THE BITE BEFORE THE BAIT
400 Words
For a moment, the alley was silent except for the distant hum of the city. Her pulse was steady, but her mind was already calculating escape routes, weapons within reach, and how many steps it would take to close the distance between her and Adrian if she had to.
“You don’t strike me as a man who keeps problems around,” she said, keeping her tone casual. “So, what’s your play?”
Adrian’s gaze swept over her, slow and deliberate, like he was cataloging every movement, every flicker of expression. “Depends on the problem,” he said. “Some you fix. Some you… cultivate.”
She tilted her head. “And which am I?”
His lips curved. “Too soon to tell.”
He stepped closer. The soft scrape of his leather shoes against the wet pavement was louder than it should’ve been, each sound tightening the air between them. The gold watch caught the light again as he reached into his coat — and she tensed — but he only pulled out a slim, black envelope.
“An invitation,” he said, offering it out. “Tomorrow night. My table. You’ll want to dress for more than dinner.”
She didn’t take it. “And if I don’t show?”
The smile sharpened. “Then I’ll know exactly what kind of problem you are.”
It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.
He left first, disappearing back into the city’s pulse, his man trailing behind him, still clutching his stomach. She stood there a moment longer, staring at the black envelope on the wet ground where he’d dropped it.
Her fingers itched to leave it there. But she didn’t. She picked it up.
The paper was thick, expensive — the kind that whispered power. Inside, in gold ink, was a single word.
“Crown.”
Her jaw tightened. Adrian Cole was playing at something bigger than she’d thought. But she wasn’t here for him.
She was here for the man who sat higher on the food chain. The man whose shadow Adrian would never escape.
His father.
And if bedding the son was the quickest way to slit the father’s throat — figuratively or otherwise — then so be it.
Her smile was faint, almost sweet. Adrian Cole thought she was the problem.
He had no idea she was the solution… to his downfall.
- Writer
