Reality

**CHAPTER FIVE: ADRIAN**

The penthouse felt less like a home and more like a tomb made of glass and polished steel.

Adrian Cole slammed the heavy oak door of his study, the sound echoing through the cavernous suite with brutal finality. He didn't bother turning on the lights. The city lights below cast jagged, bleeding shadows across the floor, matching the chaotic storm raging inside his head.

He gripped the edge of the mahogany desk so hard his knuckles turned white, his breath coming in hot, ragged gasps.

*She’s gone.*

The words spun through his mind like a recurring nightmare. For three years, he had treated Aria like a ghost haunting his halls—an unwanted anchor chained to his ankle by his mother’s ruthless design. He had convinced himself that his coldness was justified, that her presence was nothing more than a corporate leash meant to keep him submissive to Evelyn’s syndicate board.

He had hated her for it. Or, God help him, he had tried to.

Instead, she had simply vanished, leaving behind nothing but a neatly signed set of divorce papers and a chillingly empty closet. And in the agonizing silence left in her wake, the truth had finally clawed its way to the surface—a truth he had been too arrogant, too blind to see.

His hatred for Aria had never been about her. It had been a shield against his own mother. Evelyn had engineered the marriage to control him, using Aria as collateral, turning an innocent woman into a pawn in a game Adrian hadn't asked to play. But while Adrian directed his misplaced fury at the quiet, enduring girl who made his tea and mended his shirts, Aria had quietly suffered under the weight of his cruelty—until the day she finally broke free.

The sharp, insistent buzz of the intercom shattered the suffocating stillness of the room.

Adrian didn't move for a long moment, his chest heaving. Then, snatching up the receiver, he pressed the button, his voice a low, lethal snarl.

"If this is security, tell them I'm not taking visitors—"

*"Expecting someone else, Adrian?"*

The smooth, chillingly aristocratic voice froze the blood in his veins. Sophie.

Before Adrian could bark a refusal, the private elevator chimed, the doors sliding open to reveal his long-time socialite girlfriend stepping into the penthouse as if she owned the place. She wore a tailored red coat, her lips curved into a triumphant, possessive smile that made Adrian’s stomach turn.

"You shouldn't be here, Sophie," Adrian said, stepping out of the study and into the dimly lit hallway, his voice dropping into a dangerous register. "Get out."

Sophie laughed, a light, melodic sound that grated against his raw nerves. She walked toward him, her heels clicking sharply against the hardwood floor, stopping just inches away. She reached out, her manicured fingers trailing up the lapel of his rumpled suit jacket.

"Oh, come now, darling," Sophie purred, tilting her chin up to look at him through heavy lashes. "I heard the news. The little nobody you were forced to marry finally packed her bags and ran away. You should be celebrating. The penthouse is finally yours alone. We can finally—"

"Don't touch me," Adrian snarled, his hand shooting out to grip her wrist, knocking her fingers away with a violence that made her gasp.

Sophie stumbled back, her eyes flashing with sudden shock and indignation. "Adrian! What has gotten into you? For months you couldn't stand the sight of her! You treated her like dirt, exactly like we planned—"

The air left Adrian’s lungs. Everything in the room seemed to tilt sideways.

He stared at Sophie, the horrifying weight of her words crashing down on him like a tidal wave.

*"Like we planned."*

"What did you just say?" Adrian whispered, stepping forward until he loomed over her, his eyes burning with a dark, terrifying fury that made Sophie shrink back.

"I... I just meant—" Sophie stammered, her composure cracking as she stared up at his face. "Everyone knew you hated her—"

"No," Adrian interrupted, his voice dropping into a deadly, gravelly whisper that shook with suppressed rage. He gripped her upper arm, his fingers digging in with enough force to bruise. "You said *'like we planned.'* You knew about the marriage. You knew what Evelyn did."

"Adrian, you're hurting me—"

"Did you know?" he roared, the sound tearing from his chest, rattling the glass panes of the hallway. "Did you know that my mother chained an innocent woman to this house just to break me? Did you use that to poison my head against her every single day?"

Sophie’s eyes darted wildly, the mask of the untouchable socialite completely shattering under the sheer terror of his gaze. "She was beneath you, Adrian! I was just trying to protect what we—"

"Get out," Adrian whispered, his voice trembling with a rage so absolute it terrified even him. He shoved her back toward the elevator doors, his chest heaving. "If you ever step foot in this building again, I swear to God I will dismantle everything your family owns brick by brick. *Get out!*"

Sobbing in panic, Sophie pressed the elevator button, scrambling backward into the car as the doors slammed shut, cutting off her terrified face.

Adrian stood alone in the hallway, the silence rushing back in, heavier and more suffocating than before. His hands were shaking. He looked down at the empty space where Aria used to stand, the realization hitting him with the force of a physical blow.

She was gone because of his cruelty. Because of his mother’s manipulation. Because he had spent three years breaking the only person who had ever truly looked past his cold exterior.

Adrian spun around, grabbing his car keys from the entry table, his jaw clenched so hard it ached.

He didn't care where she had gone. He didn't care how deep she had buried herself to escape him. He was going to tear the city apart until he found her.

And if she thought she could just walk away from him forever, she was about to learn just how relentless a desperate man could be.