The office felt colder than usual that day. I tried to shake off the feeling, but every glance at the empty intern's desk reminded me of Daniel's abrupt disappearance. His nervous smile. His hesitant voice. The way he seemed genuinely human in a world that thrived on masks.
And then there was Adrian.
He didn't call me to the boardroom, didn't demand a report, didn't bark orders. He just… waited.
I could feel him even before I turned around. His presence lingered, a quiet weight behind me, like a shadow that refused to disappear. I almost laughed at myself for feeling nervous—he's my brother, my guardian. I've lived with him my entire life.
Almost.
"Seraphina," he said softly, not moving, just watching. "Do you know how dangerous it is to smile at strangers?"
I froze mid-step. His eyes, dark and steady, seemed to pierce right through me.
"It's just a smile," I said, forcing casualness.
He tilted his head. The faintest smirk touched his lips—unmistakably possessive. "They'll see it differently. They'll think you belong to them, not me."
I swallowed. Something in the way he said it made my stomach twist. I wanted to laugh, but it sounded hollow even to me.
Adrian had always been… exact. Calculated. Every word, every gesture had meaning. And lately, it felt like every meaning was directed at me.
I turned away, trying to busy myself with the reports on my desk, pretending the cold unease wasn't growing into something more tangible. But my thoughts kept drifting back to Daniel.
I remembered his nervous smile, how he'd fumbled with the coffee order when I accepted it—if only for a friendly chat. My heart squeezed. He wasn't dangerous. Not in any way.
Yet he was gone.
Adrian's fingers brushed my shoulder lightly as he passed by to leave the room. A brush too casual to seem deliberate, but deliberate enough to make my pulse quicken.
"Everything okay?" I asked, forcing lightness into my voice.
"Perfect," he said. His voice held no inflection, yet somehow, it filled the room entirely. "Just… keep your distance from men who don't belong to you."
I froze again, suddenly aware that I couldn't meet his gaze. He watched me quietly, the intensity in his eyes refusing to blink away.
I wanted to tell him I was fine, that Daniel's firing wasn't his fault—but the words got caught in my throat. Because deep down… I wasn't fine.
That night, at home, the mansion seemed too big, too quiet. The halls echoed with my own footsteps as I walked past familiar portraits of my parents, my brother, and me—or so I thought. I used to love walking these halls as a child, imagining I was untouchable. Safe.
Now, it felt like a cage.
Adrian's presence was in the air even when he wasn't there. Every room, every corner, every shadow seemed to whisper his name. My room—the one he helped decorate when I was ten—felt different somehow, smaller.
I sat on the edge of my bed and pulled out my laptop, pretending to bury myself in work. But my mind wasn't on reports or emails. It was on him. On the way his fingers had lingered on my shoulder, the quiet dominance in his tone, the way he seemed to know exactly what I was thinking even before I did.
And I hated that I was thinking about it.
I hated how a part of me had started to feel… watched, yes, but also… protected. And that protection was suffocating.
I closed my laptop abruptly and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. I had to get away from this feeling.
A soft knock at my door made me jump.
"Seraphina?" Adrian's voice, calm, quiet, but full of that weight that made my heart race.
"I—uh, I'm busy," I said, trying to sound firm.
The door creaked open just slightly. "Busy, hm? I don't like you busy without me knowing."
My pulse thumped painfully. The voice that once felt like comfort now felt like chains tightening around me. I wanted to tell him to leave. I wanted to slam the door. But somehow, I couldn't.
He stepped in, just inside the threshold, not fully entering. His dark eyes scanned the room, then rested on me. "Go to sleep, Seraphina. You need it."
"I'm not tired," I murmured.
"You will be."
And with that, he left, leaving behind a silence heavier than ever.
I pressed my hands to my face, trying to calm the storm inside me. Adrian wasn't a bad person. He's my brother. My protector.
But tonight, for the first time… I wasn't sure I wanted protecting.
The next morning, I made a decision.
I would apply for a position overseas. Anywhere. Away from his shadow. Away from the suffocating weight of being the girl he had raised, the girl he watched, the girl he deemed "his."
I didn't know how I'd get there. I didn't know what I'd do once I arrived. But I knew one thing: I needed air, distance, freedom—even if it was only a small taste of it.
Because the world I had lived in my whole life… no longer felt like mine.
It belonged to him.
And I was starting to remember that some cages, no matter how gilded, are still cages.