Chapter 3

It was nearly one in the morning when I got back to the apartment.

The apartment belonged to Adrian.

Once we were officially together, he thought my building wasn't secure enough and insisted I move in.

I pulled out my suitcase and packed my clothes one by one.

The door suddenly opened. I heard the click of Chloe's heels first, then Adrian came in behind her.

He saw the suitcase on the floor and stopped short. "What are you doing?"

"Packing and leaving."

Adrian did not ask why. He held out his hand. "Give me the medical kit."

I didn't move.

He frowned. "Chloe twisted her wrist while filming your drill this afternoon. Bandage it for her."

When a bullet grazed my ear this afternoon, all Adrian said was that I should learn to duck next time.

Chloe merely twisted her wrist, and he had brought her into our home so I could bandage it.

When I ignored him, he said, "She spent the entire day arranging your drill. You should at least bandage her wrist."

"She had someone shoot at me and I'm supposed to thank her?"

Adrian snapped, "She only suggested switching to live rounds. The shooter made a mistake. Stop blaming everything on her."

I almost laughed. This was the man I had once trusted. Once, a tiny cut from a kitchen knife was enough to make him call the family doctor and half the staff. Now he wanted me to bandage the woman who had planned every attack that left me hurt.

Chloe leaned back against the sofa and let out a dramatic sigh. "Never mind. She probably thinks the whole world is bullying her now."

Adrian approached, visibly irritated, and pressed one hand on the suitcase lid. "Enough. Stop making a scene. From now on, the drills will take place at the estate. I'll supervise them myself. I won't let anyone hurt you."

I pushed his hand away. "There won't be a next time. I told you, we're finished."

When he saw I wasn't backing down, Adrian snapped, "If you leave, don't bother coming back."

With that, he went into the other room.

I was wheeling my suitcase out when Chloe stopped me, smiling. "Wait. I need to check. You can't take any Moretti property with you."

"Everything in there is mine."

She lunged for my suitcase. As we struggled over it, the case tore open and everything inside spilled across the floor.

She kicked each item aside as she searched. "Why so nervous? Did you actually hide something?"

I stared at the dirty footprints on my clothes and moved to stop her. Before I could, she suddenly fell to the floor and cried out, "I'm sorry. Please let me go."

A powerful shove sent me crashing into the door handle. Pain shot through me, and my head spun. I looked up and saw Adrian.

"Evelyn! She's hurt. When did you become this vicious?"

He scooped Chloe up and carried her away.

I lay on the floor for a long time. When the pain finally eased, I checked into the nearest hotel.

Early the next morning, I saw that someone had uploaded the drill videos online under the title "Evelyn's Annual Survival Training Collection".

I opened the post. It contained all twelve drill videos, and every comment mocked my reactions.

[The fifth one is the funniest.]

[My favorite is the one where she saw someone by her bed in the middle of the night.]

[Oh, I can't get enough of them! When is the thirteenth?]

[How could this poor woman compare to Ms. Castillo?]

Every comment mocked or insulted me. I closed the post and reached for my phone to contact my father.

A text from Adrian popped up. "Come get your ring."

My father had given me that ring on my eighteenth birthday. Whoever held it could move 30 percent of the Castillos' funds, an enormous fortune.

On the day we made our relationship official, I told him it was very important to me and asked him to keep it safe for me.

Now that I had decided to leave, I needed to get it back.