Chapter 88 Adrian’s Multiple Obsessions
Chapter 88 Adrian’s Multiple Obsessions
Adrian hadn’t slept.
Not properly.
The apartment smelled like stale liquor and something burnt he couldn’t remember cooking. Bottles littered the counter, the floor, the side table beside the couch. Some empty. Some half-finished. None of them helping anymore.
He sat on the edge of the couch with his phone in his hand, shoulders slumped, tie loosened and forgotten around his neck like an afterthought.
The screen glowed.
Evelyn.
Not live. Not reachable.
Photos.
The same ones he’d been staring at for hours.
Her profile shot from months ago. The one she’d hated because she thought it made her look tired. A candid someone had taken at a charity event. Her smile polite, distant. Already pulling away, even then.
He zoomed in, thumb shaking slightly.
“She was fine,” he muttered to the empty room. “She was fine with me.”
He took another drink straight from the bottle and winced as it burned down his throat.
The ache in his chest didn’t fade.
His message thread with her was open.
Unread. All of them.
He scrolled.
Long paragraphs. Short apologies. Angry accusations he’d typed and deleted and typed again. Voice notes he’d recorded and erased before sending. Missed calls stacked one after another like proof of something he refused to name.
His last message blinked at him, still unsent.
Just talk to me. Please. One meeting. I deserve that.
Adrian stared at it, jaw tight.
“You owe me,” he whispered. “After everything I did for you.”
He hit send.
The silence afterward was immediate and crushing.
No typing indicator.
No response.
His hand shook as he locked the phone, then unlocked it again seconds later.
Still nothing.
The glass in his hand slipped slightly, sloshing amber liquid onto the rug. He didn’t notice.
He stood abruptly and paced, dragging a hand through his hair.
“She thinks she’s safe,” he said aloud, voice rising. “She thinks hiding behind him changes things.”
Damien.
The name felt like a splinter.
Adrian’s phone buzzed suddenly.
His heart jumped.
But it wasn’t Evelyn.
His phone buzzed.
Adrian didn’t answer at first.
It buzzed again.
His cousin’s name.
He scoffed and finally picked up.
“What.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“So,” he said, voice low, controlled, “did you call to check on me…”
A pause.
“…or to enjoy how easily you slid into my seat?”
The words tasted bitter.
Each syllable reminded him how easily he’d been replaced, how the world moved on without him.
“If this is your way of reminding me you’re there and I’m not,”
he added quietly,
“you’ve made your point.”
“You haven’t left the apartment,” Marcus said. Not a question.
“Security says you turned them away again.”
Adrian took another drink. “I don’t need babysitters.”
“You’re suspended,” Marcus reminded him quietly.
“And right now, you’re the biggest risk to yourself.”
Adrian clenched his jaw. “I’m fighting.”
“For what?”
“For what’s mine.”
The word hung in the air, heavy and wrong.
Marcus’s voice hardened. “She is not property.”
Adrian’s eyes flicked to the photos again. “You didn’t see her with me. You don’t understand.”
“I understand obsession,” Marcus replied. “And I understand where it leads.”
Adrian’s laugh was low. “You think I’m the problem?”
“I think you’re one bad decision away from destroying what’s left of your life.”
That struck closer than Adrian wanted to admit.
He swallowed and reached for the bottle again.
“I won’t lose her,” he said.
Marcus’s voice sharpened. “You already did.”
Something in Adrian snapped.
“She’s with him,” Adrian said, voice tight.
“You didn’t see her.”
Marcus frowned. “See her how?”
“Marked,” Adrian snapped. “Not careless. Not accidental.”
He exhaled sharply.
“That’s not about desire. That’s about possession.”
Marcus shook his head. “You’re assuming intent.”
“No,” Adrian said. “I’m recognizing a challenge.”
“This is exactly what I’m talking about,” Marcus said. “You’re projecting. You’re filling in gaps with your worst thoughts.”
“No,” Adrian said. “I know what I saw.”
“He thinks standing near you makes him untouchable,” Adrian said quietly.
“That’s his mistake.”
Marcus stiffened. “Adrian. Listen to yourself.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” Adrian continued. “I just won’t play his game.”
His mouth curved into something cold.
“Evelyn doesn’t belong in Damien’s world. She never did.”
“Then step back,” Marcus urged. “Before you do something you can’t undo.”
Adrian’s gaze dropped to his phone again.
To Evelyn’s name.
“I just need to see her,” he said. “One conversation.”
“That’s not true,” Marcus replied. “You want control.”
Adrian’s fingers tightened.
“Be careful,” Marcus warned. “If you push this, if you go near Evelyn again, this stops being personal. You know what kind of man Damien is.”
Adrian smiled faintly. “It already is.”
The line went dead.
Adrian lowered the phone slowly.
The apartment felt too quiet again.
He opened the thread with Evelyn once more.
Typed.
Deleted.
Typed again.
Adrian leaned back against the counter, breathing hard.
His phone buzzed almost immediately.
Not from Evelyn.
A new number.
Unknown.
A single message appeared.
You’re not the only one watching her.
Adrian’s blood ran cold.
Another message followed.
Be careful which lines you cross.
He stared at the screen, heart pounding, the alcohol haze evaporating all at once.
For the first time that night, fear cut through the obsession.
Someone else knew.
Someone else was involved.
Adrian looked around the apartment as if the walls themselves might be listening.
His phone buzzed again.
This time, a photo loaded.
Blurry.
Taken from a distance.
Evelyn, stepping into a car.
Damien beside her.
Adrian’s breath hitched.
His grip tightened until his knuckles went white.
Whatever game this was,
He wasn’t the only one playing anymore.
And that realization?
Terrified him.