After My Death, My Husband Who Threw Me Into the Hunting Grounds Went Insane novel Chapter 146

JULIA

In the morning, I came into my boss's office, bringing him a cup of coffee, which I didn't have to do, but of course, it was different now. Luke was far different from Adam. He didn't roar at people, and he wouldn't require me to work twenty-four-seven.

My new boss grinned boyishly at the sight of the cup on his desk. Shaking his head with a smile, he stood then drew out a thick red folder from the shelf behind him.

While observing him, I noticed that his style wasn't different from Adam's—a cream three-piece-designer suit, a Vacheron Constantin wristwatch, sleek brown leather shoes, and a casual pompadour hairstyle. He smelled of aftershave, soap, and strong mint.

"Sit here," he said softly, pointing out the chair in front of his desk.

I did as I told, and Luke placed a red ring binder on the desk. It had the Cavendish Enterprises branding on the cover. I remembered holding those folders during my time with Adam.

"And this is the floor plan from Cavendish's architect. You can check it out later."

"We will bring this to the meeting later?"

"Yes, he'll be here in an hour. We still have time to talk," he said. "Ah, Julia?"

I took the folder and placed it in my lap. I looked up at him. "Yes?"

"You and your former boss." It wasn't a question. I knew what he was implying.  Did he know now? I didn't tell anyone except Jake. Did Jake tell him then?

"What about me and Adam?"

"Oh, come on. You know what I am talking about. The right question is, how did I find out?" He grinned widely this time.

"Okay. How did you find out?"

He chuckled, leaning back to his chair. "I didn't. You just confirmed it now."

I can't believe it. "Ugh, you tricked me."

"I had a feeling." He shrugged. "And after the little incident I witnessed at my hotel, it gave me an idea."

My shoulders fell. He was the last person I wanted to work with as a typical employee, but I screwed it up again this time because I was insensitive.

"Okay, but it's not a big deal."

"Of course. I just wanted to know. Will you be fine?"

"About what?"

"He's coming here today."

"Oh, don't worry about that. It won't affect my job. I promise."

He smiled kindly. "That's not what I meant. I just hope you won't get uncomfortable. I want us to get along well. I deserve to know what happened to my employees' past jobs."

"I understand. Thank you, Luke. You are very kind."

"And you don't have to bring my coffee. That's my secretary's job."

"I'm just… I'm used to doing that."

He nodded. "Oh, he must be on his way now." Luke glanced at his wristwatch then he stood. "Come, let's wait for him at the meeting room."

"Oh, sure."

At precisely 9

in the morning, Adam came with his new assistant to our office. She sat quietly next to her boss, keeping the farthest distance.

She kind of reminded me of myself when I first worked for Adam. She was so timid and so shy. She wore her dark hair in a bun, with no sense of fashion at all with her unmatched lavender top and emerald green skirt. Yes, a skirt. At least she could wear one.

"Mr. Cavendish." I handed Adam the copy of the folder Luke gave to me.

"So, is this the plan that you chose?"

I bit my lip hard, preventing myself from ogling him. He looked so elegant, so dazzling today with his burgundy three-piece suit.

"Yes, Mr. Cavendish. We wanted to proceed to the next step," Luke answered.

"Is this final? Don't you have any revisions?" Adam queried.

"None, thank you. The proposal is great." Luke said, nodding in approval. "Julia, do you have the contract?"

"Oh, yes. Here." I opened another folder in front of me, then gave it to Adam. "Here's the contract. This is based on the, uh, terms you talked about with Luke—I mean, Mr. Alejandro last month." I said, still avoiding his eyes.

Adam took the sheets of paper. He drew out a pen from his suit jacket and signed the documents.

"I'll have my assistant send the final quotation the soonest," Adam said with a small smile, then he handed us back the contract leaving himself a copy.

Luke smiled. "So this is it. We're in business. We could finally set out a flight to LA this week. Julia and I are going to the site." I gazed up at Luke in surprise. He didn't tell me about this trip.

"Flight, when?"

"This week, Julia." Luke glanced at me briefly, then set his eyes back to Adam. "I'm sure there would be no problem?"

