Falling For My Ex's Dad (Clarissa and Gabriel) novel Chapter 187

Adrian’s POV

Corporate bullshit.

That’s what this was.

I stared at the screen—project timelines, team performance updates, and task completion rates. None of it made any damn sense. Dad said this would be easy. Just sit in, observe, learn.

But the moment I opened my laptop, I knew I was in way over my head.

This wasn’t my world.

I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be back in my restaurant—sleeves rolled up, fire beneath the pan, knives gliding clean through ripe tomatoes.

That was me.

This? This was a cage dressed in fancy walls and giant windows.

But I was here because of Dad—and his threat to cut me out of the will.

I wasn’t about to let him hand over everything he built to strangers. I was his only blood. His legacy—whether he liked it or not.

Still, I couldn’t call his bluff. I knew my father well enough to know he never made empty threats. He’d do it just to prove a point.

And maybe—just maybe—there was still a part of me that wanted to make him proud. Wanted to see that look in his eyes that said I wasn’t a disappointment. Because if I was being honest, I hadn’t exactly been the ideal son.

And if I ever wanted him to take me seriously—if I ever wanted to be more than just the screw-up son who blew every shot he was given—then I had to prove it.

Not just with words. With action. With follow-through.

If sitting through board meetings and learning the business was the price to pay, then so be it—no matter how much I hated it.

Because this wasn’t just about him.

There was also Clairessa.

She worked at Storm Innovations, and being here gave me a real shot at getting close to her again.

I didn’t just let her slip through my fingers—I pushed her away. I hurt her. And somewhere deep inside, I was still bleeding from that.

When she was in my life, everything made sense. My restaurant thrived. I thrived. She brought clarity, calm, and something real. Without her, everything’s been chaos.

Now fate had dragged her back into my life without me even lifting a finger…

I wasn’t glad her house burned down, but I wasn’t about to waste the chance to use her staying at my dad’s place to make things right.

She was still angry about the whole Nicole situation—I could see it in her eyes every time she looked at me. But what she didn’t understand was that I was never in love with Nicole.

She was just an easy lay—God, she knew exactly how to make a man lose his mind. But Clairessa… she was sweet. Innocent. Real.

That’s why I couldn’t let her go.

She wasn’t like the women I met on the regular—the ones who chased the fast cars, the private jets, the bank balance.

I was done with the fake smiles. Done with women who only saw the name or the money. They never gave a damn about me. Never brought peace. Never offered anything real.

They wanted what I had, but gave nothing back.

But Clairessa was different. The kind of woman any sane man would fight to keep.

Beautiful. Smart. Homely. The kind of woman who’d walk beside me while I tried to become the man my father always wanted me to be.

I trusted her. She wasn’t the type to lie or play games. Too soft-hearted. Too innocent. That was one of the reasons I loved her.

She acted like she’d fallen out of love with me. Barely looked at me. Only spoke when I forced it.

But I wasn’t letting that stop me, because deep down, I knew she was pretending. Pretending because I hurt her. But love? It was still there. I could feel it.

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