?<strong>Chapter 184:</strong>


    Shawn nodded solemnly, confirming Joelle’s suspicion. Now aware of her pregnancy, Adrian might be plotting ways to draw her out, likely fabricating the news of Austin’s recovery to force her hand.


    “Do you still remember Gina?” Shawn inquired.


    Joelle responded, “Yes. She’s the girl Dad supported.” Gina Robles, a couple of years younger than Joelle, had been financially supported by the Watson family since her middle school days. She had even shared meals at their home as a guest of Austin’s. During the year of Austin’s ident, while Shawn faced business challenges, he maintained his support for Gina. Now, as a nutritionist at the sanatorium where Austin was cared for, Gina dedicated herself to his care in gratitude to the Watsons.


    “Gina messaged me today. Dad hasn’t actually awakened,” Shawn revealed, his voice carrying a hint of frustration.


    Understanding dawned on Joelle. “Shawn, why would he do something like this?”


    Shawn’s smile was tinged with bitterness. “It’s about the child. After all, that child is also his.”


    As Joelle sat on the edge of the bed, she recalled overhearing a conversation between Amara and Adrian. Adrian’s interest in the child was clear, yet his motives were selfish, aimed at securing arger inheritance from his grandmother. The Miller family dynamics were fraught with conflict, a legacy she feared for her own daughter.


    After a moment of contemtion, Joelle expressed her resolve to Shawn. “I really don’t want anything more to do with him. When I was struggling inbor, he was busy flying Reba abroad. He’s already chosen someone else over us. My daughter is all I have. I can’t let anyone take her from me.”


    Shawn understood his sister’s determination well. With his resources, he could ensure Adrian would never find them if Joelle wished it.


    “Have you thought this through?” he asked.


    “Yes,” Joelle affirmed, her fist clenched in quiet defiance, ready to forge a new path for herself and her daughter, free from the past’s shadows. No one, she resolved, would deter her from this course.


    A week had passed since the news of Austin’s miraculous recovery was announced, yet Joelle and Shawn remained conspicuously absent. Adrian, disillusioned, acknowledged the ploy hadn’t worked.


    His assistant interrupted his brooding with a knock at the door. “Mr. Miller, here are Watson Group’s financial statements from the past two years.”


    The documents revealed a troubling trend—consistent deficits quarter after quarter for thest three years. Despite Adrian’s annual injection of one hundred million dors, Watson Group had been hemorrhaging projects since the previous year, with operating costs now below the hundred million mark. What did Shawn do with the money he gave? If he wasn’t interested in salvaging thepany, why hadn’t he simply dered bankruptcy instead of prolonging the inevitable?


    Clearly, there was much about Shawn he still didn’t understand. The assistant continued, “Miss Lloyd is recovering well abroad, ording to Mr. Perry.”


    Adrian responded with a detached nod. His only concern was ensuring Reba received the funds she needed. Sensing his boss’s sour mood, the assistant promptly excused himself.


    Later that night, Adrian sat alone in his office, the solitude intensifying his unease. He longed for the days when Joelle would leave a light on for him, a beacon of warmth in his otherwise stark existence. The stark contrast between having her and losing her underscored his current loneliness.


    His phone broke the silence—it was Leah. “Sir, are you still working? Why note home for dinner? You haven’t been eating well. Ms. Watson will surely return, but you need to be healthy when she does.”


    “Okay,” Adrian replied tersely, shutting down hisputer and turning off the office lights.


    Behind him, the Miller Group building loomed ominously against a sky obscured by clouds and the moon. Snowkes drifted gently down, nketing Illerith in a thickyer of snow, heralding a bitterly cold winter. Adrian mused that Joelle was likely somewhere warm. She used toin of the cold, snuggling into his bed, pleading for him to warm her feet—a request he always denied. He wondered bitterly if, without him, everything felt warmer to her now.


    The driver held the car door open, a silent observer to his somber mood. Settling into the back seat, Adrian closed his eyes, exhausted by the weight of his thoughts.


    “Mr. Miller, several new clubs have opened up recently. Would you like to go out and unwind?”


    The assistant’s suggestion drifted through the air, but Adrian was seldom inclined to indulge in such pastimes. Formerly, rather than returning home, he would escape to nightclubs not for the revelry but to brood over his drinks in solitude. If inebriated, he’d rather crash at a hotel than face the emptiness of his home.


    His resentment towards Joelle lingered. He could never forgive her for the maniptive way she had coerced him into marriage. Despite this, he begrudgingly acknowledged that she upied a significant ce in his heart.


    Outside, the city lights danced in vibrant hues, and neon signs flickered above the bustling crowds. Amid this, Adrian felt his phone vibrate with the urgency of an international call. A gut feeling told him it might be Joelle. Without a second thought, he answered.


    “Adrian Miller, from this moment, consider us strangers. Please, don’t interfere in my life anymore. I wish to never see you again.”


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