Chapter 20: A Shared Moment of Vulnerability
Elena POV
As Adrian and I sat there in the study's silence, the weight of the evening's discourse crushing down on us both, the air was heavy with unsaid words. He had just found out that I was expecting, and although his face had been expressionless, I could sense a little glimmer of doubt in his eyes. The stillness between us lasted longer than any of us could bear, and the room seemed colder than it should have.
Adrian, who had always maintained his composure, was now just a shell of the person I believed to be so familiar. Now more than ever, the barriers he had erected around himself were visible. Even while I understood that this moment—this unvarnished, vulnerable moment—was maybe the most genuine any of us had felt in years, the emoti
