Just One Orgasm!

Adrian stood beside the floor-to-ceiling window, staring at the city below.

The lights stretched endlessly into the distance. Usually, he liked the view. Tonight, he barely noticed it.

His phone was pressed against his ear.

Christian’s cheerful voice came through the other end. "What’s up, buddy?"

Adrian didn’t answer immediately. He stared down at the streets several floors below.

He wished, for a moment, that his life could feel that ordinary.

"It happened."

Christian’s tone changed. "What happened?"

"The photographs."

There was a brief silence.

Christian sighed. "You’ve got to be kidding me."

Adrian’s jaw tightened. "I asked you to destroy every photograph out there."

"I did."

"I was very clear."

"I did, Adrian." Christian’s voice was unusually serious now.

Adrian turned away from the window. "Then why are they at the university?"

Christian exhaled. "The original was heavily encrypted."

Adrian said nothing.

"I told you that."

"You also told me you’d handle it."

"I did."

"Apparently not."

Christian was silent for a second. Then he spoke more carefully. "I handled it."

Adrian’s expression hardened.

"The original file was heavily encrypted. I mean, it’s Dante."

Adrian’s eyes narrowed.

Christian continued. "I’ve been trying to get through everything he had for days. He didn’t just keep one copy somewhere."

Adrian’s fingers tightened around the phone. "How many?"

"I don’t know."

"Christian."

"He’s paranoid. Every file was duplicated, moved, hidden, encrypted again, and stored in places that shouldn’t even exist."

Adrian walked toward his desk.

Christian’s voice became quieter. "I destroyed the remaining copies."

Adrian closed his eyes. For one second, relief almost reached him. Then he remembered it had already happened. Christian was too late.

His eyes opened again. "It doesn’t matter."

Christian went silent. "I know."

Christian inhaled sharply. "When did he release them?"

"Today."

Christian cursed under his breath.

Adrian’s gaze dropped to the floor. "Emilia’s heartbroken."

There was silence on the line.

"How bad is she?"

Adrian’s jaw tightened. "Bad."

Christian sighed. "Damn."

Adrian didn’t respond.

Christian remained quiet for several seconds before saying, "He did that to his daughter?"

Adrian’s eyes hardened.

Christian scoffed. "Just tell her her dad did it."

"Christian."

The warning in Adrian’s voice was immediate.

"What?"

"Don’t say that."

"She deserves to know."

Adrian turned toward the window again. "Not from you."

"Why?"

"Because she’s already dealing with enough."

Christian sighed. "Adrian—"

"I said no."

Christian leaned back wherever he was. "Fine."

A few seconds passed. Then he asked, "What will happen at the school?"

Adrian’s eyes darkened. "They would call her in."

"You know they’re going to investigate you, and your position?" Christian swallowed. "If they dig in hard enough, they can as well know exactly who you are."

Adrian walked back toward his desk. "I’m done."

Christian frowned. "Done with what?"

"I’m done with why I’m here."

Christian stood straight. "What does that mean?"

Adrian pulled out the chair and sat. "I came here for a reason."

Christian knew.

The corruption, the missing money, the companies, and the people responsible.

Four years of following financial trails that had led back to Blackwood. Four years of digging into accounts that had been deliberately buried.

Adrian rubbed his thumb slowly against the edge of the desk. "I just wanted the semester to end."

Christian didn’t respond.

"I wanted to finish what I came here to do before she had to deal with any of it." His voice softened. "She was supposed to finish her semester. Go home. Spend time with her mother."

Adrian’s gaze drifted toward the window. "I don’t care anymore."

Christian’s eyebrows probably lifted on the other end. "You don’t care about what?"

Christian didn’t answer.

Adrian continued.

"I recovered twenty-eight percent. That’s enough."

Christian’s voice became sharper. "Enough for what?"

"Enough to prove what they did." Adrian looked down at his hands. "I know where the rest went."

"Then recover it."

"No."

Christian stared at nothing. "Adrian." His voice sharpened.

"I wouldn’t mind dropping the rest."

Christian’s silence was immediate.

Adrian continued. "If that means Emilia walks out of Blackwood without losing her scholarship, I’ll leave it."

Christian finally spoke. "You wouldn’t. You can’t be serious."

Adrian’s expression remained calm. He said nothing.

Christian stood. "Do you understand how much money you’re talking about?"

"Yes."

"Do you?" Christian’s voice became incredulous. "Five hundred and eight million dollars."

