CHAPTER 20

ADRIAN

I froze the second she moved. One moment Elena stood in front of me, the next she'd closed the distance and buried her face against my chest, sobs tearing through her like she had been holding it in for a very long time.

I hadn't seen it coming, not even close.

I'd handled hostile boardrooms. Threats. Blackmail. Grown men rattled enough to sweat through their shirts across a negotiating table. None of that had prepared me for a crying woman wrapped around my waist....a woman who wasn't even supposed to be real to me in any way that mattered.

So I did the only thing that felt right. I held her.

"It's okay," I said, though the words felt useless the second they left me. I didn't know if it was okay. I didn't even know what had happened. But she needed to hear something, so I kept saying it, patting her back slowly while she shook against me.

"I've got you."

She cried harder. I tightened my arms instead of loosening them. Whatever she'd seen out there had cracked something open in her, and I hated that I couldn't do a single thing about it beyond stand there and absorb the best I could.

I didn't know who she'd seen. Didn't know what memory had surfaced. Only that whatever it was had taken the ground out from under her all over again.

So I stayed. Kept patting her back, again and again, until her sobs thinned into something quieter and her breathing slowed against my shirt.

Then her weight shifted, heavier now, and I looked down.

Asleep. She'd cried herself to sleep standing in my arms.

Something about that landed harder than it should have.

I adjusted my hold carefully, then lifted her.... one arm under her legs, one supporting her back. She weighed almost nothing. I carried her into the room, laid her down, pulled the blanket over her, pushing her hair away from her face and turned to leave.

Elias stood in the doorway, watching, worry written all over his small face.

"Hey." I crouched slightly. "Why aren't you asleep?"

He pointed at Elena.

"She's fine."

He shook his head.

"No?"

Another shake, firmer this time. Then he walked straight past me and climbed onto her bed, sliding under the covers before I could get a word out.

"Elias." He ignored me completely. I crossed to the bed. "You can't stay in here."

He shook his head again, patted the empty space beside him, and looked at me like the matter was already decided.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

He nodded.

Of everything I'd expected out of tonight, my son refusing to leave his fake mother's bed hadn't made the list. But something in his face made saying no feel impossible.

I glanced at Elena, still and peaceful, not fighting anything for once, and exhaled.

"Fine."

I climbed in. Elias immediately settled against her side, then reached over and pulled my arm toward himself, clear about what he wanted. I wrapped it around him, and after a beat of hesitation, let my other arm settle around Elena too.

She shifted in her sleep, head coming to rest against my chest. Elias tucked in between us.

And there we were. The three of us, lying together like something out of an ordinary life neither of us actually had.

I stared at the ceiling. None of this was real.... not the marriage, not the family shape we'd accidentally formed in one bed. I wasn't supposed to want any of it.

I didn't hate it, though. That was the problem. I liked it more than I had any right to.

---

I barely slept. Eyes closed, opened, closed again.... every time, painfully aware of the two people breathing beside me.

By the time morning light started leaking through the curtains, I gave up trying and slipped out of bed. I stood there a second before turning back, and froze at what I saw.

Elias had both arms wrapped around Elena. She had one arm curled protectively over him. Peaceful, both of them, in a way that looked less like an arrangement and more like something that had always belonged together.

My chest tightened at the sight, and I didn't like how much I liked it. This was a contract. A temporary fix for a problem I'd created myself. So why did some part of me want to climb straight back in and wake up to exactly this every day?

I looked away and told myself I needed to clear my head. I needed to work out.

Thirty minutes later I was on the treadmill, pushing harder than I was supposed to, sweat soaking through my shirt while Elena's face kept surfacing behind my eyes no matter how fast I ran. I moved to the weights next. Lifted. Again. Again. My arms burned, and I welcomed it, hoping the pain might crowd out everything else.

It didn't. I could still feel her crying against me. Still seeing Elena and Elias curled together in that bed like a family that actually belonged to each other.

I dropped the weights and swore under my breath, dragging a hand down my face. Years spent building a life where nothing got to control me, and one woman had walked in and quietly dismantled the whole structure.

She was supposed to be a fake wife. So why did every part of me want to go back upstairs?

I didn't have an answer. I hated that more than the question itself.

I went back up, but not to the office. I made a decision instead... no work today.

"Cancel everything," I told Betty over the phone.

A pause. "Sir?"

"Everything."

"You have the meeting with...."

"It can wait."

"The company's...."

"Cancel it."

Silence, then a resigned, "Yes, sir."

I sent the household staff home for the day too. Today I wanted to handle things myself.

In the kitchen, I made breakfast....nothing much, just eggs, toast, fruit, pancakes, coffee, and whatever Elias actually liked, whatever I hope Elena liked. I stood looking at the finished plates for a second, faintly aware of how absurd this was. I had chefs on payroll. Assistants. An entire staff built to spare me exactly this kind of task. And here I was, cooking because Elena had cried herself to sleep in my arms the night before.

Apparently I'd lost my mind somewhere along the way and seemed fine with it.

I carried the tray upstairs. They were still tangled together when I opened the door, and I couldn't help the small smile that got through before I caught it.

I set the tray down and moved toward the bed. "Elias." Nothing. "Elena."

She stirred, mumbling something entirely incoherent.

"What?"

Another mumble, just as unintelligible. Somehow it was ridiculous and endearing at once.

"Elena." Her eyes opened slowly, blinking against the light until they found me.

"Adrian?"

"Morning."

She pushed herself up slightly, and I noticed the faint tear tracks still dried beneath her eyes. Before I could stop myself, I reached out and brushed my thumb over her cheeks.

She went still. So did I.

Her eyes widened. "Adrian...."

I realized what I was doing a beat too late. I pulled my hand back, but she was already staring at me, confused, caught somewhere between surprise and something else I couldn't figure out.

"What are you doing?"

I looked at my own hand, then at her, and found I didn't have a single answer ready.

Yeah, I thought. What am I doing?