Secretly Married for 4 Years, He Regrets to Tears After the Divorce-Chapter 4: The Mouth Is The Toughest Part
In the top-floor suite of a private club, Adrian sat in the center of a black leather sofa, drinking in silence. His expression could have frozen the whiskey in his glass.
Caleb Caldwell and Sean Sterling, seated across from him, exchanged a look. Something was wrong—more wrong than usual.
The mood was nearly identical to the night Maya Marshall had left the country four years ago.
"What’s going on?" Sean Sterling broke the silence, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses. A flicker of concern crossed his usually composed face.
He was two years Adrian’s senior—not just a close friend, but a cousin.
Adrian pretended not to hear. He poured another glass and threw it back.
"Adrian, drinking like that is going to wreck your body." Caleb, the youngest of the three, was also the most reckless. "If something’s eating you, just say it. Drowning it only makes it worse."
He was bold enough to reach out and snatch the glass from Adrian’s hand.
Adrian fixed him with a stare that could have stopped a man’s heart. "Put the glass down."
"I’m doing this for your—"
"That plot of land in Southgate. Do you still want it or not?"
Caleb’s face crumbled. He looked to Sean for backup.
"Sean, help. He’s got me by the throat."
Sean pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew Adrian’s temper intimately: cold, vicious, and immovable. Once provoked, he’d turn on his own shadow. Hadn’t changed since they were children.
"The Southgate land is more important. Give him the glass. Let him drink. He’ll stop when he’s done."
Caleb sighed in defeat and handed it back.
But Adrian wasn’t satisfied. "So in your eyes, I’m worth less than a plot of land?"
Sean leaned back, watching him with the patience of a man who’d done this many times before. "If we try to stop you, you bite our heads off. If we don’t, you complain we don’t care. With a personality like yours, even your own parents can barely stand you. Frankly, in this world, only Wren has the patience to put up with you."
The name hit a nerve.
Adrian’s face darkened instantly. "Don’t mention her."
He poured a fresh glass and drained it in one go.
Sean raised an eyebrow. Caleb’s eyes darted between them. The picture was becoming clear.
"Adrian... did you and Wren have a fight?"
"No."
"If you didn’t fight, where’s all this rage coming from?"
"If your company lost six million, you’d be angry too."
Caleb blinked. "Honestly? I wouldn’t. It’s business. You lose money on one deal, you make it back on the next."
Adrian’s fist tightened. "Caleb Caldwell, don’t make me hit you."
"I’m just being—"
"Enough," Sean cut in. He glanced at his watch and uncrossed his legs. "It’s late. Since you two didn’t fight, I’ll call Wren and have her come pick you up."
Adrian’s glass stopped halfway to his lips. "No need."
Sean was already pulling out his phone. "Caleb and I both have things to do. We can’t babysit. If your wife picks you up, everyone can relax."
"She was... already asleep when I left." The excuse sounded thin even to his own ears.
"Wren’s always been understanding. If she knows you’ve been drinking, she’ll come."
A week ago, Adrian would have believed that without question. Tonight, he wasn’t sure.
Everyone called him stubborn, but wasn’t Wren just as bad? She wouldn’t admit when she was wrong, she’d hung up on him, and she hadn’t called once during his entire business trip. He’d come home to a dark, empty house.
"I have a driver. I don’t need her."
Sean held up his phone, screen facing Adrian. "Already dialing."
Wren’s name glowed on the display. Speakerphone. Too late to stop it.
"You—"
Adrian clenched his jaw and looked away. But his ears sharpened. Something inside his chest pulled taut with an anticipation he refused to name.
If she comes, he told himself, I’ll let it go. All of it. I’ll act like nothing happened.
The six million meant nothing to him. What stung was her attitude—her coldness—the way she’d spoken to him like he was a stranger.
Would it kill her to soften up? To just admit she was wrong?
The phone rang. And rang. And rang. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Silence.
A hollow feeling opened in Adrian’s chest.
Sean gave a wry smile. "Seems like she really is—"
The call connected.
"Sean?" Wren’s voice was soft, drowsy, slightly husky from sleep. In the quiet of the private room, it sounded almost intimate—like a woman murmuring to the pillow beside her. "Is that you?"
Adrian’s expression soured instantly.
Sean, recognizing he’d woken her, softened his voice. "It’s me. Sorry to call so late. Did I wake you?"
"It’s fine. What’s going on?"
"Adrian’s had a bit much to drink. If it’s convenient, could you come pick him up? The usual place."
A pause.
