“I know.”

“But I let her disrespect you because her attention made me feel important.”

“I know that too.”

“I’ve ended all contact with her. Not because I owed you that after the divorce — because I owed it to myself. Being admired by someone who only praises your worst instincts isn’t loyalty.”

Lena was quiet. Adrian took a breath. “I don’t expect you to come home.”

“The Whitmore estate was never my home.”