Later, while tidying his suit, Sara found the model's contact info and a room key in his pocket.
She didn't dare confront Adrian. Instead, she quietly investigated the woman. Finding the model was bribing judges in a competition show, Sara leaked the evidence. The model was cut from the program, her career ruined, buried under a mountain of debt for breach of contract.
Sara thought she had been subtle.
But when the news broke, Adrian had looked up from his tablet. "You did it, didn't you?"
Terror had seized her chest.
But he had smiled—gentle, terrifying—and a chill had crawled down her spine. "Are you happy?"
When she couldn't answer, he pulled her onto his lap. It felt less like affection and more like a warning. "Don't do things like this again. If you have a problem, tell me directly. Understand?"
Caught red-handed in her first act of ruthlessness, she had nodded obediently.
He never brought it up again. But the label *vicious* had likely been stamped on her file in his mind.
A white rabbit was cute.
A rabbit that bit was a pest to be guarded against.
Especially one sleeping in his bed.
That night, Adrian didn't touch her.
Whether exhausted from work or simply uninterested, he fell asleep the moment the lights went out. Even when Sara had brought him a bathrobe earlier—stepping into the bathroom while he was damp and exposed—the air remained cold.
No "accidents."
No sparks.
Adrian wasn't a man ruled by lust. He valued quality over frequency. When work consumed him, going weeks without intimacy was common.
Ironclad self-control, both in the boardroom and the bedroom. Toward people he shouldn't love—like Sara—he wouldn't waver. At most, he would pay her off.
It saved time and effort.
But Eva was different. The fact that she dared to provoke Sara meant she knew she had leverage.
Sara was a pragmatist. Illusory love didn't pay the bills; hard currency did.
She immediately began preparing for divorce.
There was no prenup, but the disparity in their status meant she couldn't dream of taking half his assets. The Harding family, obsessed with face and profit, would crush her like an ant if she tried.
Eva had protection.
Sara had nothing.
Even if he offered money, she'd be wary of taking it.