One night with Mr Blackwell

Chapter 10

The music stopped.

Or maybe it didn’t.

Maybe the sound just vanished from my world the moment I saw Adrian’s face.

He wasn’t supposed to be here. Not in this place, not in this mess, and definitely not standing between me and Victor with that expression, cold, furious, and something else I couldn’t name.

“Brother-in-law?” The word echoed again, slicing through the silence that had suddenly swallowed the club. My knees weakened.

“I am only going to say this once: DO NOT APPROACH AVA AGAIN! The next time won't be so lovely.” Adrian said to Victor, his voice low, dangerous, the kind of calm that came before a storm.

Victor laughed. “Oh, come on, brother. You can’t treat me this way, at least not in front of these many people.”

I stood there for a while, unable to process anything. The only thought that was in my mind was that Adrian and Victor were family. They both wanted me to fall.

“Ava is mine,” Adrian said. The words came out rough, possessive, like a claim stamped into the air.

I stared at him, my chest tight with disbelief.

Who the hell did he think he was?

He ruined my life, tore it apart, and now he was trying to own what was left of it?

I turned and walked out of the hall before I said something I’d regret.

I’d had enough.

What was my life turning into? Why did drama follow me like a curse?

I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to stay here either. So I just walked.

The night air was cold, and my thoughts heavier than ever.

It would’ve been easier if I were the female lead of some novel, things always worked out for them.

For me? It was just one mess after another.

“Hey,” a voice called softly.

I turned to see a guy walking toward me, tall, kind-eyed, the sort of face that made you breathe easier without even knowing why.

“Sorry,” he said, smiling. “I couldn’t help but notice, you look... sad. Are you okay?”

I managed a small smile. “Well, I’m not sad anymore. Thanks to you.”

“To me? But I haven’t done anything yet,” he said, his confusion so genuine it made me laugh.

“Your face has healing magic,” I teased.

He blushed, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m Donald,” he said, extending his hand.

“I’m Ava,” I replied, shaking it with a smile.

“It’s really nice…”

Donald’s voice cut off.

In the next second, he was on the ground.

I froze.

My heart stuttered.

Adrian stood in front of me, chest rising and falling, his hand still half-curled from the punch.

“What the hell?! Donald!” I cried, kneeling beside him.

“What’s wrong with you, Adrian?" Are you insane?”

“It’s fine, Ava,” Donald groaned. “I’m sure it wasn’t…”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” I snapped, glaring up at Adrian. “That wasn’t a mistake, and you know it.”

Adrian’s eyes burned into me, his jaw tight, his breathing heavy. “He touched you,” he said, voice shaking, not with fear, but with anger barely held back.

“He shook my hand!”

“Still the same thing, ” he said to me.

I was so lucky this was a quiet area; otherwise, I didn’t even know what I’d do.

I didn’t have anything left to say to him.

“Can you get up?” I asked Donald, trying to help him up.

Adrian jerked me back, his grip like iron, causing Donald to tumble back onto the pavement.

“You shouldn’t go around letting guys touch you!” he growled, glaring fiercely at Donald, who swallowed hard in fear.

“Get away from me, you psycho!” I shouted, pushing him away.

Adrian smiled then, that dark, knowing smile that made my pulse trip.

He stepped closer, eyes locked on mine. “Let him touch you again,” he whispered, “and you’ll see me turn into the very psycho you called me.” Just as I thought, this guy was insane.

“Umm… Miss Ava, I think I will take my leave now. It was so nice meeting you,” Donald said, trembling in fear. I watched him force himself up and when I rushed to help him, he flinched and let himself fall down again.

“I'm fine, really,” he said with a strained smile. Adrian’s words had terrified him; that alone stoked my rage. Donald limped away, forcing himself into a run for his life.

“ What do you want from me?” I turned to Adrian, but he didn’t say anything to me and just smiled.

He must feel happy with himself for successfully chasing Donald away. I didn’t say anything to him and just walked out. I have heard enough today, so let me go home and sleep. As I walked home, he didn’t follow. He just stood there, leaning against his car and smoking while he watched me leave.

