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Chapter 9 - Chapter 9

Nina didn't tell Adrian about her coffee with Sophia.

It felt like a small betrayal, keeping it to herself, but something about the conversation sat uneasily in her chest. Every time she started to mention it during their nightly phone calls, or when she stayed at his penthouse the words stuck in her throat.

Besides, she was busy. The revision Professor Chen had demanded was consuming every spare moment. Nina spent long hours in the library, fueled by caffeine and determination, rebuilding her methodology section from the ground up. Adrian kept his promise about giving her space, limiting their contact to brief text messages and one night a week at his place.

It should have been enough. It should have been perfect, actually the balance she'd asked for.

But two weeks after her meeting with Sophia, Nina found herself staring at her laptop screen at two in the morning, reading the same paragraph for the fifth time without comprehending a single word.

Her phone buzzed. Adrian.

Can't sleep either?

Nina smiled despite her exhaustion. How did you know I was awake?

Because I know you. And because I'm looking at the light in your apartment window from my car.

She crossed to her window, pulling back the curtain. Sure enough, there was a sleek black sedan parked across the street, and even from four stories up, she could make out Adrian's silhouette in the back seat.

What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night.

Come down. Five minutes. I need to see you.

Nina should have said no. She had work to do, and seeing Adrian at two in the morning would only distract her more. But she was already pulling on jeans and a sweater, already grabbing her keys.

The October air was crisp as she slipped out of her building. Adrian was leaning against the car, hands in his pockets, looking rumpled and tired in a way she rarely saw him.

"This is either very romantic or very concerning," she said as she approached.

"Can't it be both?" He pulled her into his arms, and she felt the tension in his body, the barely contained energy that suggested something was wrong.

"Adrian, what happened?"

"Get in the car. Please." It wasn't quite a request.

Nina hesitated, but something in his expression made her comply. He slid in beside her, and the driver pulled away from the curb without being asked.

"Where are we going?"

"Nowhere. Everywhere. I just needed to drive." Adrian scrubbed a hand over his face. "Marcus made another move today. Convinced one of my oldest clients to break a contract worth forty million. It's the third account he's poached this month."

"I'm sorry."

"It gets worse." He turned to face her fully. "He's been digging into my personal life. Into you. Had investigators following you, taking photos, building a file on where you go, who you see."

Ice flooded Nina's veins. "What kind of photos?"

"Nothing compromising. You going to class, the library, coffee shops. But it's escalating, Nina. He's looking for leverage, and he's decided you're it."

This was what Sophia had warned her about. What Adrian himself had tried to prepare her for. But hearing it stated so baldly, knowing someone was watching her, building a case against her…

"What does he want?"

"To destroy me. And he'll use whatever tools are available." Adrian's jaw tightened. "I should never have gotten you involved in this. Should never have let it become real."

"Don't." Nina caught his hand. "Don't do that. Don't rewrite history because things are getting complicated."

"Complicated? Nina, you're being surveilled by a man who's tried to kill me twice."

The words hung in the air between them.

"Kill you," Nina repeated slowly. "Actual attempts on your life."

"Years ago. Before we reached our current… understanding. But Marcus doesn't forget, and he doesn't forgive." Adrian's thumb traced patterns on her palm, a nervous gesture she'd never seen from him before. "I told you my world was dangerous. I wasn't exaggerating."

"What do you want me to do? End this? Walk away?"

"I want you to be safe." His voice was raw. "But I also can't stand the thought of you leaving. Which makes me selfish and reckless and everything I swore I'd never be where you're concerned."

The driver continued navigating through empty streets, giving them the illusion of privacy. Nina watched city lights stream past the window, processing. Marcus Whitmore wasn't just a business rival he was an actual threat. And she was caught in the middle of a war she didn't fully understand.

"Tell me about him," she said finally. "About Marcus. About why he hates you so much."

Adrian was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was carefully controlled. "We were partners once. Built our first company together right out of business school. Marcus had the vision, I had the execution. It worked until it didn't."

"What happened?"

"He got greedy. Started cutting corners, making deals with people who operated outside the law. I wanted to pull back, keep things legitimate. Marcus wanted to expand the empire by any means necessary." Adrian's expression darkened with memory. "So I bought him out. Took the company, cleaned it up, left him with nothing but a check and his resentment."

"How long ago was this?"

"Twelve years. He's spent every one of them trying to destroy what I built." Adrian finally looked at her. "The attempts on my life were when he was still reckless, still angry enough to be stupid. Now he's smarter. More patient. He undermines my business, steals my clients, targets the people I care about."

"Like Sophia?"

His eyes sharpened. "What about Sophia?"

