CHAPTER FOUR: TOO CLOSE TO THE TRUTH
253 Words
They stopped at a safe house on the edge of the city. Bare walls. One bedroom. One bed.
Mira stared at it. “Of course.”
“I can take the floor,” Adrian said immediately.
She studied him, searching for manipulation, hunger, threat. Found none of those things. What unsettled her more was the restraint.
“You don’t trust yourself,” she said.
His jaw tightened. “I trust myself too much. That’s the problem.”
Silence stretched between them, heavy and charged.
“Why me?” she asked. “Out of everyone connected to him.”
Adrian exhaled slowly. “Because he didn’t love anyone else.”
The words struck deeper than she expected.
“He was supposed to be done,” she whispered. “I made sure of it.”
“I know,” Adrian said. “I helped.”
Her eyes snapped to his. “You—”
“Not like that,” he said quickly. “I cleaned up after.”
The truth settled like a bruise.
“You’ve been watching me,” she said.
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Long enough to know you don’t deserve what’s coming.”
Anger flared—but beneath it, something far more dangerous stirred. Connection. Recognition.
They stood too close now. Adrian’s hand brushed hers accidentally, and the spark between them was instant, electric, terrifying.
Mira stepped back first.
“This doesn’t change anything,” she said.
“No,” Adrian agreed. “It complicates everything.”
- Writer
