Chapter 6
1117 Words
The hallway was dim and quiet, the kind of silence that held its breath. Camille scrambled after Adrien, her socks slipping on the old floorboards.
“Adrien, stop please!” she whispered urgently.
He didn’t.
His steps were slow, deliberate, the gait of a man who did not rush… because the world rushed for him.
He walked out into the hall, shoulders squared, eyes scanning the shadows with the cold focus of someone who was used to being obeyed.
“Adrien!” Camille tugged his sleeve. “He’s gone. Please come back inside.”
“No,” Adrien said calmly. Too calmly. “He’ll be back.”
“That’s exactly why you shouldn’t confront him!” she hissed.
He lifted a brow. “He threatened you.”
“And I handled it.”
“You fainted.”
“That has nothing to do with him!”
Adrien turned fully to face her, and Camille felt the air thicken around them. His jaw tightened, his voice low but laced with intensity.
“Everything that happens to you concerns me now.”
Her heartbeat stumbled.
She hated how those words made her chest feel both warm and terrified.
“Adrien… this isn’t your world,” she whispered. “People here don’t care who you are. They just want to survive. If you push him, he’ll retaliate. He’ll drag me down with him.”
His gaze darkened.
“He can try.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of!”
A door down the hallway opened slightly, and a tenant peeked out. Adrien’s glare snapped toward them, and the door instantly shut.
Camille winced. “You’re drawing attention.”
“Good,” he said.
“No! Not good! Adrien, stop acting like this is one of your boardrooms!”
He exhaled sharply, losing a fraction of his composure. “You need to understand something, Camille. When I see someone hurt you, threaten you, or stand outside your door demanding things from you… I don’t just walk away.”
She swallowed.
“I never asked you to protect me.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Her breath caught.
His voice was softer now.
“You fainted. You’re dizzy. You’re overwhelmed. You’re late,” he said quietly. “And you’re dealing with all that alone.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling exposed.
“I’m not your responsibility,” she whispered.
Adrien stepped closer.
Too close.
“You became mine the moment you whispered yes that night.”
Her chest tightened painfully.
She looked away.
“Stop saying that.”
“Why? It’s the truth.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“But I want to.”
She blinked hard. The honesty in his voice was disarming. Dangerous.
Before she could speak, he gently took her wrist, not tightly, but firmly enough to steady her trembling fingers.
“You’re shaking,” he said.
“I’m cold,” she lied.
“No. You’re scared.”
She froze.
His thumb brushed her pulse - quick, uneven, trembling.
He understood something without needing her to say it.
“You weren’t scared of me,” he murmured. “Not that night. Not tonight.”
She swallowed. “That’s not fair.”
“It is.”
Her breath grew unsteady as he lowered his voice to something almost intimate.
“You’re scared of what this means.”
A shiver ran through her.
“I’m not doing this with you,” she whispered fiercely. “I can’t.”
He nodded once. “Then let me ask one last question.”
She lifted her eyes hesitantly.
“Did he hurt you?” Adrien asked.
“No,” she said immediately.
“Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“Did he threaten you before tonight?”
She hesitated.
Too long.
Adrien’s jaw flexed.
“So he did.”
She looked away.
His voice deepened.
“Camille. Tell me.”
“He didn’t touch me,” she said. “But he cornered me once. Said he’d make sure I lost my job if I didn’t …” she swallowed hard, unable to finish. “He just wanted control. That’s all.”
Adrien’s entire posture changed.
His shoulders stiffened.
His expression hardened.
Something dark washed over his face.
“He threatened your job to force you?”
His voice vibrated with restrained fury.
“It wasn’t as dramatic as …”
“Don’t minimize it.”
She shook her head. “Adrien, please - he’s not worth this.”
Adrien took a slow step toward her.
“You are.”
Her breath caught.
Her hands dropped to her sides.
For a moment she forgot how to inhale.
“You’re worth every fight he tries to start,” he said quietly. “And if he threatens you again, I’ll take him apart piece by piece.”
“Adrien!”
“No.”
His voice cut through the hallway like steel.
“No more fear. No more running. No more hiding.” He paused. “Not from him. Not from anything.”
Her throat tightened. “Why are you doing this?”
He didn’t answer easily.
He looked away for a second, jaw clenching as if the truth was heavier than he wanted to admit.
Finally, he said it.
“Because I haven’t cared about anything in a long time,” he whispered. “And then you came back into my life.”
Her body froze.
Those words sank into her skin, her bones, her pulse.
She forced herself to breathe. “Adrien, stop. You’re making this complicated.”
“It already is.”
“I’m not your past,” she said weakly.
“I know.”
“I’m not her.”
“I know.”
“And yet you …”
“I’m looking at you, Camille. Right now. Fully aware of who you are.”
Her lips trembled.
Her eyes stung.
“But I can’t… I can’t handle ….”
He stepped closer, closing the final inch between them.
“You’re not handling anything alone again.”
She shut her eyes, overwhelmed.
Then, a sharp sound echoed down the hallway.
A door.
Footsteps.
Heavy.
Reckless.
Adrien turned sharply.
Camille’s eyes widened.
“No,” she whispered. “It’s him.”
Adrien’s eyes narrowed, and he instinctively reached behind Camille, pushing her gently behind his body.
“Stay back,” he murmured.
The footsteps grew louder.
Closer.
And then the bar manager’s voice bellowed from the shadows:
“Camille! I saw your lights. Open the damn door!”
Adrien’s face turned lethal.
He took one slow step forward.
And Camille grabbed his arm, whispering in pure panic:
“Adrien, wait, please - he carries a knife.”
- Writer