"I'll have my schedule clear then." Adam agreed.

"Okay, we're good then," Luke announced. "I think that would be all for today. I'm glad you came personally, Mr. Cavendish."

"I'm a friend of your father. Of course, I would come," he said. "However, I wish to talk to my former employee. If that's fine."

I groaned inwardly. We spoke last night, and it turned out bad. But then, I felt Luke's hand squeeze my palm under the desk, probably telling me that it was alright.

"Sure, Mr. Cavendish. It's fine. Julia? See me in my office after this, okay?" Luke said, then he took the documents with him. "Mr. Cavendish," was Luke's last word before he exited the room.

Adam curtly nodded, and I watched Luke as he whispered something to his secretary. I didn't notice that she was blonde until she stood and walked to the door. I smirked secretly. I was beginning to dislike the idea of blonde women now.

"So, what now?" I spoke after a few seconds of silence. "Are we just going to stare at each other?"

"Before you say anything with that smart mouth, you'd rather listen to me first."

"Why don't I like that idea? Look, last night was a mess. It won't happen again. I say let's just put everything behind us. Simple. You are getting married again. You should not be talking like this with me anymore."

His jaw clenched. "You started this when you left."

"If we are just going to fight here, you should leave."

"Let me say something, at least. This is not about you or me. It's about the responsibilities you left behind in my company."

"With your company? Wow! Way to go, Adam—"

"Shut up and listen to me," he hissed. "You did not resign. You just left. Listen, I was planning to keep this from you, but seeing you so confident here made me think of all the shit you did that I didn't deserve. I thought that I should at least inform you of how self-centered you are. You are selfish and goddamn immature," he spat out.

I couldn't answer. I wanted to open my mouth, but my throat suddenly felt so dry.

"I lost three of my billion-dollar projects the day you left," he continued. "The Maxima, H&H, and the Crown Inc. project. Does that ring a bell to you?"

"I… I was the one who signed up with them." I think I knew where this was going to lead.

"That's correct, and I'm sure you know the consequences, but you still left. It is in our contract to provide everything they need, and they had already paid for it. Because you are the one who signed up with them, then it was your job to take care of them, your name is in the contract, but I couldn't fucking find you anywhere. You made me pay one fucking billion dollars, Julia."

I gasped. Oh, God. Of course, it could happen. What have I done?

"Be grateful because I didn't tell your new employer what you did. I told you it wasn't me who started this war."

He was right. I was so confident. This was a war I'm never going to win. Ever.

"But here I am, almost begging you to at least listen to me," Adam continued. "It was supposed to be five billion. I was miserable and desperate that I'm was going to have to start from scratch again, and this stirred an issue with my other clients. I had no choice but to accept Bianca's parents' help. They helped me and used their connections."

My heart clenched, my chest was getting heavier. This wasn't fair. It was his fault I left, but the consequence when I left was my fault. I only made it ugly… made it worse.

"I'm not here to blame you or something. I just wanted you to know. I don't want you to make the wrong conclusions about me. I'm sorry if I hid things from you. I just didn't want to lose you."

"But you lost me anyway," I croaked, wiping my endless tears away. Stupid, stupid tears that just won't stop.

"Yes, I guess we are even now. Let's properly end this, Julia. Consider this as my last unprofessional conversation with you."

I swiftly looked up at him, thinking I heard him sob. My mouth parted when I actually found his eyes red and watery.

"I'm sorry…"

Adam cleared his throat and blinked multiple times. He stood then buttoned up his suit. I watched him put the papers I gave him into his briefcase.

"I hope our professional relationship will remain in this new project."

"Adam! No. I am so sorry…" I stood, now crying uncontrollably. "I'm so sorry, please, don't leave yet."

I tried to call him once more, but he didn't listen. He exited the room and didn't look back.

***

"I'm so sorry for what happened."  Jake sat on the couch next to me then tried to hold me for another embrace, but I refused. I don't deserve any comfort right now. I deserved it. I was precisely how Adam described me—selfish and immature.

