Walking Away From A king
1198 Words
Mila
Mila learned early in life that men with power were used to being chosen.
They were used to women lingering a second too long. Used to eyes following them across rooms. Used to doors opening before they asked and conversations stopping when they entered.
They were used to being wanted.
Adrian Black was no exception.
She could feel it in the way people reacted to him at the bar. Patrons lowered their voices when he moved past. Even her manager hovered nervously nearby, pretending to clean while keeping half an eye on Adrian and his men.
The city treated him like royalty.
But Mila hadn’t grown up worshipping kings.
She’d grown up counting coins and learning how to stretch ramen noodles into two meals. She’d learned that respect wasn’t something you begged for—it was something you demanded.
And she refused to become another person orbiting Adrian Black’s gravity.
She finished her shift close to midnight.
Her feet ached, her back protested every movement, and her head buzzed with exhaustion. She untied her apron and slipped on her jacket, nodding goodbye to Jasmine.
“You want me to walk you home?” Jasmine asked quietly.
Mila glanced across the room.
Adrian sat at the bar, one hand around his glass, watching her openly now.
“No,” Mila said. “I’m good.”
She stepped outside into the cold night air.
The street was quieter than usual, fog curling around streetlights like pale ghosts. Mila breathed deeply, savoring the silence.
She’d barely made it half a block when footsteps sounded behind her.
She didn’t turn.
She already knew.
“Walking alone at this hour isn’t smart.”
Adrian’s voice carried easily in the empty street.
She kept moving.
“I didn’t ask for a security briefing.”
He fell into step beside her.
She noticed he’d left his men behind.
That surprised her.
“You don’t have to be difficult,” Adrian said.
Mila stopped abruptly.
He stopped too.
She turned to face him.
“Here’s the thing,” she said calmly. “You don’t get to decide what I do.”
His gaze held hers.
“I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“I didn’t hire you.”
His jaw tightened slightly.
“People don’t usually talk to me like this.”
She shrugged. “People usually want something from you.”
He studied her.
“And you don’t?”
“No.”
The word came out clean and honest.
Adrian felt it land like a punch.
They stood under a flickering streetlight, close enough that Mila could smell his cologne—something dark and subtle that matched him perfectly.
“You don’t even care who I am,” Adrian said quietly.
She tilted her head.
“I know who you are.”
“And?”
“And that doesn’t mean I owe you anything.”
Silence stretched.
Adrian realized something then.
She wasn’t playing hard to get.
She genuinely didn’t care about his status.
It unsettled him more than any threat ever had.
“You walked into my territory,” he said. “Most people don’t walk out so easily.”
Her eyes softened just a fraction.
“Maybe that’s your problem.”
His brow furrowed.
“You think everyone belongs to you.”
“I protect what’s mine.”
“And you think I’m yours?”
The question hung between them.
Adrian didn’t answer immediately.
Because the truth was dangerous.
“I think you’re someone who needs to be careful,” he said finally.
Mila exhaled.
“You don’t get to cage me because you’re scared something might happen.”
His eyes darkened.
“I’m not scared.”
She stepped closer.
“Then stop acting like it.”
Her courage hit him hard.
“Look,” Mila continued quietly, “I don’t know what you’re used to. But I won’t be watched. I won’t be followed. And I won’t be treated like I’m fragile.”
“You are fragile.”
“So are you.”
The words slipped out.
Adrian stiffened.
She saw it.
She saw the wall go up.
He took a step back.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mila nodded slowly.
“Maybe not.”
She took a step past him.
He reached out instinctively.
His fingers brushed her sleeve.
She stopped.
But she didn’t turn around.
“Don’t,” she said softly.
His hand dropped.
For the first time in his adult life, Adrian Black felt something dangerously close to rejection.
She walked away.
Not dramatically.
Not angrily.
She simply continued down the sidewalk like he was just another man who didn’t get to decide her fate.
⸻
Adrian
He stood there long after she disappeared around the corner.
The city moved on around him—cars passed, distant sirens wailed, someone laughed somewhere down the block.
But Adrian remained still.
Marco appeared beside him minutes later.
“She’s safe,” Marco said quietly.
Adrian didn’t respond.
“She doesn’t want protection,” Marco added.
“I noticed.”
Marco hesitated.
“She’s different.”
Adrian finally turned.
“She doesn’t care who I am.”
Marco nodded.
“That’s why you care who she is.”
Adrian said nothing.
He returned to Blackspire Tower with a tight chest and restless hands.
He tried to lose himself in paperwork.
He failed.
He replayed the way she’d said I won’t be caged.
The way she’d walked away without looking back.
People didn’t walk away from him.
They begged.
They negotiated.
They feared.
Mila Torres had done none of those things.
She had simply chosen herself.
It infuriated him.
It impressed him.
It made him want to chase something he wasn’t supposed to need.
He poured himself a drink and didn’t touch it.
For the first time in years, control felt slippery.
⸻
Mila
Back in her apartment, Mila leaned against the door and let out a shaky breath.
Her heart raced now that she was alone.
She hadn’t realized how much adrenaline had been holding her upright.
She kicked off her shoes and sat on the edge of her bed.
Did she push too hard?
Maybe.
But she refused to let a powerful man rewrite her boundaries.
Still, she couldn’t deny the way Adrian’s eyes had darkened when she’d walked away.
It had felt… significant.
She pressed her fingers to her temples.
This was dangerous territory.
Not because of guns or enemies.
Because of feelings.
And Mila had promised herself long ago that she wouldn’t lose herself for anyone.
She lay back and stared at the ceiling.
Adrian Black was trouble.
Beautiful, complicated, wounded trouble.
And she had just walked away from a king.
⸻
Adrian (Later That Night)
Adrian stood on his balcony, city lights glowing below.
He had everything.
Money. Power. Loyalty. Fear.
Yet one woman with stubborn eyes had shaken him more than any rival ever had.
He realized then that this wasn’t about control.
It was about choice.
And Mila Torres had just shown him what it meant to choose yourself.
He closed his eyes.
He didn’t know how this would end.
But he knew one thing.
He wasn’t done with her.
- Writer
