The Man Who Waited vs. The Man Who Wasted novel Chapter 325

He despised this suffocating feeling of being utterly cornered with no avenue of escape.

Even if there had been love once, the toxicity of the situation had poisoned it all.

"Adrian?"

Adrian was abruptly pulled from his dark reverie.

"What is it?"

"What were you spacing out about? Did you even hear a word I just said?"

Burying his turmoil, he slipped an arm around Audrey, pulling her close.

"I was just thinking about an issue at work. What did you say?"

Audrey leaned her head against his chest, completely satisfied.

"I was asking if we should go pick out my wedding dress soon."

Adrian had long since waved the white flag of surrender.

"Sure. Let me know when, and I'll go with you."

"Perfect!" Audrey pressed a giddy kiss to his cheek. "You better not flake on me."

"We'll have to wait until after the tech convention, though. I'll be swamped these next couple of days."

"Of course, that's totally fine."

The luxury sedan glided to a halt in front of the Oakhaven Estates.

Adrian gestured for Audrey to step out first.

"Go on ahead. I'm going to smoke a cigarette before I head inside."

There was an incident once where Adrian had smoked in front of Audrey, and Eleanor had aggressively berated him for it.

Ever since then, he had to sneak out just to indulge in a simple nicotine fix.

It was unbelievably suffocating.

Audrey cheerfully skipped out of the car and headed toward the front door.

Todd glanced back at Adrian's miserable expression. The contrast between Audrey's joy and his boss's agony was glaring.

He had originally planned on offering his congratulations on the impending wedding.

Clearly, that was completely unnecessary now.

Instead, Todd decided to pivot to business.

"Boss, I found a fantastic retail location for Lana's new flower shop. The foot traffic is incredible, but the rent is astronomically high. What do you think...?"

Adrian took a long drag of his cigarette, leaning his head back against the leather seat, his eyes clouded.

His boss was currently burying his sorrows in another woman's arms—there was no way he was picking up the phone.

Heeding Adrian's orders, Todd rolled out the pre-packaged excuse.

"Well, Audrey, we ran into a massive glitch with the prototype robots for the upcoming convention. I had to rush Mr. Lowell back to the office. He's locked in the lab with the engineering team right now."

Audrey let out a disappointed "Oh."

Then she perked up. "You're going to have to change how you address me soon."

Todd rubbed his nose, desperately fighting back a smirk.

"Understood, the new Mrs. Lowell."

Hanging up, Audrey practically beamed with smug satisfaction.

Claire sidled up next to her.

"So, should I start calling you my sister-in-law now?"

Audrey offered a coy, blushing smile.

"Audrey is fine, or you can start practicing Mrs. Lowell."

Seeing how elated Audrey was, Claire knew it was the perfect time to strike.

"Hey... since we're going to be family, could you do me a huge favor?"