Chapter 4
1439 Words
The attacker lunged toward me with the knife raised high.
Everything happened too fast.
Adrian shoved me backward just as the blade sliced through the air where my chest had been seconds before.
A gunshot exploded through the hallway.
The attacker collapsed instantly.
For a moment, nobody moved.
The smell of gunpowder filled the air while blood slowly spread across the marble floor beneath the man’s body.
My breathing turned uneven.
Noah lowered his weapon carefully.
“He’s down.”
But Adrian never looked away from the attacker.
His entire body was tense, like he was waiting for the man to move again.
Then finally, slowly, he turned toward me.
“You hurt?”
I shook my head weakly.
Adrian stepped closer immediately, grabbing my face gently between his hands as his eyes searched mine for injuries.
The softness of his touch didn’t match the violence around us.
It confused me.
One minute he looked capable of killing someone without hesitation.
The next…
He looked terrified something might happen to me.
“Elena.” Noah’s voice cut through the tension. “We need to leave.”
Adrian’s expression darkened instantly. “She’s staying here.”
“This mansion isn’t secure anymore.”
“It’s safer than anywhere else.”
Noah laughed harshly. “Tell that to the dead guy on your floor.”
The hatred between them felt suffocating.
I pulled away from Adrian slowly.
“Stop talking about me like I’m not standing here.”
Both men went silent.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to look at Noah.
“You said my brother died protecting me.”
Noah’s expression softened slightly.
“Yes.”
“What was his name?”
A flicker of pain crossed his face.
“Lucas.”
The name hit me like a punch to the chest.
Lucas.
Another memory flashed instantly—
A dark-haired man smiling while handing me coffee.
“You always overthink everything, Ellie.”
Ellie.
Tears burned suddenly behind my eyes.
My brother called me Ellie.
I pressed a shaky hand against my mouth.
“He was older than me,” I whispered.
Noah looked surprised. “You remembered?”
“A little.”
Adrian watched me carefully, tension visible in every line of his body.
“Too many memories returning at once could overwhelm you.”
I looked at him sharply. “You keep saying that like you’re afraid of what I’ll remember.”
Silence.
That silence answered everything.
Noah stepped closer. “Elena, there’s something you need to know.”
Adrian immediately cut in. “Not tonight.”
“Yes, tonight.” Noah’s voice hardened. “Because if you don’t tell her, I will.”
The two men stared at each other like enemies preparing for war.
Then Noah looked back at me.
“The night you disappeared… you stole something.”
My pulse stopped.
“What?”
“Files.”
The exact same word from my memory.
I took a step backward slowly.
“No…”
“You took evidence connected to Vale Industries.”
I turned toward Adrian instantly.
“Your company?”
His expression revealed nothing.
But I saw the tension in his jaw.
Noah continued carefully. “People died trying to get those files back.”
A cold chill spread through my body.
“What was in them?”
Neither man answered.
That terrified me more than anything.
---
Two hours later, I sat alone in the library wrapped in a blanket while police officers searched the mansion.
The massive room glowed softly beneath dim golden lights.
Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves surrounded me, but the beauty of the room couldn’t calm the storm inside my head.
Lucas.
Files.
Blood.
Every answer only created more questions.
The library doors suddenly opened.
Adrian walked inside quietly.
He’d changed clothes. Black dress shirt. Dark slacks. Hair slightly messy now.
He looked exhausted.
But somehow still dangerous.
“You should sleep,” he said softly.
I stared at him across the room.
“Did my brother hate you?”
The question caught him off guard.
A shadow crossed his face before he answered.
“Yes.”
Honest.
Finally.
“Why?”
“He thought I was dangerous.”
“Aren’t you?”
His eyes locked onto mine.
“Yes.”
The answer should’ve scared me.
Instead, my heart skipped.
Because he didn’t lie.
Adrian walked slowly toward the fireplace before pouring himself a drink.
The amber liquid caught the light as he took a slow sip.
I watched his hands.
Strong hands.
The same hands that had held me gently only an hour ago after shooting a man.
“You could leave,” he said suddenly.
I blinked. “What?”
“If you think I’m the enemy… you could walk away.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“Would you let me?”
A dangerous silence filled the room.
Then Adrian smiled slightly.
Cold.
Beautiful.
Terrifying.
“No.”
Heat rushed unexpectedly through my chest.
Something was deeply wrong with me.
He noticed my reaction instantly.
Those gray eyes darkened.
“You always looked at me like that.”
My pulse quickened.
“Like what?”
“Like you hated yourself for wanting me.”
The words wrapped around me slowly.
Intimately.
A memory flashed suddenly—
Me pressed against Adrian in this exact library while rain pounded against the windows.
“You’ll ruin me,” I whispered against his mouth.
Then his reply:
“You were ruined the second you married me.”
The memory vanished so fast it almost hurt.
I sucked in a sharp breath.
Adrian noticed immediately. “What did you see?”
I hesitated.
Then quietly—
“Us.”
Something dangerous flickered across his face.
“What about us?”
I swallowed hard.
“We kissed.”
The tension in the room changed instantly.
Thicker.
Hotter.
Adrian set his glass down slowly.
“You remembered that?”
“Pieces of it.”
He moved toward me carefully.
Like approaching something fragile.
Or explosive.
My body reacted before my brain could stop it.
Heart racing.
Breathing uneven.
He stopped directly in front of where I sat curled beneath the blanket.
Close enough to touch.
Close enough to smell the whiskey on his breath.
“You used to read here every night,” he said quietly.
His fingers brushed a strand of hair behind my ear slowly.
“And every night, I’d find an excuse to interrupt you.”
My pulse pounded harder.
“Why?”
A faint smirk touched his mouth.
“Because you looked beautiful when you were distracted.”
The way he said it made heat crawl beneath my skin.
I should’ve moved away.
Instead, I whispered—
“Did you love me?”
The question lingered between us.
Heavy.
Real.
Adrian’s expression changed instantly.
All the coldness disappeared for one brief second.
And there it was.
Pain.
“You were the only thing I ever loved.”
My breath caught painfully in my chest.
Then suddenly—
A loud crash echoed somewhere upstairs.
Both of us froze.
Another crash followed.
Glass shattering.
Adrian’s expression darkened instantly.
“Stay here.”
He reached for the gun at his waist again.
Fear surged through me.
“No.”
“Elena—”
“I’m not staying alone.”
For a moment, it looked like he wanted to argue.
Then finally, reluctantly, he nodded once.
“Stay close to me.”
The hallway outside the library was dark now, illuminated only by emergency lights still flashing faintly through the mansion.
The air felt tense.
Wrong.
We moved upstairs carefully.
Every step made my heart pound harder.
Then we reached the second-floor hallway.
And froze.
One of the bedroom doors stood open.
My bedroom.
A cold breeze drifted through the doorway.
The balcony doors inside were wide open.
Rain poured into the room.
And written across the bedroom mirror in blood were three words:
SHE REMEMBERS NOW.
A sharp pain exploded through my skull instantly.
Another memory crashed violently into me—
A masked man grabbing my arm.
Lucas screaming.
Me clutching a flash drive tightly while someone shouted:
“Kill her!”
I gasped loudly, stumbling backward.
Adrian caught me immediately.
“Elena?”
My hands trembled violently.
“The files…” I whispered. “I remember the files.”
Adrian’s grip tightened on my waist.
“What about them?”
I looked up at him, terrified.
“I hid them.”
Silence.
Then—
“Where?” Adrian asked quietly.
I stared at him.
And suddenly realized something horrifying.
I couldn’t remember if I was hiding them from his enemies…
Or from him.
- Writer
