The Man Who Waited vs. The Man Who Wasted novel Chapter 159

Eleanor sat in the study, her posture rigid and uncompromising.

"What took you so long?"

Adrian suppressed a surge of annoyance. "Traffic was bad."

Eleanor raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You went to see that woman, didn't you."

It suddenly dawned on Adrian.

Everyone in the Lowell family referred to his wife exclusively as 'that woman.'

"I can't believe she scammed her way into a free luxury apartment out of all this," Eleanor muttered bitterly. "She got off way too easy."

"Grandma." Adrian was entirely out of patience for this conversation. "Did you call me all the way back here for a reason? Just say it."

Eleanor cut right to the chase.

"I want you to divorce that woman."

"And then what? Marry Audrey?"

"Exactly."

Adrian's face remained utterly unreadable as he pulled out a chair and sat down. He lit a cigarette, took two slow drags, and finally spoke.

"I agreed to let Audrey carry a Lowell heir. I never agreed to marry her."

"But you've always had feelings for Audrey, haven't you?"

A dark flash of pure resentment twisted Adrian's chest.

"If you knew that, then why did you force me to step aside so Arthur could marry her?"

Eleanor clearly hadn't expected him to throw that back in her face. She blinked, momentarily stunned.

"Well, I'm trying to set you two up now, aren't I?"

Adrian let out a dark, mocking laugh and refused to answer.

Some truths, once dragged into the light, destroy relationships permanently.

"Aren't you terrified she's going to leak the family's dirty laundry to the press?"

"That depends entirely on how you negotiate with her," Eleanor said dismissively. "I've thought it through. All she really wants is a payday. If the price is right, she'll sign an NDA and walk away happy."

Speaking of money, Adrian pulled out his phone.

He checked his banking app. The twenty million dollar transfer had successfully gone through.

"We'll keep the divorce strictly confidential for now," Eleanor plotted. "We won't leak it to the media. We'll wait for the news cycle to die down and announce it when the timing is perfect."

She slid a manila folder across the desk.

The brutal truth hit too close to home. Eleanor surged to her feet, shaking with a blinding, livid rage.

She marched around the desk and slapped Adrian squarely across the face.

"You ungrateful little bastard! How dare you speak to me like that!"

The sharp sting of the slap brought Adrian back to reality.

But he was far too angry to swallow his pride and apologize.

And he didn't want to apologize, anyway.

Slam!

The heavy study door echoed violently as Adrian stormed out of the house.

Back in his car.

His assistant, Todd, saw the dark thundercloud hanging over Adrian's head. He wanted to ask if he was okay, but he knew better than to open his mouth. He watched in the rearview mirror as Adrian leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.

The silence inside the car was suffocating.

Suddenly, the man in the backseat snapped his eyes open.

"The blood sample. Did you get it to the lab?"