Bound by passion

Chapter Nine: Fear

Adrian didn’t leave my apartment that night. He sat in the chair by the window like a silent guardian, his gaze fixed on the street below. I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t.

The air between us was thick with words left unspoken. I had told him about Daniel. He had promised to protect me. But even now, part of me was terrified of what that would mean.

When the knock came at 3 a.m., it wasn’t a surprise. It was as though I had been waiting for it.

Adrian rose instantly, every muscle coiled like a spring. “Stay behind me,” he murmured.

The knock came again, louder this time. My blood went cold. I knew who it was before Adrian even opened the door.

Daniel.

He looked exactly the same, yet completely different — taller somehow, his eyes darker, his smile colder. He wore the expression of a man who believed he still owned a piece of me.

“Hello, Isabella,” he drawled, his gaze sliding past Adrian as if he wasn’t even there. “Did you miss me?”

I took a step back, my hands trembling. Before I could answer, Adrian stepped forward, blocking Daniel’s view of me completely.

“You have thirty seconds to turn around and leave,” Adrian said, his voice low and lethal. “Or I’ll make you.”

Daniel’s smile widened, but his eyes flickered with something like surprise. “And who’s this? Your new boyfriend? Or your bodyguard?”

“I’m the man who will end you if you don’t leave,” Adrian replied.

The tension in the hallway was a living thing, curling around us like smoke. Daniel’s smile faltered. He glanced at me once, then back at Adrian.

“Careful,” Daniel said softly. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened. “I know enough. And you’re not touching her again.”

For a moment, nobody moved. Then Daniel’s smile returned, colder than before. “We’ll see about that.” He stepped back into the shadows of the hallway, his voice a whisper as he disappeared. “She was mine before you. She’ll be mine again.”

The door slammed shut, and the sound echoed through the apartment like a gunshot. My knees buckled, and Adrian caught me before I hit the floor.

“It’s okay,” he whispered fiercely, holding me against his chest. “I’m here. I’m not letting him take you.”

But even as he said it, I felt his heart hammering against mine.

Because we both knew this wasn’t over.

We were bound by passion, yes — but now we were bound by danger too.