Luke offered a ride when he found me like a crybaby in my office. It was embarrassing, but I couldn't do anything to take away the pain. He was now sitting quietly in my living room, but he called Jake and asked him to come. He probably didn't know what to do with me.

"I've lost him forever now." I sniffed, then wiped my nose with a napkin.

"Just what am I going to do with you?" Jake sighed in frustration. "I guess I'm staying here tonight."

I cried even more. "I'm getting him back," I declared.

"What?" Luke spoke this time. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Yes, she is. She's out of her mind," Jake agreed. "And then what? What will happen if you take him back? He's already engaged."

"He doesn't love her," I uttered.

"Oh God, I'm so out of here." Luke breathed out.

"And you think he still loves you?" Jake asked.

"Yes…"

"I know it's not my place to say anything, but why stick up to the guy who hurt you? Remember what he did to you first," Jake said. "Maybe you need an ice pack, so you could cool yourself, alright? Or maybe some food you didn't eat the entire day," he suggested, slapping his hands on his lap. He shook his head, then he walked to the kitchen.

"Sure. The Bistro at lunch."

"I'll be expecting you, then, Mr. Cavendish."

"I'll be there," I promised. I wanted to know what he was up to, summoning me personally. I hung up.

It was exactly noon when I came to the Bistro, the French restaurant across my building. Quentin was already there. He was sipping a glass of juice. A waiter approached me at the entrance.

"Welcome to the Bistro, Mr. Cavendish. A table? Or do you have a reservation?"

"I have a lunch meeting with Mr. Jacob Quentin, Rosales. Thank you."

"Oh, he just came five minutes ago. Enjoy your lunch, sir," Rosales said politely, then walked away.

I walked toward Quentin, as he was now checking his wristwatch.

"Mr. Quentin," I approached.

"Mr. Cavendish." Quentin stood immediately, then smiled as he extended a hand.

I shook his hand. "Let's take a seat."

"Oh, of course." Quentin sat back. I pulled out a chair for myself then sat down. "We can drop the formalities," he continued. "Just call me, Jake."

"Call me Adam, then."

"Sure. Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"It's about Julia, of course."

I acknowledged, "I already had an idea. What about her?"

"You know, Adam—I'm going to be straightforward with you. I know your past relationship with Julia and…"

 "Hold on," I interjected. "If this is about me getting in the way. I already had a proper closure with her, so if you are worried about that, I'm not going to bother her again."

He frowned. "You're not going to take her back or something?"

"Yes."

"Julia was crying all night, yeah. I couldn't leave her. I'm so worried. You are right. I'm worried."

All night? Were they living together? I gave him a confused look.

"Oh!" He clasped his hands. "Don't get it wrong. I don't live with her, but last night wasn't a good time to leave her alone."

I clenched my fists under the table. What was the extent of their relationship? It was not even different from living together, and why was she crying all night? Did I really bother her that much? Everything I told her was nothing to her?

"You don't mind if I ask, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"What do you really want to say to me? Tell me. I don't intend to ruin your relationship with her."

He frowned, looking completely confused. "You're not bothering our relationship. No."

"No?" I raised an eyebrow. "You don't mind if I'm talking to your girlfriend?"

"What? No. We're very close, but she's not my girlfriend. I think you are misunderstanding things here."

"Then why—"

"I like women, but I prefer flowers, too," he said straightforwardly, making me dumbfounded.

"Oh." That was a surprise. "I didn't realize. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. People misunderstand us these days."

"I can't imagine why not," I admitted. "You are close to her."

He let out a rich laugh. "Well, there's the reason why I called you here."

"I'm listening."

"I don't have the right to get in between you and Julia, but I really think you should talk to her."

"I'm getting married to my ex-wife again. I'm sure you already know that."

"I know, and that's the big problem."

"And Julia doesn't want me."

"Talk to her," he advised. "It is not every day I do things like this, and I think this is completely stupid too, but I care for Julia. I know you do, too. You still love her, don't you?" He seemed so sure, but he was not wrong. I nodded, acknowledging his speculation.

"I do. I still love her."