CHAPTER 13: FEAR AND FIRE
221 Words
“I know.”
“We’re still… broken.”
“I know.”
“Then why does it feel like it does?”
Adrian looked at her like she was something rare.
“Because some things don’t need to be perfect to be real.”
Her chest tightened again.
Too much.
Too fast.
She stepped back.
“I can’t lose myself again.”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“How?”
“Because I won’t let you.”
Just when things started to feel steady—
The past came back.
Marcus Hale.
“Elara,” Nora said urgently, “he’s back—and he’s targeting your company again.”
Elara’s expression hardened instantly.
“Of course he is.”
“And this time… he’s not alone.”
Adrian walked in just in time to hear that.
“Who?”
Nora hesitated.
“…your father.”
Silence.
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Elara—”
“Don’t,” she said. “We’ll handle this.”
But this—
This wasn’t just business.
This was war.
For the first time—
They weren’t on opposite sides.
They were on the same one.
Elara looked at Adrian.
“We fight this together.”
He nodded.
“Always.”
And that word—
Didn’t scare her anymore.
- Writer