Then, with perfect composure: "Sorry, Sean. It’s not convenient for me right now."
Another pause. And then:
"I’m sure Maya Marshall would be happy to pick up Adrian. You should call her."
The air in the room solidified.
Caleb’s drink stopped halfway to his mouth.
Sean blinked.
They both turned, involuntarily, to look at Adrian—whose face was cycling through expressions like a slot machine that had broken.
Wren Sutton. His jaw locked so hard his molars ached. How dare you.
"Sean, if there’s nothing else, I’m going to hang up," Wren said pleasantly. As if she’d just declined a dinner invitation.
Sean recovered first. So they did fight, he thought. And Maya Marshall is at the center of it. As usual.
"Of course. I’ll arrange a driver to take him home. Get some rest, Wren."
The line went dead.
From start to finish, Adrian Lancaster hadn’t gotten a single word in.
Caleb slowly set down his glass and pressed his lips together. Now is not the time to speak. If I open my mouth, I will lose that land in Southgate.
Sean stood, straightening his jacket. "Since your wife isn’t coming, I’ll drive you home."
Adrian’s pride was in shreds, and he was drowning it in fury. "No need."
"What, you actually want Maya Marshall to come?"
"And why the hell not?" The words came out before he could stop them. If Wren wouldn’t come, plenty of women would. She wasn’t the only woman in the world.
Sean sighed. "I promised your wife I’d arrange a driver. Right now, that driver is me. Are you coming or not?"
"I’m not."
Sean studied him for a moment, then turned toward the door. "The toughest part of you has always been your mouth."
Caleb was still in the room after Sean left. He looked between the door and Adrian, conflicted, then sighed heavily and sat back down.
"You’re staying?" Adrian’s voice was rough.
"If we all leave, you’ll just sit here drinking until you pass out. I can’t do that to my conscience." Caleb filled his own glass to the brim. "Fine. You want to drink? I’ll drink with you."
Adrian’s expression softened—barely. A fraction of a degree.
Caleb clinked their glasses together. "For the record, I am one hundred percent loyal to you. You and Sean—you’re both my idols."
"You’ve got more heart than Wren Sutton."
"Don’t say that. Wren’s great."
Adrian scoffed. His eyes darkened.
If she’s so great, why didn’t she come?
Caleb’s tolerance was far lower than Adrian’s. Two bottles in, his tongue loosened entirely.
"Bro, you know what they say—never go to bed angry. Just go home, be sweet to Wren, and she’ll forgive you. She’s your wife. There’s no shame in apologizing to your own wife. Get on your knees if you have to—roses in one hand, diamond necklace in the other—tell her you love her. Any woman would melt.
"And I don’t care that I’m the youngest here, I understand women better than you do.
"Bro, I’m not trying to call you out, but you and Maya broke up. You shouldn’t still be entangled with her. It’s not fair to Wren. She cooks for you, keeps your house, warms your bed—how could you have the heart to hurt her?"
Adrian’s grip on his glass tightened, but Caleb was too drunk to notice.
"And if you really don’t love Wren anymore—then just divorce her. Let the woman go find her own happiness."
"Enough." Adrian’s voice was ice. "I’m not getting a divorce. And Wren would never agree to one."
After all these years of luxury, of being Mrs. Lancaster—she wouldn’t walk away from that willingly.
But Caleb, fortified by alcohol and youthful recklessness, barreled on.
"You don’t know that. A woman’s mind is impossible to read. If I were Wren and found out my husband was still wrapped around another woman’s finger, I’d divorce him in a heartbeat. Then I’d find someone richer and better-looking and have a couple of kids with him."
That last sentence was a grenade thrown into a room full of dynamite.
Adrian’s vision went red. He seized Caleb by the collar and slammed him into the sofa cushions, one fist cocked back.
"Shut. Your. Mouth."
Caleb let out a strangled squeak. His eyes rolled back. He slumped into the leather, passed out cold.
Adrian stared down at him, breathing hard.
Slowly, he unclenched his fist.
He wasn’t drunk. If anything, he was getting more sober by the minute. And Caleb’s words—the ones he wanted most to unhear—were lodging themselves like splinters in his brain.
Find someone richer and better-looking.
He and Wren hadn’t seen each other in over a week. She claimed she was staying at Isla Griffith’s place—but he hadn’t verified that. Hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.
What if she was lying?
What if she wasn’t at Isla’s at all?
What if there was someone else?
Adrian’s heart slammed against his ribs. A murderous glint surfaced in his dark eyes.
If Wren Sutton is cheating on me, I will destroy the man. I don’t care who he is.
