He expected to find Lena by the window when he returned.
He expected nerves. Controlled stillness. That faint tension she carried when too many eyes were about to be on her. He expected composure strained thin but intact.
What he did not expect was a man standing too close to her.
When the door opened, the room was quiet, thick with fabric and perfume and the distant hum of guests settling into their seats. Adrian's mind registered details instantly, clinically, the way it always did when something was wrong.
A man's back.
A posture that did not belong.
Lena's face, white and frozen, her eyes wide in a way he had never seen before.
Then the man turned just enough for recognition to strike.
Jaden.
The name landed with brutal clarity. Adrian knew the outline. He knew the absence tha
