The first sound I heard wasn’t the door opening or a footstep; it was silence, thick and suffocating, pressing against my chest like a warning. My pulse jumped instantly. Every instinct screamed that something was wrong, that the carefully calculated balance Adrian and I had built was about to collapse.
“I told you to stay alert,” Adrian murmured, standing close enough that I could feel the heat of his body, but not so close that he invaded my space. His grey eyes scanned the room like a predator, sharp, precise, unyielding.
“I am,” I said, though my voice betrayed a flicker of unease I hadn’t wanted him to notice. My hands fidgeted slightly, gripping the folder I hadn’t let go of since the last encounter. The contents had changed everything, and the consequences were still raw.
Adrian’
