Everyone believed I loved her miserably—a simp willing to swallow any humiliation just to breathe her air.
Right now, she was practically draped across Kevin's lap, her eyes glazed with adoration as he spun tales of his "glorious achievements" on Wall Street.
The fabrications were so laughable my head shook before I could stop it.
"You damn simp. Peeling shrimp is just peeling shrimp—what kind of expression is that?"
A cigarette butt arced through the air and landed on the back of my hand. The ember seared into skin. The crayfish slipped from my fingers.
The man humiliating me was Evan Whitney, Kevin's number-one lackey.
He squatted down, his fleshy face invading my space. "Do you know how expensive these are? Can a stinking shrimp-peeler like you even afford to replace one?"
Elisa laughed.
She lifted one lazy eyelid, sweeping a glance my way. "Evan, don't tease him."
"Kevin's family runs a massive business—a world someone like Adam can't even imagine." She stretched the words like taffy. "As for him? His only value is his utility. If he can't even peel shrimp properly, why would I keep him around?"
Yes.
For three years, everyone in the capital knew the truth: Adam Mason was a dog kept by Elisa Fox.
On call twenty-four-seven. Never fought back when hit. Never talked back when scolded.
I didn't refute her. Didn't even look up.
If this were the Adam Mason from three years ago, I would have flipped the table and sent that plate of shells flying into their faces.
But now, I kept my head down, eyes locked on the time glowing on my phone screen.
Three hours remaining.
I inhaled slowly, picked up another crayfish, and let their jeering laughter dissolve into white noise.
My mind drifted back three years—to Elisa's mother clutching my hand on her deathbed.
The once decisive, iron-willed businesswoman had looked fragile as a child in her final moments.
"Adam... I know this isn't fair to you." Her grip was fading, each breath a wheeze. "But Elisa... her pride will be her downfall. The collateral branches of the Fox family are circling like wolves. If you don't protect her, they will swallow her alive."
"Three years. Just give me three years. Help her secure her position. Shield her."
Tears had carved rivers down her hollowed cheeks. "I'm shamelessly begging you... treat it as repayment for sending you back to the Masons..."
To honor that kindness, I signed the damn agreement.