CHAPTER 10: Big Massive Liar.

Adrian's POV

The loud click of the front door shattered the air between us and I quickly yanked myself back from Nirvana. The sudden loss of her body heat hit me hard, and I immediately turned my back to her to put distance between us. I dragged my hands through my hair frustratingly, gripping the roots tightly to force my racing pulse to slow down.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor almost instantly. Ronan was walking toward the kitchen, but the voice that preceded him was completely wrong. It was the flat and deadened voice he only used when he was handling the ugly side of our operations.

"I do not care if he begged," Ronan said, his words carrying clearly into the dark room. "Sink the car and get rid him."

I dropped my hands from my hair and turned around just as Ronan stepped into the entryway. He pulled a cheap plastic burner phone away from his ear and quickly shoved it into his trouser pocket. But Nirvana already saw it.

He stopped dead in his tracks and narrowed his eyes, immediately sensing the suffocating tension between Nirvana and me.

He let out a loud sigh, attempting to mask his suspicion by playing the exhausted businessman returning from a long day. He reached up, loosened his silk tie, and shrugged off his expensive suit jacket.

That was a massive mistake.

As the dark jacket slipped off his shoulders, the stark white of his dress shirt caught the dim light from the windows. Covering the entire left side of his ribs was a wet stain of dark crimson blood.

I saw Nirvana freeze out of the corner of my eye. Her mouth parted slightly, and she stared directly at the blood in pure shock. The questions were already forming rapidly in her head. I knew she was incredibly smart, and she knew corporate executives did not come home with burner phones in their pockets. Or with bloodstains.

I did not give her the chance to speak. I stepped directly into her line of sight and blocked her view of Ronan entirely. I glared at my best friend, shooting him a look of absolute fury for bringing this violent mess into the house where she could see it.

"We need to talk, Ronan. Now," I said.

My voice was a harsh and unforgiving bark, but it held the weight of a partner rather than a boss. I did not look back at Nirvana. "Go to your room, Nirvana."

I grabbed Ronan by the shoulder and shoved him toward the hallway. He slapped my hand away immediately, but he understood the urgency and kept walking toward the private study at the back of the house. I followed closely behind him and slammed the heavy oak door shut to cut off any chance of Nirvana overhearing us.

"What the hell is your problem?" Ronan snapped the second the door closed. He stepped into the center of the room, his anger flaring up to meet mine. But I knew he was not talking about the blood on his shirt. "What were you doing with my sister in the dark, Adrian? I saw the way you two were standing. You were practically on top of her."

"Do not try to turn this situation around on me," I fired back, stepping rcloser to me. I completely ignored his accusation and relied on aggression to bury my own guilt.

"You are getting sloppy. We made a deal when you brought her here. We swore we would never discuss the club’s business inside this house. We built this boundary to keep her out of it."

"I was not discussing club business," Ronan argued, his jaw clenching tight as he stood his ground.

"I heard you on the burner phone," I said, dropping my voice to a lethal and quiet register. "Sink the car and get rid of the him. You handled a body today, Ronan. You brought the filth of the streets right through the front door where she sleeps. What the hell are you thinking?!" I yelled.

Ronan ran a heavy hand over his face. He looked exhausted and cornered. "It was a damn emergency. A loose end from the docks tried to run his mouth to the police. I had to handle it personally. I did not plan on bringing it home, Adrian, but the call came through as I was pulling into the driveway."

"And the blood?" I challenged, pointing a hard finger directly at his chest. "Was that part of the corporate plan too? Did you plan on parading that in front of her?"

Ronan frowned, looking completely confused by my words. He glanced down at his chest to follow my pointing finger.

The moment he saw the stain, all the defensive fight drained out of his face and his eyes widened in realization.

"Shit," Ronan cursed, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. He grabbed the wet fabric and pulled it away from his skin as if it burned him. It was incredibly obvious he had no idea the blood had soaked entirely through his suit jacket. He had been running on pure adrenaline for hours.

"Shit is right," I said coldly, crossing my arms over my chest. "She saw it, Ronan. She was staring right at it before I pulled you out of that kitchen. She is not an idiot. She knows you are lying to her about the firm. She will definitely ask questions tomorrow morning. What will you say to her?"

Ronan walked over to the heavy leather chair behind the desk and gripped the back of it tightly. He stared at the floor, his mind working frantically to build a lie that would hold up under his sister's intense scrutiny.

"I will find something to say," Ronan muttered, his voice sounding strained. "I will tell her it was an accident at a construction site. I will tell her I spilled a bottle of wine. I will handle it."

"You better handle it," I warned him seriously. "Because if she starts digging into your lies, she will not stop until she finds the motorcycle club. And if she finds the club, she becomes a liability we cannot protect."

Ronan looked up from the floor. The panic over the blood faded, replaced by the hard and protective instinct of an older brother. He looked directly at me, his eyes narrowing into cold slits.

"I will handle my sister," Ronan said, his tone carrying a heavy and silent threat. "But you need to handle yourself. I saw the tension in that kitchen, Adrian. Don't behave like that with Nirvana again. You keep your distance from her. You are her professor, and you are my best friend. That is exactly where it ends."

My chest tightened painfully. A sharp spike of guilt drove straight into my ribs. I kept my face entirely blank and refused to let him see the truth hiding behind my eyes.

I could not tell him that I had been the one to cross the line tonight. I could not tell him that his sister was the one driving me to the absolute edge of my sanity. So I lied.

"Stop the delusions, Ronan," I lied smoothly, keeping my voice hard and dismissive to shut down his suspicion. "Nobody touched her. We were arguing about her reckless behavior on campus today. I was telling her to stay out of trouble. Face the problem that has just dropped into your lap right now. Clean yourself up and figure out your story."

Ronan stared at me for a long and heavy moment. He clearly wanted to push the issue. I could see the suspicion still burning in his eyes. But his ruined shirt and the body he just buried took immediate priority.

He let go of the leather chair. "I am going to take a shower and burn these clothes. I will sort it out."

I nodded and he walked past me. He pulled the door open and stepped out into the hallway.

I listened to his footsteps move toward the stairs and waited until the sound of his bedroom door clicked shut on the floor above me.

I was completely alone in the quiet study.

I let out a long and ragged breath and leaned my back against the solid wooden door. I raised both my hands and dragged my fingers roughly through my hair. I pressed the heels of my palms hard against my eyes until I saw bursts of color.

I was a big, massive hypocrite. And I was a liar.

Ronan trusted me with his life. He trusted me with his empire and his secrets. And I had just stood to his face and lied to him about the one thing he cared about most in this world. What type of a person was I? An asshole, definitely.

Nobody touched her. The lie left a bitter, awful taste in my mouth. I had tasted her skin. I had felt the desperate way she pulled me against her in the dark. She wanted me.

I dropped my hands to my sides, my chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. I had spent years building a reputation as a man of absolute control. I never let emotion dictate my actions or my loyalty. But standing here, with her lingering scent still messing with my head and the memory of her heat on my hands, the terrifying truth settled over me.

I was losing control, and I did not know how to stop it. How long would it be before my best friend realized the biggest threat to his sister was the man sworn to protect her?