0005: ADRIAN'S POV
990 Words
I didn’t expect to see her here. Not tonight, not like this.
The room was silent now, only the faint hum of the city outside breaking the stillness. Time felt like it was standing still, but everything around me was moving forward.
Seven years. It had been seven f*****g years since I walked away from that house, from my family, from her.
Mia.
I leaned against the window, the bitter smoke from the cigarette in my hand curling up into the air, mixing with the stale, suffocating air of the room.
She was gone now, just moments ago. But the way she stood there, looking at me with those innocent eyes, that defiance in her posture; it was burned into my mind. Her body was different, grown. Too grown.
That dress... Christ.
It wasn’t just the dress; it was her. Everything about her; she was a f*****g stranger now. But not in the way I expected. She was fierce, confident… dangerously beautiful.
I couldn’t believe it. She was just a child the last time I saw her, barely nine, always clinging to me, always asking me to teach her everything: how to fight, how to win, how to survive.
God, she used to piss me off. Her endless questions, her constant teasing, daring me to chase her around the yard while she laughed like she owned the f*****g world. I’d pretend I was annoyed.
But hell, I didn’t mind it; not really.
She was the light in that house. The only reason it felt like a home.
But now? Now, she wasn’t a child anymore.
She shouldn’t have been here, not in a place like this.
The black fox mask felt heavier than usual. I reached up, tracing the sharp edges with my fingers. But I didn’t take it off. It wasn’t just a mask; it was a f*****g barrier, a shield between the man I was and the life I’d lived. Between who I was now and who I used to be.
I thought back to the phone call earlier. Dad had sounded... different. Weary. Maybe softer. “She’s doing well now,” he’d said. “Mia’s grown up. You’ll see her for yourself soon.”
I didn’t understand it then. But I did now.
I didn’t want to think about how her f*****g eyes widened when she saw me sitting there, how they practically glowed with admiration, a damn reflection of everything she had once thought I was.
I felt her gaze linger on my tattoos, the mask that hid my face, the tension in my body as I kept my distance from her.
She didn’t recognize me. Not even close.
And I didn’t stop her when she left. I should’ve said something. Told her who I was. But what the hell could I say?
"Hey, Mia. It’s me. Your brother. Surprise."
But I wasn’t just her brother, was I? I was Adrian. The stepbrother. The half-brother. The f*****g outsider. The one who shared a father with her, but never really belonged.
Mrs. Jeffrey, her mother, had always kept me at arm’s length, even before the truth came out. I wasn’t hers. She knew it. I knew it. Just the three of us. And that truth had hung over our house like a f*****g storm cloud.
Dad tried. He tried to treat me like Kyle, Carl, and Carlos. Tried to make me feel like I mattered. But it was never enough.
So I left.
And for seven long years, I stayed the hell away.
I thought it would be easier that way. For everyone.
But then Dad called. Said it was time to come back.
And maybe, just maybe, I could make things different. But seeing Mia again? f**k, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. She wasn’t supposed to look like that. Not like this.
She was still the innocent girl in my memories; the one who believed in me, trusted me to protect her.
But the woman I saw tonight? She didn’t need my protection.
She was f*****g fierce. Fiery. She’d grown up into something I couldn’t even recognize.
And yet, there was still that vulnerability, that brokenness in her eyes. It was a reminder of the girl I used to know. The one I abandoned.
I crushed the cigarette into the ashtray, my hands trembling, itching to do something. Anything.
But I stayed still, staring at the door she’d walked through, wishing I could stop the flood of thoughts, the gnawing desire building in me like a sickness.
What the f**k was she doing here? Why couldn’t I just let her go?
“A.D,” a voice called from the hallway, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I turned, jaw clenched, my body tensing. One of my men stood there, unreadable, his face like stone.
“She’s gone,” he said, his tone cold.
I nodded. “Good.”
But it wasn’t f*****g good. It wasn’t good at all.
I leaned back in the chair, my mind replaying that moment when she stepped into the room. The way her hair framed her face, the way she looked at me like I was just another stranger.
To her, I wasn’t Adrian. I wasn’t her brother. I wasn’t anything.
I was just the man in the black fox mask.
And maybe that was for the best.
But damn it, the way she f*****g looked at me... The heat crawling under my skin... It was f*****g unbearable.
I should have stopped her, told her to go home, and leave this goddamn mess behind. But I couldn’t.
I couldn’t pull her into this life. Not when it was this f*****g ugly. This broken. This dangerous.
I did the only thing I could do. Tell her to “Go home.”
“Boss.”
I groaned, already f*****g exhausted. “What?”
He hesitated before speaking. “She’s dancing with an Oscar on the last floor.”
“Fuck.”
- Writer
