Chapter 16 THE PROTECTION DEAL
POV: Selena
The knock on my door was sharp and urgent, not polite, not patient. It sliced through my thoughts like a blade.
I opened it before I could overthink, my heart already racing.
Adrian stood there, his jaw tight, his phone still in his hand. He looked like someone who had not slept, or someone who had slept but woke up angry anyway.
“We need to talk. Now,” he said.
I stepped back without thinking, letting him into the small office space where I had been pretending to work. My laptop was open, but I had been staring at the same numbers for ten minutes without seeing them. Ever since the call. Ever since the threat.
He shut the door behind him and turned to face me.
“You’re not going home,” he said.
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
“You’re not going back to your apartment,” he repeated, slower this time, like I was missing something obvious.
“I have work,” I said. “And I don’t live here.”
“That’s not the point.”
“It is the point,” I snapped, heat rushing up my neck. “You don’t get to decide where I live.”
His eyes darkened, not angry exactly, but controlled in a way that scared me more.
“You were threatened,” he said. “Because of this family. Because of what you found. That makes this my responsibility.”
“I didn’t ask for your responsibility.”
“No,” he said quietly. “But you have it anyway.”
I folded my arms, trying to steady myself. “I can take care of myself.”
“I know you think that,” he said. “But whoever called you knows where you work. They know your number. And if they know that, they can know more.”
Silence stretched between us.
“You’re in danger because of us,” he continued. “I won’t pretend otherwise. And I won’t gamble with your safety just to protect your pride.”
That hit harder than I expected.
“My pride is all I have,” I said.
He held my gaze. “Then let me protect that too.”
I looked away first.
Security arrived within minutes. Two men in dark suits who spoke softly and moved like they had done this many times before. I hated how real it suddenly felt. How fast my life had shifted from spreadsheets to surveillance.
I was escorted through a private exit and into a black car waiting behind the building. Adrian got in beside me, not touching, not crowding, but close enough that I felt his presence the entire ride.
Neither of us spoke.
The estate gates opened like something out of another world. Tall, silent, unyielding. I had been here before, but never like this. Not as someone being hidden.
The guest house sat away from the main building, elegant but restrained. It felt less like luxury and more like isolation.
“This is temporary,” Adrian said as we stepped inside. “Just until we identify the source of the threat.”
“And then what,” I asked.
“Then you decide what you want to do.”
That was a lie, and we both knew it.
A security guard took position outside the door. Another walked the perimeter. Adrian lingered in the doorway.
“I’ll have someone check on you every hour,” he said.
“I’m not a child.”
“I know.”
He hesitated, then added, “If anything feels wrong, anything at all, you call me. No matter the time.”
I nodded.
He left, and the door clicked shut behind him.
The silence was worse than the noise.
I sat on the edge of the bed, my phone in my hands, staring at the screen. The image of my mother at work burned behind my eyes. The message. The money. The reminder that someone was watching.
I did not cry. I refused to.
I paced instead. Counted steps. Checked windows. Locked doors I knew were already locked.
When night fell, I forced myself to sleep.
I woke to a sound I could not place at first.
A sharp crack.
I sat up, heart pounding.
Another sound followed. Softer. Closer.
Glass.
My breath caught. I slid out of bed slowly, every nerve screaming. The light from the hallway spilled faintly under the door. I did not turn it on.
The sound came again, unmistakable now. The scrape of something against the window.
Someone was trying to get in.
I backed away, my foot brushing against the chair. It scraped the floor, loud in the silence.
The sound outside stopped.
For one terrifying second, everything was still.
Then the glass shattered.
I screamed.
The door burst open at the same moment. Security flooded the room, shouting commands, weapons raised. I collapsed against the wall, shaking so hard my teeth rattled.
A figure bolted away from the window, disappearing into the darkness outside.
Adrian was there seconds later, his face pale, eyes wild.
“Are you hurt?” he demanded.
I shook my head, unable to speak.
He pulled me into his arms without asking. I froze for half a second, then clutched his jacket like it was the only solid thing left in the world.
“I told you,” he murmured. “I told you.”
Sirens echoed in the distance. Radios crackled. The night was no longer quiet.
When he finally pulled back, his hands were still on my shoulders.
“This ends now,” he said. “Whoever is doing this crossed a line.”
I believed him.
And that scared me more than the broken glass.