I just don't get that guy in any way.

I woke up the next morning with fierce determination. My mind was made up: I was going to stalk both Victor and Adrian. I understood Victor's petty revenge, but Adrian? I had no idea what I did to him, and I was going to figure out why they had decided to work together. They were here for a business meeting, which meant their movements would be relatively limited, making my job easier.

I remembered the tracking devices Victor and I had placed on each other’s phones during our messy, complicated past. At the time, I had only checked it once, never thinking it would be useful again. But now, it was a lifeline.

I tracked Victor first, convinced that he and Adrian must have met after last night, plotting their next move against me. But day after day, they never crossed paths, not once.

I followed Victor for over a week, watching him drift from one indulgence to the next, like a predator hunting the wrong prey. Each day, each encounter disgusted me more. Married, yet still chasing women to warm his bed… every move made my stomach turn.

Eventually, frustration got the better of me. Perhaps they had a plan I couldn’t see, something more dangerous than I could anticipate. And that scared me more than anything.

I was about to leave my hiding spot when I saw Mr. Dave approaching Victor. I pressed myself behind the shadow of a car, trying to catch their words without being seen.

Their conversation was low, almost imperceptible, but fragments floated to me: “her… problem… handled…”

I leaned closer, straining to hear more, and then the world tilted.

The sleek black car beside me rolled down its window. My stomach dropped.

Adrian.

He was smiling, or rather, smirking, the kind of dangerous smile that made my pulse slam against my ribs. It wasn’t amusement. It was a claim. A warning. A promise.

You are clever, Ava,” he said, his voice low, smooth, lethal. “I sent my men to bring you to me. But somehow… you always slipped away.”

I froze. He knew. Of course, he knew. My heart hammered in my chest.

Then his eyes darkened, deep and feral. “Following a married man for a week… thinking you could hide it from me?” The words slid over me like a blade. “I cannot allow it.”

I opened my mouth, desperate to explain, to defend myself, to say it was a misunderstanding, but the words refused to come. My tongue was tied, my limbs frozen. He had me. Completely.

“Now,” he said, reaching for the car door as if to claim me outright, “let’s go home.”

Home. The word landed like a lead weight. His home. His. Not mine. And in that realization, fear coiled around my spine like ice.

Without thinking, I ran.

I knew it was futile. I knew it was impossible to escape Blackwell. But I had to try. I needed to try.

I ran until my legs felt like lead, my lungs burning with each desperate breath. Every streetlight blurred into streaks of gold and silver. My chest heaved, my hands trembling as I leaned against the cold brick wall of a quiet alley. For the first time in days, I allowed myself to imagine that maybe… just maybe… I had outrun the nightmare.

I sank to the ground, pressing my face into my hands, willing my racing heart to slow. The night was heavy, quiet, almost unnervingly so. My mind wandered back to Victor, to Adrian, to everything I didn’t understand, everything I was trying to figure out.

And then I felt it.

A shadow detached itself from the darkness. Too quick, too precise. My instincts screamed, but my body was exhausted, weak from the chase, from the fear, from the desperate need to just… rest.

Before I could even rise, strong hands wrapped around my arms, yanking me upright. My mouth opened in a scream, but the sound caught in my throat. I tried to fight, thrash, push, but the grip was ironclad.

“Let me go!” I gasped, panic surging through me. My legs buckled under the force, my strength useless against the unseen captor.

“Shh…” a calm, low voice whispered. “It’s better if you don’t struggle.”

I froze, my heart hammering in my chest. I didn’t recognize the voice. I couldn’t see the face. The world around me spun, dizzying and dark, shadows pressing close.

They guided me, or maybe dragged me, into some unknown vehicle. I tried to memorize every detail, every sign of where I was being taken, but exhaustion and fear muddled everything. My mind screamed, my body trembled, but there was nothing I could do.

Finally, as I slumped forward, trying to catch a breath, my vision blurred. My eyelids grew impossibly heavy. Panic clawed at me, but my strength gave out.

The last thing I felt before darkness swallowed me completely was the cold certainty that I was not going home.

And I had no idea who had me, or what they wanted.