Sophie’s POV
Adrian’s hand clamped around my wrist before I could think, before I could decide whether to run from him or toward the shadowed streets behind me.
“Let me go!” I hissed, jerking against his grip.
His hold tightened. “Not here. Not with him.”
The words were sharp, but underneath I caught it—the edge of desperation. The same desperation that had haunted his eyes when Cole spat out those poisoned words about my father.
Adrian half-dragged me toward the waiting car, his men trailing like shadows, silent and unreadable. My heels scuffed against the old wood, my pulse still slamming from what I’d just witnessed.
Cole didn’t follow. He just leaned back against the lamppost, smirking as if he’d won without needing to lift a finger.
The door slammed shut behind me, and the worl
