Chapter 9 The MidNight Confession
474 Words
3AM. Adrian was still bleeding through his bandages.
“Stop moving,” I snapped, trying to change his dressing. “You’ll rip the stitches.”
“You shot a man,” he said, watching me like I was the miracle. “My little cleaner wife fired a gun to protect me.”
“I protected our sons.” My hands shook. “Not you.”
“Liar.” He caught my wrist. His skin was burning hot. Fever. “Why didn’t you run, Lily?”
Because the thought of you dying made me unable to breathe. But I couldn’t say that.
“Victor Romanov will come back,” I whispered instead. “He wants our boys.”
“He’ll die first.” Adrian’s voice was steel, even with a bullet wound. “But you need to understand something.”
He dragged me down until we were eye to eye on the hospital bed.
“I was 12 when my father told me love is weakness. 15 when he pitted me against my twin brother for CEO. 20 when I watched my brother die in a car ‘accident’ my father arranged.”
My heart stopped. “Twin?”
“Damien. He was the good one. I was the ruthless one. Father only needed one heir.” His thumb brushed my lip. “I’ve spent 32 years proving I don’t feel. Don’t need. Don’t break.”
“Then why—”
“Then you kicked.” His eyes closed. “And for the first time since Damien died, I felt something crack. You cracked me, Lily.”
The machine beeped. Fever 39.8. He was burning up.
“Adrian—”
“When Romanov shot me, I wasn’t scared of dying.” He pulled me against his chest, careful of the twins. “I was scared of leaving you alone with two sons and my last name. That’s the first time I’ve been scared since I was 12.”
Tears hit his bandages. “Don’t you dare die.”
“Then stay awake with me.” His lips touched my forehead. “Tell me about the twins. Tell me what you want to name them.”
“Gabriel,” I whispered. “After the archangel. And… Damien.”
His whole body went still. “You’d name our son after my brother?”
“He was the good one, right? Maybe our son can be both. Ruthless like his father. Good like his uncle.”
Adrian didn’t answer. But his arms locked around me like chains.
When I woke up, his fever was down. His hand was on my stomach.
And for the first time, the door to the penthouse was unlocked… because he knew I wouldn’t run.
I was starting to belong to the ruthless CEO.
And the terrifying part? I didn’t want to be free.
- Writer
