Episode 4 — Under His Protection
942 Words
Lena’s heartbeat slammed against her ribs.
“…someone used my identity?”
Adrian was already moving.
Fast. Precise. Controlled.
“Security is locking the building now,” he said, pulling out his phone. “No one enters. No one leaves without my authorization.”
This was no longer billionaire drama.
This was real danger.
“I didn’t give my information to anyone,” Lena whispered.
“I know.”
The certainty in his voice made her look up.
“You… know?”
His eyes met hers.
“If you were careless, you wouldn’t still be alive.”
The blunt statement sent a chill through her.
He stepped closer.
Too close.
The air suddenly felt smaller.
“From this moment,” Adrian said quietly, “you don’t leave my side.”
Her breath caught.
“That sounds less like protection and more like imprisonment.”
“To enemies, those are the same thing.”
Before she could argue—
The lights flickered once.
Then twice.
Then the entire floor dropped into darkness.
Lena gasped.
“What just—?!”
Emergency red lights snapped on, bathing the room in a low crimson glow.
Adrian’s voice turned ice-cold.
“That wasn’t a power failure.”
Her stomach twisted.
“What does that mean?”
“It means,” he said calmly,
“someone just tried to shut down my security system.”
---
He grabbed her wrist.
Not painfully.
Firmly.
Commandingly.
“Come with me.”
They moved quickly through the dim hallway. Lena barely had time to grab her phone before he pulled her along.
“Where are we going?!”
“Safe floor.”
“SAFE FLOOR?! You have a SAFE FLOOR?!”
“Yes.”
Of course he did.
Because apparently marrying a billionaire meant surviving like one too.
The private elevator required Adrian’s fingerprint… then a retinal scan… then a six-digit code.
The doors slid open.
Inside, Lena could hear her own breathing.
Too loud.
Too fast.
The elevator descended silently.
One floor.
Two floors.
Three.
Then stopped.
The doors opened into something that looked less like an apartment…
…and more like a fortified luxury bunker.
Steel-reinforced walls.
Soft hidden lighting.
Massive secured doors.
Emergency screens glowing quietly.
“What is this place…” Lena whispered.
“My contingency residence.”
“You mean panic room.”
“I mean survival.”
He turned toward her fully now.
“For the next twenty-four hours, you stay here.”
Her chest tightened.
“With your staff?”
“No.”
Silence.
“With security?”
“No.”
Her stomach flipped.
“…with you?”
“Yes.”
The word landed like a stone in water.
Heavy.
Final.
Unavoidable.
---
Minutes later, reality started sinking in.
There was only one bedroom.
One massive, ridiculously expensive bedroom.
Lena turned slowly toward him.
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am always serious.”
“There’s one bed.”
“Yes.”
“I am NOT sleeping in your bed.”
“You are not sleeping anywhere else.”
Her cheeks flushed instantly.
“This contract did NOT include forced sleeping arrangements!”
His voice lowered slightly.
“You think I brought you here for romance?”
Her mouth snapped shut.
He stepped closer.
Not touching.
Just close enough that she could feel the heat from his body.
“If someone is targeting you,” Adrian said quietly, “they are targeting what belongs to me.”
Her pulse skipped.
“And I don’t leave what belongs to me unprotected.”
There it was again.
That word.
Belongs.
Dangerous.
Possessive.
Unsettling.
And somehow…
strangely safe.
---
1:32 AM.
Lena sat stiffly on the far edge of the enormous bed, still fully dressed.
Adrian stood near the security monitors, jacket removed, sleeves rolled slightly, watching the surveillance feeds with terrifying focus.
“You should sleep,” he said without looking back.
“I don’t think sleep is possible tonight.”
“It needs to be.”
“You sleep like this often?” she asked quietly.
“Yes.”
“With people trying to kill your wife?”
A pause.
Then calmly:
“You’re the first wife.”
Her heart did something weird at that.
Before she could understand why—
A loud metallic THUD echoed somewhere above them.
Both of them froze.
Another sound.
Closer.
Footsteps.
Heavy.
Deliberate.
Inside the building.
Lena’s breath stopped completely.
“That’s… inside, isn’t it?”
Adrian’s eyes hardened instantly.
“Yes.”
He reached into the drawer beside the monitor.
Pulled something out.
Lena’s stomach dropped.
“…is that a gun?”
“Yes.”
Her voice came out barely audible.
“What do we do?”
His answer was terrifyingly calm.
“We wait.”
The footsteps echoed again.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Then—
The safe-floor door handle moved.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Someone on the other side…
…trying to get in.
Lena’s fingers instinctively grabbed Adrian’s sleeve.
His free hand moved instantly—
Not pushing her away.
Pulling her behind him.
Shielding her completely with his body.
His voice dropped to a deadly whisper.
“Stay behind me, Lena.”
The metal handle jerked violently once.
Twice.
Then the reinforced door shook under a massive hit.
Lena’s heart nearly stopped.
“Adrian…”
His voice turned colder than she had ever heard.
“If that door opens…”
He clicked the safety off the gun.
“…don’t scream.”
The door slammed again.
Harder.
The lock system started flashing red.
WARNING: ACCESS OVERRIDE ATTEMPT.
And Lena realized in that horrifying moment—
Tomorrow wasn’t the only thing at risk.
They might not even survive the night.
- Writer
