The One He Trusts
961 Words
I didn’t speak the whole way back inside.
Neither did he. The silence wasn’t awkward.
It was heavy. Like everything had already been said, and I just hadn’t caught up yet.
By the time we reached the stairs, I was already replaying it. The car The man.
How fast it happened.
How easily I could’ve been taken.
And how Adrian— “Stay in your room.”
His voice broke through my thoughts.
I stopped on the step above him, turning slightly. “Or what?” A beat.
Then—“Or you’ll make things harder for yourself.”
That wasn’t a threat but it wasn’t a suggestion either.
I held his gaze for a second longer than I should’ve.
Then turned and walked the rest of the way up. I didn’t expect someone to be inside. The second I opened the door, I froze. A man stood near the window, arms loosely at his sides, like he’d been there a while. Waiting. Great. “Relax,” he said.
I didn’t. “Who are you?”
He pushed off the wall slightly, straightening.
“Assigned to you,” he answered. “For now.” That wasn’t an answer.
“I didn’t ask what you do,” I said. “I asked who you are.” A pause.
Like he was deciding how much to give me. “Rook.” Fake. Obviously.
But at least it was something.
“Adena,” I said, watching his reaction.
Nothing.
Either he already knew, or he was good at pretending he didn’t.
I wasn’t sure which was worse.
“Why are you in my room?” I asked.
“Making sure you don’t do anything else reckless.”
I let out a short laugh. “So babysitting.”
“If that’s how you want to see it.”
I crossed my arms. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“You needed someone to stop you from walking into that,” he said calmly.
That shut me up. He wasn’t wrong.
I hated that. “Adrian sent you?” I asked.
“Yes.” Of course he did.
Everything came back to him.
Always. “Why you?” I pushed.
This time, Rook hesitated. Just slightly.
“Because he trusts me.”
The answer came too easily. Like it was rehearsed. Or maybe I was just looking for something to be off.
Either way— It stuck with me.
I moved further into the room, keeping my distance. Something about him felt… different. Not softer.
Not safer.Just less intense than Adrian.
Less suffocating.
Like I could actually think when he was around.
“Do you agree with him?” I asked suddenly. Rook glanced at me. “About what?”
“Keeping me here.” A pause.
Then—“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
Another pause. Longer this time.
“No,” he said finally. “But I understand it.” That wasn’t what I expected.
“You understand locking someone in a house?” I asked.
“I understand keeping someone alive.”
That answer sat heavier than I liked.
Silence settled between us.
Not tense. Just… there.
I walked over to the window, glancing out at the long driveway. The gates looked farther away now. Or maybe I just knew better.
“You could’ve warned me,” I said quietly.
Rook didn’t pretend not to understand.
“Would you have listened?”
No. probably not.
Still— “That’s not the point.”
“Then what is?”
I turned slightly, meeting his gaze.
“The point is I walked into something I didn’t understand.”
“And now you do,” he said.
Annoyingly reasonable.
I looked away again. I didn’t like how that felt. Like I was being adjusted to this place instead of escaping it.
“If you need anything,” he added after a moment, “ask.”
I let out a small breath. “You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Why?”
That word slipped out before I could stop it. Why him? Why now? Why me?
Rook studied me for a second.
Not intensely. Not like Adrian.
Just… carefully.
“Because you don’t trust him,” he said.
I frowned slightly. “And I’m supposed to trust you instead?”
“No.” That answer came fast.
“You shouldn’t trust anyone here.”
Something about that— Felt more honest than anything else I’d heard since I got here.
A knock sounded at the door.
Rook moved before I could react, opening it just enough to speak to someone outside.
Low voice. Quick exchange. Then he closed it again. “They’re bringing food,” he said.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You are.” I almost argued. Then didn’t.
Because honestly? I was too tired.
Rook stepped back toward the wall, giving me space again. Not crowding or watching too closely. Just… there and present, steady even and for the first time since I got here—
I didn’t feel like I was about to be cornered.
Which was probably the most dangerous feeling of all.
“Rook,” I said after a minute.
He glanced over. “That’s not your real name.”
“No.” At least he didn’t lie.
“Are you going to tell me what it is?” I asked.
“No.”
Fair enough.
I turned back to the window, watching the gates. Thinking about everything.
About him, about Adrian.
About the way this entire situation felt like it was closing in around me.
And somehow, out of all of it—
The one thing that unsettled me the most?
Was that I felt calmer with a stranger in the room.
- Writer
