The Temporary Boyfriend

Chapter 181: The sins of the past

So this morning, she had calmly put on her coat and announced that she was heading to the mall.

In reality, she had planned to meet Andrew and collect the DNA sample herself. freeweɓnøvel.com

Only for fate to interfere.

Halfway there, Andrew called to reschedule unexpectedly, forcing her to turn the car around and head back home.

The moment Zara stepped inside the mansion, Chika looked visibly startled.

"Ma’am?" the maid blurted. "You came back so soon."

Zara slowly removed her gloves.

"Yes. The appointment was canceled. Where’s Adrian?"

"Mr. Adrian is in the study," she answered. "He has a guest."

Zara paused mid-step.

"A guest? He didn’t mention we were expecting company," she said softly.

Her mind was already strained from everything she had been hiding, the secret DNA test, the growing frustration eating away at her and Adrian’s increasingly desperate attempts to stop her from digging deeper.

"They’ve been in there for quite some time, Ma’am," she admitted. "Mr. Adrian instructed me not to disturb them."

Zara’s expression did not change.

"Ok, thank you Chika."

Without another word, she turned and walked down the hallway.

Meanwhile, behind the closed doors of her private study, Adrian sat across from Mr. Carter, completely unaware that she had returned.

"I’ve already spoken to most of the investors," Mr Carter said grimly. "Some agreed to support removing Julian, but a few are still refusing to cooperate. Still, we only need the major stakeholders on our side. Once they move, the rest will follow."

Adrian leaned back slowly in his chair, his expression darkening.

"Give me the names of everyone opposing us," he said coldly. "I’ll try to deal with them personally." freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Carter nodded once. "Yes, brother."

"However... we should prepare a contingency plan as well."

"In case Julian refuses to step down peacefully," Adrian continued. "Our men need to be ready."

The atmosphere in the room instantly turned heavier.

Carter studied him carefully for a moment. "Are you suggesting we kill him?"

Adrian did not answer immediately.

Instead, he folded his hands calmly in front of him.

"We’ve spent years preparing for this," he said at last. "Too many years to let everything collapse." His voice lowered slightly. "I’m simply saying we only have one shot at this. If we fail we all die."

A dangerous silence followed.

Then Adrian’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Where is your daughter, by the way?"

Mr. Carter let out a harsh snort of irritation.

"I have no idea where that insane daughter of mine disappeared to," he said dismissively. "And frankly, I don’t particularly care. If Julian killed her, he would have done me a great favor. She deserves it for becoming a liability."

"Another woman becoming a liability is Zara. Since she found out Andrew is not the Chairman’s son, she wants to conduct a DNA test to see if he is really her son."

"Yeah, that revelation has messed up most of our plans, with getting the Grant fortune. But dethroning Julian will still give us a massive fortune you know."

​As she approached the study door, she heard voices.

​She pressed her ear slightly closer, catching the tail end of a sentence.

​"...if Zara doesn’t kill us first for keeping her real son’s death a secret."

A sharp gasp escaped her lips before she could stop it.

​Inside the study, the voices abruptly cut off.

​"Did you hear that?" Adrian’s voice whispered sharply from inside. "Someone is outside the door."

Then, the sound of rushed footsteps approached the door from the other side.

Zara started panicking.

She couldn’t let them catch her eavesdropping. Not yet. If they knew she had heard the truth, they would treat her exactly like the threat they had just admitted she was.

They would eliminate her to keep their grand corporate coup alive.

​Swallowing down the bile rising in her throat, she slipped silently into the shadows of the dining room just as the study door opened.

​Adrian stepped out into the hallway, his eyes scanning the empty corridor. He looked toward Chika, who was still standing by the foyer.

​"Chika!" he called out. "Did someone just come in?"

​But Chika had been Zara’s loyal maid for years, back in the Grant mansion. Long before Adrian.

​"No, Mr. Adrian," Chika lied smoothly, forcing a confused smile. "I was just moving some vase arrangements in the foyer. I must have dropped one of the shears. I’m sorry if I disturbed your meeting."

​Adrian’s eyes narrowed, his gaze lingering on the empty hallway for a few agonizing seconds.

A guilty man feared every shadow. Finally, he looked away.

​"Clean it up quietly," he snapped, before retreating back into the study and slamming the door shut.

From the darkness of the dining room, Zara pressed a trembling hand against her mouth.

Tears burned down her face, but beneath the grief, something colder was beginning to rise.

Anger.

​Zara wiped the tears from her face with a brutal, decisive swipe. The grieving mother in her wanted to scream, to tear down the doors and rip Adrian’s eyes out.

They buried my son in secret and put a stranger in his place, all for a piece of the Grant fortune.

She was a fool. Now she questioned everything Adrian had ever told her.

Did someone truly try to kill her back then? Or had Adrian invented the danger only to manipulate her into running away with him?

Why did she ever entrust her son with that bastard.

The words echoed in her mind.

​The boy she had come back to, the young man she had given her maternal devotion to for over two decades, was not her son, just a look-alike. And her real child, her precious baby, was dead.

He had been dead for years.

Her entire body trembled violently.

Not from fear. But from rage.

A mother always believes she will recognize the cry of her child anywhere in the world. Yet somehow, she had failed to notice the moment her son disappeared from this life forever. While she had not even mourned him.

While she celebrated birthdays and attended school ceremonies for another woman’s child, her real son had already been buried somewhere. She didn’t even know what killed him.

The thought nearly drove her insane.

She pressed a shaking hand against the wall to steady herself.

If Adrian and Carter could hide the death of a child for decades, then murder clearly meant nothing to them.

Zara slowly wiped the tears from her face.

By the time she stepped out of the dining room shadows, her expression was calm.

She walked calmly through the mansion corridors, her heels clicking softly against the marble floors. Chika glanced at her with worried eyes from the foyer, but Zara gave the maid the smallest shake of her head.

Not now.

She kept walking until she reached the front doors.

The hot air hit her the moment she stepped outside, but she barely felt it.

Her composure finally cracked when she reached her car. Her hands trembled so badly she almost dropped the keys trying to unlock it.

Once inside, Zara locked the doors immediately and gripped the steering wheel tightly, fighting to steady her breathing.

Then, without looking back at the mansion, she drove off.