“It’s not a short deployment,” he said thoughtfully. “But it’s useful for wolves who need credentials. Returning with international experience makes them stand out.”
Adriana listened quietly, her heart steady despite the tension building inside her.
“And what do you think?” she asked carefully.
He didn’t hesitate.
“You don’t need it,” he said flatly. “By the time you’d finish a term abroad, I could’ve already secured a higher position for you here.”
There it was.
The refusal she had expected.
She exhaled softly, lowering her gaze.
Of course.
In his mind, her path should always run parallel to his.
An old memory surfaced unbidden.
In the past, when their arguments had spiraled, Nathanie’s temper had sometimes crossed lines. And afterward—perhaps out of guilt—he would soften, offering concessions to smooth things over.
There had been one night in particular.
Olivia had called, saying she’d cut her hand while preparing dinner. It was minor—barely more than a scratch.
Adriana had asked Nathanie to stay.
“Can’t someone else handle it?” she had said then, exhausted from her own shift. “It’s just a small wound.”
He had gone anyway.
But before he left, the argument had escalated.
And when he returned later that night, anger still simmering beneath his calm exterior, he had struck her across the face.
“If you hadn’t delayed me,” he had snapped, “Olivia wouldn’t have gotten hurt at all.”
The words still rang clearly in her memory.
As if she had been the cause.
As if Olivia’s every misfortune could be traced back to her.
Sitting now in the dim bedroom, Adriana looked at the wolf she had once believed was her future.
And she wondered, not for the first time, how she had convinced herself that this was love.
In the past, whenever their arguments stretched into cold silence, it was always Nathanie who yielded first.
After a few days of ignoring each other, he would eventually soften, writing a brief apology note just to bring things back to normal. Back then, Adriana had taken those gestures to heart. She had believed the effort meant he cared.
Now, she understood something else.
If a signed apology could once mend their relationship, perhaps a signature could also end it.
“I don’t need you arranging my future,” she said lightly, a hint of challenge in her voice. “If I’m going to move up in rank, I’ll do it with my own abilities.”