Chapter 2

I look at Celine, but before I can answer, hurried footsteps sound from the end of the corridor.

Clearly, this is the moment she has been waiting for.

But when she speaks, her voice is soft, wounded.

“Miss Vivian, did I do something wrong again?”

Adrian strides toward us.

“Celine, what are you doing here? I told you to wait downstairs.”

Celine’s shoulders shrink in slightly, and she hugs the files tighter against her chest.

“I was just afraid Miss Vivian might misunderstand.”

“You said you were taking me to the private club tonight. I didn’t know whether I should say yes, so I came to ask her first.”

The coldness in Adrian’s expression softens almost instantly.

“Since when do I need her permission to take someone out?”

Celine bites her lip and says nothing.

With her head lowered, she looks as if I have cornered her with nowhere left to go.

Adrian turns to me, and there is already no patience left in his voice.

“Hasn’t Celine shown you enough respect? Even before going out with me, she knew to come and ask you first.”

“And you? You can’t even let go of a joke.”

I look at him, and suddenly, the whole thing feels absurd.

In his mouth, the fact that I was nearly removed from the Bellini family, nearly stripped of my authority, my connections, and every protection I had built for myself, is nothing more than a joke that should be brushed aside.

And if I refuse to accept it with a smile, then I am the unreasonable one.

I let out a low laugh.

“Respect?”

“In the past six months, how many times has she interfered with my accounts in your name? Did you not see that?”

“She sits in your car in front of everyone. She walks in and out of your office. She fixes your tie for you. Now she even wants to follow you to your private parties.”

I lift my eyes to his.

“And you call that respect?”

“Adrian, do you really not know what she wants?”

“Or have you known all along that she likes you, and simply never bothered to stop her?”

The color drains from Celine’s face.

The next second, her eyes turn red.

“Mr. Adrian, I didn’t...”

Her voice trembles with perfect timing.

“I only wanted to help take a little of the burden off your shoulders. If Miss Vivian minds this much, I’ll just keep my distance from you from now on.”

Adrian’s face turns completely cold.

“Enough.”

He steps in front of Celine, shielding her with his body, as if I am the aggressive outsider here.

“Vivian, when did you learn to slander people like this?”

Something heavy presses against my chest.

The way he protects her is too natural.

So natural it feels as if he has done it a thousand times before.

Adrian looks at me and suddenly lets out a low laugh.

There is no warmth in it at all.

“Vivian, if you insist on thinking so badly of her, then nothing I say will matter.”

He looks at me, his voice as cold as a sentence being handed down.

“If you can’t even tolerate one assistant by my side, then maybe the Bellini family engagement really does need to be reconsidered.”

My chest tightens, slowly and painfully.

I never imagined there would come a day when Adrian would put our engagement on the negotiating table.

As if it is nothing more than a partnership agreement he can withdraw at any time.

He says it needs to be reconsidered.

Is that a warning?

Or has he already decided, for Celine’s sake, that I am the one who should be pushed out?

I stand there and look at him in silence.

For a brief second, Adrian’s eyes waver.

But only for a second.

Soon, he turns his face away and refuses to look at me.

I know he remembers too.

He remembers the nights we dragged each other out of gunfire.

He remembers the day he placed the engagement ring on my finger in front of both our families’ elders.

He remembers telling me that the only Donna of the Bellini family would ever be me.

But now?

Now he has turned that ring into leverage to force me to lower my head.

The man in front of me is no longer the man who once stood between me and danger.

All his patience, his trust, and his favoritism have already gone to Celine.

“You climbed up from the bottom too. You should know better than anyone how hard it is for a woman to gain a foothold in this family.”

Adrian looks at me, his voice so cold it feels unfamiliar.

“Back then, you were falsely accused of leaking intelligence too. The Council almost drove you out.”

“You know exactly what it feels like to be targeted. So why are you making things so hard for Celine now?”

“Thankfully, she’s soft-hearted enough not to hold this against you.”

“Apologize to her, and this matter ends here.”

I look at Adrian.

Then I look at Celine, hiding behind him.

And all at once, every desire I have to argue disappears.

I withdraw my gaze and say calmly,

“I won’t apologize.”

The last trace of warmth sinks out of Adrian’s eyes.

“Are you really going to let things get this ugly?”

For some reason, I almost want to laugh.

I am the one whose name was submitted for purge.

I am the one whose authority was violated.

I am the one being forced by my fiancé to bow my head to the person who started all of this.

And yet in his eyes, I am the one refusing to let it end.

Softly, I say,

“Adrian, I will never apologize to her.”

His jaw tightens, as if I have finally used up the last of his patience.

“Fine.”

“Then keep clinging to that pride of yours.”

With that, he turns to Celine.

“Let’s go.”

Celine immediately lowers her head and follows him.

When she passes by me, her steps pause for the briefest moment.

On that pale, tear-streaked face, a faint smile appears.

Just for an instant.

So light it is almost as if it was never there at all.