I Choose Him, Your Worst Enemy novel Chapter 71

Chapter 71 Go On

Adriel was already waiting inside the private dining room when Wynette arrived.

The moment he saw her walk through the door, he signaled the server to bring out the food.

Finished

When Wynette saw what he’d ordered, a small flutter of surprise moved through her. Every dish on the table was one of her favorites.

“Did everything go smoothly?” Adriel asked.

He’d originally planned to take Wynette to a bridal boutique that morning.

She hadn’t responded to any of the wedding dress photos he’d sent, and he’d taken her silence as disinterest, so he’d quietly arranged for several well–known designers to come in instead.

Then Wynette had apologized and said she needed to handle something at the office, and Adriel hadn’t pushed for more than that.

“It did,” Wynette said between bites, settling into the meal. “Though I doubt the Shepherds are going to let this

go quietly.”

“They already bailed Liam out,” Adriel said, watching her.

Liam had barely been taken in before the Shepherds‘ lawyers pulled him back out, and the timing of it had been almost insulting. He’d been released somewhere along the stretch of road between the precinct and Rainmist House.

By the time Wynette had arrived, he was already free, and the embezzled funds had been quietly replaced. Shirley had called Wynette on the way over to give her the update.

“I expected that,” Wynette replied, unbothered. “All I needed was to get him out of Jewell Group.”

Adriel’s gaze settled on her with a focused, unreadable intensity. “With Liam gone, what’s your next move?”

“A full audit,” Wynette said plainly. “And a complete overhaul of the staff.”

Three years was a long time. Liam had been embedded in Jewell Group long enough to leave threads of his influence woven through every department, and Wynette knew better than to assume she could walk back in without pulling every single one of those threads out.

Shirley had already compiled a list.

Those three months she’d spent inside Shepherd Group hadn’t been idle. She’d earned Liam’s trust with one hand while quietly mapping the company’s internal landscape with the other.

Even without being physically present at Jewell Group, Wynette had a clearer picture of its current state than most people inside it.

Jewell Group had been built on fabric and thread. The Jewell family had been tailors going back several generations, crafting bespoke garments for wealthy clientele long before the modern era had a name for it.

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Wynette’s great–great–grandfather had been the one to turn that craft into a proper brand, Elegance Vogue.

It started as a small workshop, but it offered everything under one roof, from fabric selection to design to the final stitch.

Her grandfather had taken that foundation and built on it, purchasing land and establishing a full manufacturing facility.

By the time the business passed to Ryker, the Jewell name had become genuinely prestigious in the fashion world.

The near–collapse that had almost buried it all had come from Ryker’s decision to expand into unfamiliar territory, a gamble that had nearly cost the family everything.

“Do you have a plan in place?” Adriel asked, his voice low and deliberate.

He’d been turning something over in his mind for a while now.

The outside world had a particular image of Wynette: a woman defined by her feelings, someone who had made herself small for Noah’s sake for years. That was the story people told.

But every interaction Adriel had with her told a different one.

He’d initially thought she’d been foolish about Noah, that she’d stayed too long with someone rotten to his core and had only started fighting back far too late.

And maybe that was technically true.

But the way she’d fought back was something else entirely.

That presentation had been precise, devastating, and perfectly timed. One strike, and Noah’s carefully constructed image as a devoted partner had shattered publicly in a way that was going to be very difficult to repair.

Noah was nailed to that moment now, and no amount of charm was going to pull the nails out,

Late, perhaps. But when she moved, she moved decisively.

Wynette met his gaze with a quiet smile. “Yes.”

No grand declaration. Just that one word, and the certainty behind it was absolute. She wouldn’t have made this big a move without every contingency accounted for.

Adriel looked at her steadily. “Now that you’ve broken completely with the Shepherds, does the company need new investment?”

The implication hung in the air between them. Wynette turned it over in her mind, studying his expression, before she simply asked, “Are you offering?”

She let the words land before continuing. “And for the record, Adriel and I had lunch. Friends have lunch. Not everything is as ugly as your mind makes it. Don’t project your own habits onto other people.”

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That last line landed like a slap.

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Noah’s expression went rigid. Something flickered in his eyes, a flash of recognition he clearly hadn’t braced for. He’d said almost those exact words to Wynette once, back when he’d been sitting across from Lorelei at a restaurant and Wynette had walked in on them. He’d looked her dead in the eye and told her she was being paranoid, that not everything was what it looked like, that she shouldn’t assume the worst about everyone around her.

And now, hearing his own words returned to him with perfect, unhurried precision, he felt for the first time what Wynette must have felt in that moment.

Every word was a needle, and there were enough of them to cover every inch of skin.

Adriel had been standing quietly to one side through the entire exchange, watching.

A small, private smile had been living at the corner of his mouth since Wynette had started speaking, and by the time Noah stood there with absolutely nothing left to say, Adriel couldn’t hold it anymore. A short, involuntary laugh escaped him.

It drew both pairs of eyes immediately.

“My apologies,” Adriel said, smoothing his expression back into something composed as they both looked his way. He tucked his hands into his pockets and straightened. “Couldn’t help it. Please, carry on.”

Noah’s gaze swung to Adriel, and every single thing about the man made his blood pressure climb another

notch.

He had the very specific urge to close the distance between them and do something he would absolutely regret, since the last time he’d tried that, he’d ended up on the wrong end of the exchange entirely, and no amount of wounded pride was going to make him forget that.

Adriel felt Noah’s stare land on him.

His mouth curved into a slow, deliberate smile. Without a word, he shifted slightly closer to Wynette, his eyes lifting to meet Noah’s with a quiet, unmistakable glint of provocation.

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