Adrian didn’t blink.

Christian continued. "Five hundred and eight million."

"I heard you for the first time."

"You’d throw all of that in the wind because of the daughter of the man you should hate the most?"

Adrian’s eyes hardened.

Christian shook his head. "You’d throw four years of hard work away?"

Adrian leaned forward. "Yes."

Christian stopped. He stared at the phone in his hand. "That would be a really selfish thing to do. Especially to those of us who stood with you all the way here."

Adrian didn’t answer.

Christian waited. "Adrian." He exhaled. "She can’t be that important to you. Think about what you’re saying."

Adrian’s eyes lowered. "I’d be lying if I said I don’t care about the money. She needs to be on a safer side."

Adrian glanced back at the phone. "I care about what it represents."

"You’ve spent four years on this." Christian said quietly, trying his best to take Adrian’s mind off whatever track he had decided for himself. "You gave up everything for this investigation. You haven’t step foot in your office for five months now because of this."

Adrian’s mouth curved bitterly. "You’re exaggerating."

Christian’s voice softened. "I watched you build this, Adrian. You can’t give it all up for her."

Adrian didn’t respond.

"You almost got yourself killed." Christian paused, then added. "You’re talking about walking away from half a billion dollars."

Adrian looked down. "Money can be recovered."

Christian scoffed. "Not five hundred million."

"Her future can’t be recovered."

Christian stopped talking.

"I can make the money again but I can’t make her twenty-one again." Adrian’s eyes closed briefly. "I can’t give her back the scholarship she worked so hard for if they take it."

Christian sighed. He shook his head, and rubbed his forehead. "So that’s it."

Adrian opened his eyes.

"You’d choose her."

Adrian didn’t answer.

Christian let out a slow breath. "Damn." He cursed. "This isn’t fair, Adrian."

Adrian’s mouth twitched.

"You’re becoming sentimental."

Adrian leaned back. "I don’t regret her." He stared at the ceiling. "I only regret that she got dragged into this."

Christian nodded slowly. He took in a quuet breatg of restrain. "I understand."

Adrian’s phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, and then turned it over.

Christian heard the movement.

"Is that her?"

"No."

"You should call her."

Adrian hesitated. "I don’t know if she wants to hear from me."

"She probably does."

Adrian remained silent.

"You’re going to let her sit alone because you’re afraid of making things worse?"

Adrian looked down. "I don’t want to become another thing she has to deal with."

"Then don’t." Christian paused. "Just be her boyfriend." He pushed.

Adrian raised a brow. "Boyfriend?"

"Whatever you two call yourselves."

Adrian chuckled softly.

Christian continued. "She doesn’t need the CEO right now. She doesn’t need the investigator. She needs Adrian."

Adrian looked toward the window.

His chest loosened. "You’re right."

"I’m always right." Christain said with a matter of fact time.

Adrian shook his head.

Then Christian’s voice became serious again.

"But there’s something else."

Adrian waited.

"If you really plan to walk away from the money, you need to understand what that means."

"I do."

Christian’s voice hardened. "You understand what it means financially."

Adrian’s expression changed.

"You don’t understand what it means politically."

Adrian remained silent.

"The people behind this aren’t going to disappear because you stop looking."

Christian continued. "And if they realize Emilia is the reason..."

The room went silent.

Adrian’s entire expression changed. His posture straightened. His voice became dangerously calm.

"They won’t."

Christian took a step forward. "How do you know?"

"Nobody is touching her."

"Adrian—"

"Nobody." His voice was quiet, and absolute. "I don’t care about the money." His eyes hardened. "But if anyone thinks they can use her to get to me..."

He stopped.

Christian didn’t need him to finish. He knew what Adrian meant.

Adrian stood.

He walked toward the window again.

"I’ve spent four years chasing people who thought money made them untouchable." He stared down at the city. "Maybe it’s time they learned there are things money can’t buy."

Christian was silent. Then he laughed briefly. "You’re really gone."

Adrian frowned. "What?"

"You’ve fallen."

Adrian looked at the reflection of his own face in the glass. "Don’t turn this into a joke."

Christian chuckled. "Poor bastard."

Adrian shook his head. "Goodnight, Christian." He wished, his tune clipped.

"Goodnight."

Adrian ended the call.

The room became silent.

He stood alone by the window. Then he reached for his phone again. This time, he opened Emilia’s name.

His thumb hovered over the call button.

He stared at it for several seconds, and then, turned his phone off.