bChapter /bb249 /b

    ADRIAN’S POV

    ????39%

    b+33 /b

    The cold floor pressed into my palms as I slowly lowered myself down among the other captives, blending into the tense, suffocating circle of frightened men and women. The air was thick with fear, whispers died before they even reached lips, and every slight movement drew the sharp, watchful eyes of the gunmen circling us like wolves keeping their herd in line.

    But none of that truly mattered to me at that moment.

    My eyes weren’t on the guards. My eyes were locked on her.

    Olivia.

    She sat just across from me, her arms wound tightly around that boy. The way she clutched him against her chest, as if her embrace alone could shield him from the storm crashing down around us, and that told me everything I needed to know. The boy had been telling me the truth all along.

    He wasn’t lying. He wasn’t exaggerating. He wasn’t confused.

    He was hers.

    The tenderness in her movements, the protective fire in her stare, the desperation in the way she held him close all of it was undeniable. It was the same look I had only ever seen once before in my entire life. My mother had worn it the day she looked at me for thest time, moments before the world shattered when she took her own life. That kind of gaze was not one that could be faked. It was instinct. Pure. Raw. A bond born of blood and pain and love all tangled together.

    And now, watching Olivia cradle her son, I understood.

    She had built a life. She had a child. She had moved forward in ways I once thought impossible for her.

    Despite everything.

    Despite me.

    Despite the scars I left on her life, she had still managed to create something beautiful. And as twisted as it might sound, a strange warmth uncoiled in my chest. I was… happy for her. Happy she had something I could never take away.

    A small smile tugged at my lips, surprising even me. Smiling in this hellhole, with armed men circling and innocent people trembling around us, should have been impossible. But it wasn’t. Maybe it was because I knew this nightmare wouldn’tst forever. I had taken precautions. I had called for help. Dan or themissioner or maybe both were already working on a way to end this madness.

    And when it ended, Olivia and that boy would walk free.

    I nced down at my watch, my thumb brushing against the scratched surface as the seconds ticked by. Twenty minutes since the call. Not long in the grand scheme of things, but in here, twenty minutes felt like hours. I didn’t expect the cavalry toe crashing through the doors guns zing that would only put civilians in the line of fire. No, they’d be calcting, watching, nning. Waiting for the right moment to strike.

    could only hope they moved fast enough

    My gaze returned to her. Olivia sal stiffly, her arms wrapped around her son’s small frame, shielding him as best as she could. She didn’t deserve this. She had already endured too much in her life. Sitting on the cold, dusty floor like a prisoner in her own building it was wrong.

    But it wouldn’tst. I would make sure of it

    I shifted my focus briefly, scanning the crowd of familiar and unfamiliar faces packed into the hall. My eyes narrowed when I failed to spot him the man Thad seen on TV, the one whose hand had rested so casually on Olivia’s waist, the man I assumed was her fiancé, and most likely the father of Charlie. He

    was nowhere to be found.

    b1/3 /b

    09:36

    31 Aug

    ? ?39%2

    Strange.

    If this was his wife’s ceremony, the grand opening of another branch of her empire, then where the hell was he?

    33

    The gunmen had just announced that everyone was ounted for, meaning no one else was hiding in the building. So he hadn’t been caught elsewhere. He simply wasn’t here.

    What kind of husband misses this?

    Ishook my head quickly. Now wasn’t the time for that.

    Still, the thought lingered, like a splinter under my skin.

    I looked back at Olivia, the fire in her presence undeniable even as she sat on that cold floor. She looked stronger than I remembered, sharper somehow, like a de tempered by years of struggle. Yet beneath all of that strength, I could still see the girl I once knew.

    And despite everything that had happened, despite all the distance and all the pain, I felt the pull.

    We were sitting close enough that if I shifted just a little, I could reach her. Not physically – God knows she would probably p my hand away if I tried but I could at least reach her with my words.

    I wanted to speak to her. Just a word. A small assurance.

    Not for me. For her.

    I could tell her she and her son would be safe, that I had already set things in motion to make sure of it. I could remind her, if only for a moment, that she wasn’t alone in this nightmare. That someone was fighting for her freedom from the outside.

    And maybe… maybe when the dust settled, when the doors burst open and we were freed, I could finally congratte her properly. Congratte her on her sess, her strength, her family.

    I shifted carefully on the floor, moving inch by inch, slow enough not to draw attention from the gunmen pacing around us. The hum of murmurs and the shuffle of restless bodies masked my movements well enough.

    But Olivia noticed.

    Of course, she noticed.

    Her eyes snapped to me almost immediately, sharp and unyielding.

    1 had been expecting – what? A softening? A flicker of recognition? Perhaps even a small, hesitant smile at the sight of me after all these years?

    But what I saw in her eyes was nothing of the sort,

    The warmth that had shone so brightly when she looked at her son vanished the moment her gaze locked on me. In its ce came a look so dark, so

    venomous, it froze me mid–shift.

    Her brows furrowed, her lips pressed into a hard line, and her stare burned like fire.

    Hatred.

    it was hatred,

    The kind that didn’t fade with time. The kind that lingered, growing roots and hardening into stone.

    I swallowed hard, refusing to let the blow show on my face. Maybe I was imagining it. Maybe I was reading too much into it, twisting her expression in my head because of my own guilt. After everything that had happened between us, could I really expect her to look at me with anything other than contempt?

    09:37 Sun, 31 Aug W

    Still, I ignored it.

    Tignored the daggers in her eyes, the ice in her posture, the wall she had built between us without ever moving an inch.

    I continued my slow shuffle, edging closer until I was near enough that my voice would carry to iher /iwithout alerting the wolves circling us.

    I leaned forward slightly, steadying my breath, and let the words slip past my lips in the softest itone /iI could manage.

    “Hey, Olivia.”