Chapter 6:The Cage Called Protection
1306 Words
I stared at Adrian’s face. The tension in his jaw. His eyes had gone stiff, as if someone had flipped a switch.
“Someone broke into your old apartment last night,” he repeated, as if by saying it, it wouldn’t be as real.
I swallowed, my throat parched. “That….that doesn’t make any sense.”
Adrian did not relax his stare. “It makes perfect sense.”
I took a deep breath. “Why would anyone break into my apartment? I have nothing.”
His eyes locked onto mine. “That’s what you think,” he said softly.
In that moment, the room felt big and luxurious and so much farther from the life I’d been living. Shaking, I wrapped my arms tightly around myself.
“Did they take anything?” I asked. “Mom’s picture? My—”
“I don’t know yet,” he interrupted quickly. “But I’ll find out.”
There was something in his tone that made me both comfortable and terrified.
“I have to go there.”
“No,” he growled.
I blinked. “Pardon?”
Adrian stepped closer until he took up the entire space.
“You’re not going back to that apartment.”
A spark of rage ignited within me. “You do not get to decide that.”
His eyes turned darker. “I do.”
The air in the room grew thick.
“I’m not your kid,” I whispered.
“You’re my wife,” he said softly. “And you’re a target.”
That word again.
Target.
Fear washed over me. “All of my stuff is there. All of my memories.”
His expression changed not a bit. “You don’t need anything from there.”
I snapped. “I need closure. I need to know what they touched. What they were looking for.”
Adrian studied my face, then said quietly, “They weren’t looking for money, Nora.”
My heart sank. “Then what?”
He hesitated a fraction of a second.
My heart sank further. “You know something.”
“I know enough to protect you.”
“That’s not an answer,” I said, voice quivering. “Stop treating me like I’m fragile.”
“You’re not fragile.”
His eyes flicked to my lips for a brief moment. “You’re reckless.”
I winced.
“If you want me to act as your wife, you can’t exclude me.”
“I’m not excluding you.”
“Yes, you are. You’re making walls and calling it protection.”
His eyes blazed. “Protection isn’t a wall. It’s a weapon.”
“And I’m supposed to hide behind you?” I shouted. “Like I’m nothing?”
“Don’t you ever refer to yourself as nothing.”
We stood there, locked in a silent battle.
Then Adrian raised his hand, running his knuckles across my cheek. Gentle. Surprising.
“You don’t understand this world,” he mumbled.
I leaned into the touch before I knew better than to. “Then teach me. Don’t cage me.”
His thumb lingered on my lower lip.
“Nora,” he warned softly. “Do not speak like that when I’m trying to hold myself back.”
Heat shot through me. “Why?”
His hand closed around the back of my neck. Firm. Dominating. “Because if I lose control, I won’t be gentle.”
My knees buckled.
I shouldn’t have stayed where I was.
I didn’t.
Instead, I reached my hands out and laid them flat on his chest. “You’re always in control.”
His jaw clenched. “Not with you.”
Then he kissed me.
Deeply. Desperately. As though he’d been waiting to snap.
His arms wrapped tightly around my waist, holding me close. I gasped into his mouth, and he swallowed the sound. Everything else faded away until all I could feel was him.
His lips travelled to my jaw, and I shuddered. “Adrian…”
He paused, his breathing slow and even, while I fell apart.
“Tell me to stop,” he whispered.
I should have.
But I remembered Daniel laughing at me and humiliating me.
Then I thought about how easily Adrian had paid my mom’s bills.
Safety. Power. Warmth.
“Don’t,” I whispered.
Something wild flashed in his eyes.
He scooped me up and carried me to the bed. My heart was pounding.
“This is just a contract,” I murmured.
“Then stop shaking when I touch you.”
“I’m not shaking,” I lied.
He almost smiled. “Liar.”
His mouth came back to mine, but slower this time. His hand drifted along my side, and flames erupted everywhere.
Too much. Too fast. And I wanted more.
As his mouth was starting to travel lower...
His phone rang.
Shattering. Blinding.
Adrian froze, then cursed and snatched it.
“What?”
I watched his face change as he listened.
“Repeat that,” he said softly.
He hung up.
“What happened?”
“They broke in,” he said.
My voice barely functioned. “What do you mean?”
“He left something.”
“A message.”
“To you?”
“To me.”
“Adrian…what are you involved in?”
“You want the truth?” He lowered his voice. “Okay.”
He took another step closer until I backed into the bed. His hand clamped around my chin and forced my eyes to his.
“You are not in danger because you married me,” he said.
“You were in danger before you met me.”
I froze. “That’s impossible.”
“Someone has been watching you,” he continued. “When you became publicly mine…they stopped playing.”
“Who is ‘they’?”
“The people you don’t want to meet.”
I slapped his hand off my chin. “I’ve already met them! They broke into my house!”
He breathed slowly, regaining his composure. “Pack a bag.”
“Where?”
“We’re leaving tonight. Someplace they can’t find you.”
“And my mother?” Panic was rising in my throat. “I can’t leave her.”
“She’ll be fine. I’ll hire men to guard her.”
“Men?” Adrian…what kind of life is this?”
For a moment, something human flickered in his eyes.
“Your life after marrying me,” he whispered.
Tears spilt over. “I signed a contract. Not a war.”
“You really think I wanted this for you?” he asked softly.
“Then why did you choose me?”
There was silence.
“Because you’re the only woman I trust.”
My chest constricted. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It will,” he said.
My phone vibrated.
No name or number.
A photo is loaded.
The door to my old apartment.
Red spray paint on the door: GIVE HER BACK.
Coldness crept into my veins.
Then a video arrived.
I pulled it up on my phone, my hands shaking.
My mother lay in her hospital bed… filmed from some hidden spot.
A warped voice whispered: “If you stay with him… your mother will die.”
My phone slipped from my fingers. Adrian caught it and watched the video, his face growing colder.
Then he looked at me.
“They touched what belongs to me,” he said quietly.
Tears poured down my face.
And the most terrifying thing?
My heart wasn’t afraid of his enemies.
It was afraid of what Adrian Knight would do next.
Because the man standing in front of me didn’t look like a husband.
He looked like a weapon.
And I had no idea if he would save me…
Or destroy everything in the way.
- Writer
