Chapter 255
Success Never Favors the Lazy
Adrian Valdemar sprawled across the leather couch like a lifeless ragdoll.
"These acting classes are torture! I quit!"
A whip cracked through the air before he finished speaking.
Crack!
The lash struck the armrest mere inches from Adrian's thigh.
"Jesus Christ!"
He bolted upright so fast he nearly knocked over the coffee table.
"Are you insane, Sophia?"
His wide eyes locked onto the woman before him.
Sophia Laurent coiled the whip with deliberate slowness, her lips curling into a frosty smile.
"Is this all you've got?"
Adrian gritted his teeth.
"You psychotic witch!"
"Ruthless!"
"Deranged!"
Sophia arched an eyebrow.
"Such limited vocabulary."
Adrian's chest heaved with ragged breaths.
Regret churned in his gut.
Hiring this she-devil as his manager was the worst decision he'd ever made.
Instead of gaining advantages, he'd become her personal punching bag.
Ultimately, he found himself dragged to acting class anyway.
Professor Eloise Fairchild, a legendary figure in the industry, worked him to the bone.
By the end, Adrian couldn't even lift a finger.
His phone buzzed the moment he stepped outside.
"Bro, heard you're back in town. Drinks tonight?"
Julian Valdemar's voice carried through the receiver.
Adrian scoffed.
"Boring. Why waste time with you?"
"Then who would you rather drink with?" Julian's tone turned sharp.
"Pretty girls, obviously." Adrian's voice dripped with mockery.
Julian's voice dropped dangerously low.
"Must you always be so vulgar?"
"Oh? Since when did our precious third young master become a moral guardian?"
Adrian drew out each syllable with exaggerated flair.
"Speaking of which, isn't it past your curfew with that little flower of yours?"
Dead silence filled the line for several seconds.
"Adrian." Julian's voice turned glacial.
"Don't call Jasmine that."
"Why not?"
Adrian's smirk widened.
"Jasmine Keane, Jasmine Keane, Jasmine Keane—"
"Enough!" Julian's roar cut through his taunting.
"Keep this up, and I'll disown you as my brother."
Adrian's grin faltered for a split second.
"Like I care."
His tone remained light, but shadows flickered in his eyes.
The Valdemar brothers were cursed from birth.
Alexander, the eldest, was colder than ice—untouchable and detached.
Julian, the youngest, had lost all rationality over some girl.
That Jasmine girl was clearly trouble.
Yet Julian remained blindly devoted, deaf to all warnings.
Whatever.
Not his problem.
They were all destined to be abandoned anyway.
If even their parents couldn't love them, who would?
"At least I have principles," Julian shot back.
Adrian's laugh was bitter.
"Principles? Does your fiancée know about those?"