Gregory admitted he was jealous.
+25 BONUS
He’d been jealous of Xander when the boy had won over Anathea by playing the victim and putting on an obedient act, and now, he was jealous of Theo for making Anathea light up with only a few words.
And yet, when it came to him, Anathea was so cold and distant. Gregory didn’t know when she’d stopped giving him real smiles.
To think that he would so desperately want the things he’d shunned before, only for Arlathea to give them all to Xander and even someone as irrelevant as Theo instead of him.
How could Gregory not be jealous? He was going mad with jealousy at this point!
But Anathea had questioned whether he even knew how to love someone. She’d ruthlessly pointed out his flaw, enraging him so much that he’d lose control and hurt her.
Now that his anger had waned, he was left with immense regret. He’d left the party in a hurry and come to Drunk Elysium to drown his shame in drinks. He refused to face the consequences of his behavior.
Adrian saw through all of it. He stared at Gregory’s bloodshot eyes and defeated expression.
Gregory looked nothing like the powerful and intimidating CEO of Sinclair Group. If nothing else, he was only a jealous man who was too proud and stubborn to beg his wife for forgiveness.
Shaking his head, Adrian noted that Gregory’s glass was empty and duly poured some wine into it.
Gregory’s brows furrowed. “That’s not enough.‘
14
“It is. Any more and your wife won’t want you,” Adrian teased.
“I don’t care if she wants me or not!” Gregory growled, his words packed with resentment.
Adrian eyed the man whose hardheadedness showed after a couple of drinks and gave an exasperated shake of his head. He raised his hand and clapped Gregory’s shoulder, lecturing the latter, “Greg, you don’t have to forcefully claim someone just to show that you like them.”
Gregory went still. “When did I say I liked…”
When did he say he liked Anathea?
Adrian rolled his eyes when he heard Gregory’s defensive words. “If you don’t like her, why did you change your mind about the divorce when the papers were already drawn up?
“If you don’t like her, why did you brave the rain and rush from Syntherra to Castenea overnight just to bail her out when you found out she was detained?
“If you don’t like her, why did you search for her like a madman after she fled Castenea? You willingly offered Dominic a huge project in exchange for information on her whereabouts and even told the world she was your wife!
“If you don’t like her, why did you hire the best doctor for Adam for her sake when you could have easily watched him die after you learned he was ill? Don’t forget how much you hate Adam, yet you abandoned your principles because of Anathea.
“Tell me, Greg. What made you do all that if you claim you don’t like Anathea?”
Adrian even had good reason to believe Gregory had fallen in love with Anathea long ago. It was just that Gregory himself had no idea of it.
“No way!” A trace of indescribable emotion flickered in Gregory’s eyes. “I was only-”
“You were only what? Did you want to say you were just used to having her around and that it was weird when she left?”
Adrian chuckled, but the next second, a solemn look registered in his eyes. “Did you know that acclimation is also a sign of
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liking someone, Greg?”
+25 BONUS
Gregory stiffened while Adrian’s voice continued ringing in his cars. “You’ve liked Anathea for a long time, but you refuse to admit it because the feeling is foreign to you. It’s beyond your control, and it’ll become your weakness, so you repeatedly tell yourself that you don’t like her.
“But even if you can fool everyone else and even Anathea, can you truly fool yourself and your heart?”
Adrian’s words struck Gregory like arrows finding their marks, seling tremors through his body. The ambient music around him continued playing, but a quiet loneliness filled his heart. He fell silent.
Meanwhile, Adrian watched as emotions flickered across Gregory’s face–there was surprise, disbelief, and a little joy, mixed with a trickle of wariness and shame.
Chapter 246
