Chapter 2
1405 Words
Adrian closed the bedroom door carefully before looking at the ring in my hand.
For the first time all night…
He looked shaken.
“Where did you find that?”
“In the drawer.” I swallowed hard. “Why is there blood on it?”
He walked toward me slowly.
Too slowly.
Every instinct in my body screamed danger.
But another part of me wanted him closer.
Wanted the warmth of his hands. Wanted the safety I somehow felt around him despite everything.
It made no sense.
Adrian stopped inches away from me.
“That ring was never recovered after your disappearance,” he said quietly.
I stared at him.
“Then how is it here?”
A long silence stretched between us.
Then—
Someone screamed downstairs.
Not startled.
Terrified.
Adrian’s entire body went rigid.
Another scream echoed through the mansion.
Followed by crashing glass.
I jumped.
“What was that?”
Adrian moved instantly, shoving me behind him protectively.
“Stay in this room.”
Fear curled in my stomach.
“What’s happening?”
But he was already reaching inside his jacket.
And pulling out a gun.
The gun looked terrifying in Adrian’s hand.
Black.
Heavy.
Real.
Every breath caught painfully in my chest.
“Adrian…”
“Lock the door after me,” he ordered quietly.
Then he disappeared into the hallway.
I stood frozen for half a second before rushing toward the bedroom entrance.
Another loud crash echoed downstairs.
Voices shouted.
A woman screamed again.
Fear crawled under my skin, but curiosity burned stronger.
I slowly opened the bedroom door.
The upstairs hallway was empty.
Soft golden lights illuminated the massive corridor, but something felt wrong now.
The mansion no longer looked luxurious.
It looked haunted.
I stepped out carefully.
Downstairs, angry voices echoed from the main foyer.
“…security failed—”
“…how did he get inside—”
“…Mr. Vale, the police are on their way—”
Police?
My pulse quickened.
I moved toward the staircase quietly, gripping the railing.
From the top step, I finally saw the chaos below.
Broken glass covered the marble floor near the front entrance. Rain blew through shattered doors while security guards restrained a man dressed in black.
Blood covered the side of his face.
And he was staring directly at me.
The moment our eyes met, his expression changed instantly.
Relief.
“There she is!” he shouted.
Adrian grabbed the man violently by the collar before he could move.
“Shut your mouth.”
The sheer rage in Adrian’s voice made everyone in the room go silent.
The injured man laughed anyway.
“You should tell her the truth, Adrian.”
My stomach twisted.
Truth.
Everyone kept talking about the truth.
“What’s going on?” I demanded from the staircase.
Every head turned toward me.
Adrian’s expression darkened immediately. “I told you to stay upstairs.”
The man being restrained suddenly stared at me desperately.
“Elena, listen to me—”
A guard punched him hard in the stomach before he could continue.
I flinched.
Adrian didn’t.
“Take him out of here,” he said coldly.
“No!” I rushed down several stairs. “Wait!”
The man lifted his head painfully.
“They lied to you,” he rasped. “You weren’t supposed to survive that night—”
Adrian hit him.
Hard.
The crack of his fist echoed through the foyer.
I stopped breathing.
The guards dragged the bleeding man away while Adrian stood there perfectly still, chest rising slowly.
Terrifyingly calm.
Then he looked up at me.
And somehow that was worse than watching him fight.
“Go upstairs, Elena.”
“No.”
The word surprised even me.
A dangerous silence followed.
Rain hammered against the broken windows while everyone waited for Adrian’s reaction.
Slowly, he walked toward the staircase.
Toward me.
Every instinct screamed for me to move.
I didn’t.
When he finally stopped in front of me, his gray eyes locked onto mine with enough intensity to make my knees weak.
“You should not test me tonight,” he said softly.
The quiet warning sent chills down my spine.
But beneath the fear…
There was something else.
Something electric.
Something dangerous.
I hated it.
“What did he mean?” I whispered. “About me surviving?”
Adrian stared at me for a long moment before answering.
“The man downstairs worked for the people who took you.”
My blood ran cold.
“Took me?”
“You didn’t disappear willingly, Elena.”
The world tilted slightly.
Someone kidnapped me?
“Why?”
His jaw clenched.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to find out for two years.”
For the first time since waking up, I saw something real crack through Adrian’s cold mask.
Exhaustion.
Pain.
Maybe even guilt.
It made him seem human for exactly one second.
Then it vanished.
A security guard approached carefully. “Sir, the police are here.”
Adrian’s face instantly hardened again.
“Handle it.”
The guard hesitated nervously. “They want to speak with Mrs. Vale.”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Too sharply.
The guard lowered his eyes immediately. “Yes, sir.”
Suspicion curled in my stomach.
Why didn’t he want me talking to the police?
---
An hour later, the mansion had fallen eerily silent again.
The broken glass downstairs had already been cleaned.
Like nothing happened.
Like the screaming man had never existed.
I sat alone in my bedroom wrapped in one of Adrian’s black hoodies that I’d somehow found in the closet.
It smelled like him.
Wood smoke.
Leather.
Rain.
The scent should’ve felt unfamiliar.
Instead, it made my chest ache strangely.
I walked slowly toward the balcony doors and stepped outside.
Cold wind whipped through my hair instantly.
The city glittered below the cliffside mansion like a sea of lights.
Beautiful.
Lonely.
“You always come out here when you’re overwhelmed.”
I spun around sharply.
Adrian leaned against the balcony doorway, watching me.
He’d removed his suit jacket, and the sleeves of his black shirt were rolled up now, exposing strong tattooed forearms.
My pulse betrayed me instantly.
Annoying.
“I don’t remember that,” I said quietly.
A shadow crossed his face.
“I know.”
The wind blew between us.
I wrapped my arms around myself tighter. “Did you love me before I disappeared?”
The question slipped out before I could stop it.
Adrian went still.
Then slowly…
He walked toward me.
“You were my wife,” he said carefully.
“That’s not what I asked.”
His eyes searched mine.
And for one dangerous second, the air between us changed completely.
The tension became something hotter.
More intimate.
“You were everything,” he said quietly.
My breath caught.
He was so close now.
Too close.
The city lights reflected in his gray eyes while rainwater still glistened along the sharp line of his jaw.
Beautiful man.
Terrifying man.
My husband.
Then his fingers lifted slowly toward my face.
I should’ve pulled away.
I didn’t.
His thumb brushed gently across my lower lip, and heat rushed through my entire body so fast it almost scared me.
“You always looked at me like you wanted to run,” he murmured.
Pain flashed suddenly behind my eyes.
A memory.
Me standing in this exact spot screaming at him—
“You lied to me!”
Then another flash.
Adrian grabbing my wrist desperately.
“Elena, listen to me—”
A gunshot exploded somewhere nearby.
I gasped sharply and stumbled backward.
The memory vanished instantly.
Adrian caught my arm before I fell.
“What did you see?”
I stared at him, shaken.
“There was a gunshot.”
His entire body went tense.
Before I could say anything else, a phone suddenly rang inside the bedroom.
Adrian cursed under his breath softly.
He pulled away from me and answered it immediately.
“Yes?”
Silence.
Then his face changed.
Pure fury.
“I’ll handle it,” he said coldly before hanging up.
Something terrible had happened.
“What is it?” I asked nervously.
Adrian looked at me for a long moment.
Then he said the one thing I never expected.
“The detective reopened your case.”
And suddenly…
I realized my disappearance might not be over yet.
- Writer
