Chapter 3 - The Woman He Chose
Sophia Lane had never asked Adrian to divorce me.
That truth emerged slowly.
And when I learned it, I hated myself for how easily I had made her the villain.
She was not innocent.
But the story was more complicated than I had believed.
Three weeks after I stopped speaking to Adrian, Sophia came to see me.
I was leaving class when she appeared outside the building.
No security.
No designer coat.
Just jeans, a dark sweater, and an expression so nervous I almost walked past.
“Claire.”
I stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk.”
“No, we really don’t.”
I continued toward my car.
She followed.
“Please.”
I stopped again.
That word still had power over me.
Maybe because I had used it too often myself.
I turned.
“You have five minutes.”
We went to a coffee shop.
Sophia didn’t order anything.
She sat across from me twisting a paper napkin.
“I’m leaving Adrian.”
I stared at her.
Then laughed.
Not kindly.
“You won. Congratulations.”
“I didn’t win.”
“You’re living with him.”
“No.”
That surprised me.
“You’re not?”
“I never did.”
I looked at her.
Sophia continued.
“Adrian rented an apartment for me after the divorce because there were security concerns.”
“Very romantic.”
“It wasn’t romantic.”
“You were sleeping together before my marriage ended.”
Her face tightened.
“No.”
I went still.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not.”
I leaned forward.
“He told me he loved you.”
“He does.”
The words cut.
Sophia closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because Adrian is lying to you.”
“About what?”
“About why he divorced you.”
I stared.
She continued.
“And I think he’s lying to himself too.”
My anger rose.
“If you’re about to tell me he left me for my own protection, don’t.”
Sophia looked startled.
I laughed bitterly.
“Men like Adrian love that excuse.”
“This isn’t exactly that.”
“Then what?”
She looked around.
Then lowered her voice.
“Three months before your divorce, somebody tried to kill you.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
“You never knew.”
“No.”
“There was a car outside the foundation gala.”
I remembered the gala.
A charity event at one of Adrian’s hotels.
I left early because of a migraine.
“My driver took me home.”
Sophia shook her head.
“That wasn’t your scheduled driver.”
My stomach tightened.
“The scheduled driver was found unconscious in the parking garage.”
I stared at her.
“Adrian never told me.”
“He didn’t want you frightened.”
“Who was behind it?”
“That’s what he didn’t know.”
My hands became cold.
Sophia continued.
“Someone inside his organization knew your movements. They knew what car you would use, what time you were leaving, which entrance.”
“And you?”
“I was the person who discovered the schedule leak.”
She had been Adrian’s assistant.
She managed logistics.
She noticed a security itinerary had been accessed from an executive account.
At first, suspicion fell on her.
Then she found evidence that someone was using her credentials.
Adrian moved her closer to him so he could control access and investigate.
People began seeing them together constantly.
Meetings.
Late nights.
Private travel.
I had noticed all of it.
Then came the worst part.
“Why did he tell me he loved you?”
Sophia looked away.
“Because he thought the person targeting you would stop if you were no longer his wife.”
I felt anger before relief.
Hot.
Violent.
Humiliating.
“He destroyed our marriage to trick an enemy?”
Sophia shook her head.
“No. That’s what I came to tell you. The threat was real, but the love part wasn’t entirely a lie.”
That silenced me.
She swallowed.
“Adrian did develop feelings for me.”
My chest hurt.
“Thank you for clarifying.”
“Claire.”
“No, it’s good. At least one person is telling the truth.”
“He cared about me.”
“Enough to leave me.”
Sophia’s eyes filled.
“But not the way he believed.”
“What does that mean?”
She took a breath.
“Adrian was drowning before the threat ever happened.”
I frowned.
“He never spoke about your marriage publicly, obviously. But I saw him every day.”
“What did you see?”
“A man who thought you hated the life he built.”
I laughed.
“Then he should have asked.”
“Yes.”
The immediate agreement disarmed me.
Sophia continued.
“You two stopped talking. Really talking. You fought about security. His absences. His business. The people around him. You kept asking him to become the boy you grew up with.”
My throat tightened.
“And he thought that boy was weak.”
Sophia nodded.
“He thought you were disappointed in him.”
“I was afraid of him.”
She looked surprised.
“Not that he would hurt me.”
I stared at my hands.
“I was afraid one day I would look at him and not recognize him.”
Sophia was quiet.
Then she said:
“He felt that.”
Of course he did.
Adrian noticed everything except the things I desperately wanted him to notice.
Sophia continued.
“When the assassination attempt happened, he panicked. I became the person beside him while he investigated. He confused relief with love.”
“And you?”
“I did love him.”
Present tense slipped.
Did.
I noticed.
“Why are you leaving?”
“Because he doesn’t actually want me.”
I almost laughed again.
“He held you in front of me.”
Sophia’s face reddened.
“That day after the crash?”
“Yes.”
She looked ashamed.
“He was angry.”
“At me?”
“At himself.”
“That’s convenient.”
“I know how it sounds.”
“You were scared of me.”
“I was.”
That surprised me.
Sophia looked directly at me.
“You had crashed a two-hundred-thousand-dollar car six times trying to force contact with him. I didn’t know whether you were going to hit me, scream, or drive into another wall.”
I sat back.
There was no defense.
She was right.
My grief had become frightening.
I had thought only about my own pain.
“I’m sorry.”
Sophia blinked.
Maybe she hadn’t expected that.
“I shouldn’t have behaved that way.”
She nodded slowly.
Then said:
“Adrian held me because he wanted you to let go.”
I looked at her.
“He thought cruelty would work where distance hadn’t.”
It had.
That was the problem.
I felt tears behind my eyes.
Sophia pushed a folded paper toward me.
“What’s this?”
“A resignation letter.”
“Why show me?”
“Because I’m leaving Moretti Holdings.”
“Why?”
“I spent two years becoming involved in a life that wasn’t mine. I don’t want to spend another two years waiting for Adrian to realize he never stopped being married to you in his head.”
I stared.
“That’s not true.”
Sophia smiled sadly.
“Ask him who your dentist is.”
“What?”
“Ask him your coffee order. Your childhood address. The date your mother died. What side you sleep on. Which perfume gives you headaches. What temperature you keep your bedroom at.”
My throat tightened.
“Then ask him the same things about me.”
I said nothing.
Sophia stood.
Before leaving, she paused.
“For what it’s worth, Claire, he shouldn’t have done what he did.”
I looked up.
“The threat may explain the timing. It doesn’t excuse lying to you.”
“Do you still love him?”
She thought.
“Yes.”
That honesty hurt but I respected it.
“But loving someone doesn’t mean you should keep waiting for them to choose you.”
Then she walked away.
I sat there for twenty minutes.
My first instinct was to call Adrian.
Demand answers.
Scream.
Accuse him of manipulating me.
But I didn’t.
That was the new difference.
Knowing something didn’t mean I had to run back.
That evening, Adrian called.
I let it ring.
Then he texted:
Sophia resigned.
I looked at the screen.
Another message arrived.
Did she talk to you?
I still didn’t answer.
Five minutes later:
Claire, please.
For years, Adrian’s silence had controlled every room.
May you like
Now mine controlled him.
And neither of us yet understood what it was going to cost.
