Sophie’s POV
The mansion was too quiet.
Too clean, too polished, too still—like nothing had happened. But silence had a weight of its own, and tonight, it pressed down on me until I could barely breathe.
I stood in the marble foyer, my coat sliding off my shoulders, fingers trembling as I fumbled with the buttons. The air smelled faintly of pine polish and expensive cigars, but beneath it clung something darker—gunpowder, smoke, fear. Or maybe that was just me.
We had barely spoken since he dragged me out of that burning hotel. Adrian’s hand had been like iron, his body a shield between me and every bullet, every explosion. His mouth had been on mine too, in that one reckless, blazing kiss that shouldn’t have happened but did—raw, furious, desperate.
Now… now it was as though none of
