Chapter 17 – Boundaries and Breaches
The silence stretched, sharp and suffocating.
Adrian's hands still rested on Ethan's shoulders, his grip loose now, trembling with the force of restraint. His eyes—those piercing storm-gray eyes that always commanded a room—were no longer cold, but raw, almost pleading.
Ethan had never seen Adrian like this. Vulnerable. Exposed.
It should have made Ethan feel triumphant, seeing the powerful Alpha stripped of control because of him. But instead, all Ethan felt was fear… and a dangerous tug in his chest that he refused to name.
"Adrian…" Ethan whispered, breaking the silence, his voice unsteady.
Adrian's gaze searched his face, as though desperate for an answer that Ethan himself didn't yet have. His lips parted, but no words came out. For the first time, Adrian Zhou—the ruthless Alpha everyone feared—looked utterly lost.
And it broke something inside Ethan.
He stepped back, forcing distance between them. The space felt like a wound, but he needed it to breathe.
"I don't know what you want from me," Ethan said, his voice shaking but steady enough to carry. "But I can't live like this—watched, locked up, controlled. I'll suffocate."
Adrian's jaw tightened, and for a long moment, he said nothing. Then, finally, his voice emerged, low and rough.
"I don't want to control you, Ethan. I just…" His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. "I can't lose you."
The confession lingered in the air, heavy, dangerous, like gasoline waiting for a spark.
Ethan's breath caught. His heart pounded, traitorously alive with something he refused to call hope.
But before he could respond, Adrian's phone buzzed sharply, breaking the moment.
Adrian's expression darkened as he glanced at the screen. Without a word, he stepped aside, answering the call. His voice dropped into a clipped, icy tone Ethan recognized instantly—the Alpha CEO who never showed weakness.
"Yes?"
A pause. Then Adrian's brows furrowed, the muscles in his jaw tightening.
"Handle it," he ordered, then ended the call abruptly.
When he turned back to Ethan, the tenderness of a moment ago was buried beneath steel again.
"I have to leave for the office," Adrian said flatly. "Stay here. Don't go anywhere. Not today."
Ethan opened his mouth to argue, but the warning in Adrian's gaze silenced him.
And just like that, the walls of the cage closed back in.
---
Adrian's car pulled away, and the mansion sank into silence.
Ethan wandered restlessly through the grand halls, his steps echoing too loudly. The mansion was beautiful—an architectural masterpiece of glass and marble—but to Ethan, it was just a prison gilded in gold.
He sank into the sofa, staring at the notebook he'd left on the coffee table. Adrian's notebook. The one he'd caught Adrian hiding from him.
His fingers itched.
Adrian had warned him not to look. Which only made him want to look more.
Biting his lip, Ethan reached for it, heart hammering. He flipped open the leather cover—
But before his eyes could take in the words, the sound of the front gate creaking open made him snap it shut.
Frowning, Ethan rose to his feet. Adrian shouldn't be back so soon.
He walked cautiously to the window, peering out.
And his stomach dropped.
It wasn't Adrian.
It was Leon.
The rival Alpha strolled through the gates as if he owned the place, hands in his pockets, his smirk infuriatingly casual. Two men in dark suits trailed behind him, clearly his bodyguards.
Ethan's heart pounded. How did he even get in here?
The staff hesitated, clearly uneasy, but Leon waved them off with the arrogance of someone used to obedience.
And then his eyes found Ethan's through the window.
That smile widened.
---
The doorbell chimed. Once. Twice.
Ethan froze in the foyer, staring at the door as if it were a wolf's maw ready to swallow him whole.
He could ignore it. He should ignore it.
But Leon didn't seem the type to leave quietly.
Taking a shaky breath, Ethan opened the door just enough to glare out.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he hissed.
Leon leaned against the doorframe, unbothered, his scent curling in the air—rich, sharp, intoxicating in a way that made Ethan's instincts scream.
"Relax," Leon drawled. "I only came to talk. No need to look so scandalized."
"Get out. If Adrian finds you here—"
Leon's chuckle was dark, low. "That's exactly why I came."
Ethan stiffened.
Leon stepped forward, and Ethan instinctively backed up until his spine pressed against the wall. Leon didn't touch him—but he didn't need to. His presence was suffocating enough.
"You think Adrian can protect you, little bird?" Leon murmured, his voice silk over steel. "He's chained you in his palace, but cages don't last. Sooner or later, you'll come running to me."
Ethan's hands curled into fists. "Never."
Leon's smile was pure predator. "We'll see."
His gaze drifted toward the notebook on the coffee table. For a fleeting second, Ethan thought he saw interest flicker there—sharp, dangerous.
But then Leon straightened, brushing invisible lint from his suit.
"I'll take my leave. For now."
And just like that, he was gone, leaving Ethan trembling in his own home.
---
When Adrian returned hours later, Ethan was still sitting on the couch, staring at the notebook as if it held answers—or ruin.
Adrian paused in the doorway, his sharp gaze softening slightly at the sight of Ethan curled in on himself.
"You're pale," Adrian said quietly, approaching. "What happened?"
Ethan's lips parted, a thousand words fighting to break free. Leon. The notebook. The fear curling in his chest.
But when he looked at Adrian—the man who both caged him and protected him—his throat closed.
"Nothing," Ethan whispered. "I'm fine."
But his trembling hands betrayed him.
And Adrian, for all his flaws, noticed everything.
His jaw tightened, his expression shifting to that dangerous calm that always preceded a storm.
"Ethan," he said softly, voice edged with steel. "Who was here?"
Ethan's breath hitched.
Adrian's eyes burned into his, and Ethan knew—he couldn't lie. Not to him.
But telling the truth might shatter everything.
---
Far away, Leon sat in his car, flipping through photos on his phone again.
This time, the image was different.
It wasn't just Ethan at the café.
It was Ethan inside Adrian's home—captured through the window.
Leon smirked, his fingers brushing over the glass.
"Soon, little bird," he murmured. "I'll clip your wings myself."