Chapter 25

Brianna’s POV

I sat still, confusion settling heavily in my chest as I watched Adrian end the call. Adrian hangs up, his face etching with a seriousness that replaced the easy look he had merely seconds prior.

“Is everything alright?” I questioned again, suddenly growing nervous with every passing look in his face. The unease continued to creep up in me with every second he doesn’t answer.

He doesn’t respond. Instead, Adrian sits up, holding me up still. His hands slid firmly around my waist, lifting me effortlessly as he rose to his feet with me in his arms.

Instinctively, my hands curled around his neck for balance, my pulse quickening for reasons that had nothing to do with what we’d been doing moments ago.

When he gently placed me back on the floor, my bare feet met the ground and I immediately stepped back, searching his face.

“What’s wrong, Adrian?” I asked again, my voice lower now. “Is Emily okay?”

That was the only thing that came to mind at his serious and cold expression.

He shook his head, His hands came to rest on my shoulders, gripping lightly but firmly enough to keep me still. Then he bent slightly, bringing us eye to eye, his grey stare locking onto mine with a seriousness that made my stomach drop.

“Baby, don’t panic, but—”

Contrary to his disclaimer, panic immediately began clawing its way up my throat. “Adrian…”

“Your father is downstairs, and he is very pissed off.”

I blinked, “That’s it?”

Adrian frowned slightly. “What do you mean, that’s it?”

“My father?” I let out a small breath, “Adrian, you said don’t panic like someone had died. You scared me for nothing.“

I had been bracing for something way worse. It was just my father downstairs. There was no red to panic or fear. I’d been trying to reach him for a while now but he wasn’t picking up. Maybe he came to check up on me.

Adrian’s expression didn’t soften the way I expected. “O…Kay. I’ll be heading down to see him now. You can just stay…”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why would I do that? I coming along.”

He had a weird expression that got panic rising in me once more. I asked carefully, “I feel like I should be asking—is there a reason I should panic?”

His brows lifted too quickly. “What? No….No, no, no, no. Of course not.”

“Adrian.” I warned.

He dragged a hand down his face, “I just mean…” he started, reaching for his shirt from the floor. “I don’t know. I just don’t want him upsetting you. That’s all.”

I folded my arms, watching him pull the shirt over his head. “My father doesn’t really upset me.”

Adrian muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, that’s because you don’t know.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly. “Absolutely nothing.”

He was being extremely suspicious and it concerned me.

Still, I brushed it off and reached for my own clothes in the wardrobe, dressing quickly while my mind ran through possible reasons my father could be here. Maybe he was just here to see me.

Adrian’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Baby, Are you really sure you want to come downstairs with me?”

I looked up. He stood by the bed now, fully dressed, watching me with that same strange caution.

“You know,” he continued, “I can just tell him you’re not home. You can stay here, and I’ll handle the rest.”

I frowned. “No. Why would I do that? It’s just my father.” I questioned. “He might just be here to see me.”

I paused.

“I’d like to see him.”

Adrian held my gaze for a long second, like he was debating whether to argue.

Then, finally, he nodded once. “Okay,” he said quietly. “Alright. No problem.”

When we got downstairs, with Adrian spearheading the entrance, I quickly realized why he had asked me not to panic.

My father stood from across the room, his presence heavy and brooding. He looked like nothing I’d never seen before, in all the years I’d lived at the Stewart mansion.

His eyes were red rimmed with fury I could only hope weren’t directed at me. I don’t hope for long though.

His face was hard, furious in a way I had never seen directed at me before. His glare landed on Adrian first—sharp, full of accusation.

Before I could even land the last step on the stairs, his gaze cuts to me sharp and unblinking. His mouth turned in spiteful tilt, the view making my heart beat erratically, petrified and frozen to the spot.

And suddenly, I was on the brink of the very panic Adrian had warned me against.

“Father..,” I whispered quietly.

“Don’t,” he snapped, the word cutting through the room like glass.

I froze.

He took a step forward, pointing at me with shaking fingers, his voice rising with every word.

“Did you tell your husband to do this? Huh? Did you send him? Was all of this your plan?”

Adrian watches for a while, his eyes hard with anger before stepping in. His frame blocks my line of sight, stopping my father from advancing further to me.

If he didn’t in that moment, I really couldn’t say for sure if Father wouldn’t have landed a slap on my cheeks.

“Father,” I started, peering at him from Adrian’s back. “I swear, I didn’t do anything. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“Your husband has Emily in custody, for days now. He even had the guts to threaten me,” He thundered. “Take a look!”

Just then, from the corner of my eyes, I find a brown paper file in his hands. He waves It between us.

My blood ran cold.

I turned sharply toward Adrian, but he was silent, standing beside me like a wall, unreadable.

“Adrian…” I whispered.

My father laughed bitterly.

“Father, I..” I moved away from Adrian’s back, “I had no idea about Emily. I’d been trying to call you all. No one responded.”

His glare at me was unmistakeable, “Don’t call me father anymore,” he barked. “This is what I get for taking you in, huh? You think I raised you for this? To turn against your own family?”

Tears rimmed the edge of my eyes. My heart thudding painfully in my chest at his statement.

Before I could speak, Adrian’s voice cuts in. “I suggest you watch how you speak to my wife,” his voice ordered.

My father turned to him instantly, fury burning brighter in his eyes, but Adrian didn’t so much as flinch.

He stood beside me like something unmovable—calm, controlled, dangerous.

Then his gaze cuts to me, taking in my distressed state.

And for the first time since we’d walked downstairs, the hard edge in his expression cracked.

I was so close to tearing up, my heart pinched in pain. I was being accused wrongfully for something I had no part in.

No wonder father hadn’t picked up, why the rest of my family hadn’t either. They thought I was the mastermind.

“I think it’s time you leave.”

“Barrett!”