do. Someone else does my job.”
“No one can.”
“That is a management failure, not a reason to own an employee.”
Adrien looked at her.
The words hurt because they were true.
Victor turned to him.
“Tell her.”
“Tell her what?”
“Why the wedding matters.”
Adrien's expression cooled.
Victor continued.
“The Laurent relationship stabilizes the European financing.”
Celeste's family.
Adrien understood.
“You tied financing assumptions to my marriage?”
“Not formally.”
“You're finished.”
Victor laughed.
“You can't remove me three weeks before closing.”
“Watch me.”
Camille stepped between them verbally before the confrontation escalated.
“Victor, did you send the threats?”
“Threats?”
“The photographs.”
“I sent information.”
“To manipulate us.”
“To prevent two emotional women from destroying years of work.”
Adrien moved.
Camille caught his arm.
One touch.
He stopped.
Victor noticed.
His smile returned.
“There.”
Adrien looked at Camille's hand on his sleeve.
She released him.
Victor said quietly, “That's why she has to go.”
Camille frowned.
“I thought you wanted me to stay.”
“I wanted the assistant to stay.”
He looked at Adrien.
“Not the woman.”
Silence.
Victor finally said the thing everyone else had been circling.
“You're in love with her.”
Adrien didn't respond.
Camille did.
“Enough.”
Victor laughed.
“Ask him.”
“I said enough.”
“Ask why he canceled every candidate interview when you threatened to resign three years ago.”
Camille turned.
“What?”
Adrien's face changed.
Victor continued.
“Ask why he personally approved your salary every year. Ask why he kept every birthday card you ever gave him. Ask why his private archive contains a letter with your name on it.”
Camille went still.
“The letter.”
Adrien looked at Victor.
“How do you know about that?”
“I know everything that threatens this company.”
Adrien stepped toward him.
“You're done.”
Victor's smile faded.
“Remove me and the financing committee learns the wedding is canceled tomorrow morning.”
“Tell them tonight.”
“Adrien.”
“Tell everyone.”
Victor stared.
Adrien removed his phone.
He called Margaret.
“Prepare Victor Soren's termination.”
Victor's face drained.
“You can't.”
“I just did.”
“You'll risk billions.”
“No.”
Adrien looked at Camille.
“I've risked people for money long enough.”
Victor left without another word.
The door slammed.
Silence returned.
Camille looked at Adrien.
“What letter?”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“Something I wrote after your first month.”
“To me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't I get it?”
“I never sent it.”
“What did it say?”
Adrien hesitated.
Camille almost laughed.
“Now who's hiding things?”
He walked to his office.
She followed.
Adrien opened the archived scan.
He handed her the tablet.
Camille read.
Camille,
If I ever become the kind of man who stops seeing you because you've become too useful to lose, leave.
If I start treating your competence as something I am entitled to, remind me that you had a life before this office and deserve one after it.
You saved a room full of people from panic tonight without making anyone feel small.
That is rare.
Don't let this company make you smaller.
—Adrien
Camille stared at the screen.
“You wrote this?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you give it to me?”
“I thought it was inappropriate.”
“Why?”
“Because you'd worked for me thirty-one days.”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
She wiped it away.
“You knew.”
“I forgot.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You didn't forget. You became exactly the man you warned yourself about.”
Adrien absorbed the blow.
“Yes.”
No defense.
No excuse.
“Yes, I did.”
Camille handed back the tablet.
She walked toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Camille.”
She stopped.
Adrien's voice was quieter.
“I don't want you to stay.”
She turned.
Pain flashed across her face before she could hide it.
He continued.
“Not as my assistant.”
Her breathing changed.
“I want Ardan House to succeed.”
“Adrien…”
“I'll help if you ask. I won't if you don't.”
She stared.
“And what do you want from me?”
He almost answered.
Then his phone rang.
Margaret.
Adrien picked up.
He listened.
His face changed.
“What?”
Camille stepped closer.
Margaret spoke rapidly.
Adrien lowered the phone.
“The financing committee already knows.”
“So?”
“They know the wedding is canceled.”
Camille waited.
Adrien looked directly at her.
“And someone just leaked the reason.”
Her stomach dropped.
“What reason?”
Adrien turned the phone toward her.
A headline had appeared on a Chicago business site.
KOVAC WEDDING COLLAPSES AFTER BILLIONAIRE EXECUTIVE SPENDS NIGHT WITH ASSISTANT.
Beneath it was the photograph of Adrien entering Camille's apartment.
But there was another photograph beside it.
One neither of them had seen.
May you like
Adrien and Camille standing inches apart inside Ardan House.
And whoever had taken it was still inside the building...