Nina realized her mistake too late. "I… she reached out. We had coffee a couple weeks ago."

"And you didn't think to mention this?"

"She just wanted to warn me. About you, about your world. She wasn't"

"She wasn't what? Trying to manipulate you? Turn you against me?" Adrian's voice went cold. "Sophia works for Marcus now, Nina. Has for the past six months. Whatever she told you was designed to create exactly this doubt, fear, distance between us."

Nina's stomach dropped. "She works for him?"

"She took a position at one of his subsidiary companies. Claimed it was the only job she could find after our arrangement ended, but I know better." He pulled out his phone, showing her a photo Sophia at what looked like a company party, standing close to Marcus Whitmore, both of them smiling. "She's been feeding him information about me for months. And now, apparently, about you."

"I didn't tell her anything important. Just that we were together, that things had gotten real" Nina's hands went cold. "Oh god. She asked about your business. About where your money comes from. I didn't answer, but…"

"But now Marcus knows you're asking questions. Which means he'll either try to recruit you or remove you as a factor entirely." Adrian's phone buzzed with an incoming call. He glanced at it, then silenced it. "I need to increase your security. Full detail, no arguments."

"Adrian"

"This isn't negotiable anymore." His voice was hard, the businessman back in control. "Marcus crossed a line when he put eyes on you. I won't let him cross another one."

The car pulled back up in front of Nina's building. She should get out, go back to her revision, try to salvage what was left of the night. But something kept her in her seat.

"What did Sophia say to you?" Adrian asked quietly. "In the coffee shop. What did she want you to believe?"

Nina met his eyes. "That you'd choose your empire over me. That when the time came, I'd be expendable."

"And do you believe her?"

It was the same question he'd asked the night they'd first crossed the line from fake to real. Are you sure this is what you want? Do you trust me? But this time, with Marcus's shadow looming and Sophia's warnings fresh in her mind, the answer felt heavier.

"I want to believe you'd choose me," Nina said carefully. "But I also understand that your empire is everything you've built. Everything you've protected for twelve years against someone who wants to tear it down. So if it came down to it…" She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"If it came down to it," Adrian said, his voice low and fierce, "I'd burn the whole thing to the ground before I let Marcus hurt you. That's the truth, Nina. Whether you believe it or not."

He leaned forward, kissing her with an intensity that felt like a promise and a goodbye all at once. Then he pulled back, opening the car door.

"Go inside. Lock your door. Tomorrow, you'll meet your new security detail. They'll be discreet, but they'll be thorough." He touched her face gently. "I meant what I said. No regrets. But I also meant what I said about keeping you safe. Even if that means you hate me for being overbearing."

Nina slid out of the car, then turned back. "Adrian? Those attempts on your life. How close did they come?"

His expression was unreadable. "Close enough that I stopped believing in luck and started believing in preparation."

The car pulled away before she could respond, leaving her standing on the empty street at three in the morning, wondering what she'd really gotten herself into.

Back in her apartment, Rachel was awake, standing in the kitchen in her pajamas with a concerned expression.

"I saw you get in that car," she said without preamble. "Please tell me that wasn't who I think it was."

"It was Adrian."

"At three AM? Nina…"

"I know." Nina slumped against the counter. "Rachel, I think I'm in real trouble. Not relationship trouble. Actual, potentially dangerous trouble."

So she told Rachel everything about Marcus, about the surveillance, about Sophia working for the enemy and the attempts on Adrian's life years ago. Rachel listened with growing alarm.

"You need to end this," Rachel said when Nina finished. "Today. Now. This isn't some romantic drama, Nina. This is your actual safety."

"I know."

"Do you? Because you're standing in our kitchen at three in the morning after a secret car ride with a man who just admitted people have tried to kill him, and you don't look like someone who's planning to run."

Rachel was right. Nina should be scared. Should be packing her bags and calling lawyers to get out of the contract. Should be protecting herself and her future and everything she'd worked so hard for.

But all she could think about was the look in Adrian's eyes when he'd said he'd burn it all down for her.

"I think I'm falling in love with him," Nina whispered.

"Oh, honey." Rachel pulled her into a hug. "That's the worst possible thing you could have said."

Nina knew. She knew it was foolish and reckless and possibly suicidal to love someone like Adrian Voss. But knowing something and being able to stop it were two very different things.

Her phone buzzed with a text. Adrian again.

I'm sorry for tonight. For all of this. But I'm not sorry for us. Get some sleep. We'll figure this out.

Nina looked at the message for a long time before responding.

No regrets. Remember?

His reply came instantly: No regrets.

As Nina finally crawled into bed, she wondered if they'd both still feel that way when Marcus Whitmore made his next move.

And whether they'd survive it when he did.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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