Chapter 39: Closing In

Adrian

The text lights up my screen at 2:13 p.m.

I’m flying home monday, I’ll be there for late afternoon. If you fly back Monday or Sunday  you will find me at my place.

It’s not much.

But it’s everything.

I read it over and over until the words burn into the back of my eyes.

She’s coming back and basically told me she would be there and I was ok to go over. .

She hasn’t blocked me again .

She hasn’t told me to fuck off.

And that means there’s still hope.

I need to be in Denver when she lands.

I’m still staring at her message when my phone rings—private line.

“Adrian Reed ?”

“Yes?”

“This is Dr. Patel from diagnostics. We have your toxicology results.”

My breath catches.

“Your bloodwork confirmed the presence of midazolam.”

Midazolam. A sedative. Powerful. Fast-acting. Memory-altering.

“So I was drugged ?”

“It appears so. The dosage wasn’t enough to cause a blackout on its own, but it certainly could have impaired judgment and motor function. Especially combined with alcohol.”

I grip the phone tighter, anger flooding my chest like gasoline.

Bianca.

That bitch.

She set me up as I suspected .

I end the call and grab my coat, already dialing the florist on the way to the car.

“One hundred red roses,” I say. “Deliver them to Selene Dawson’s apartment Monday . 5 p.m. sharp.”

“Any message?”

I pause.

Yes.

I love you. I’m coming home. – A

At the Duty Free , I buy her favorite perfume—Narciso Rodriguez, the black bottle. And a pair of delicate diamond-drop earrings that sparkle like the first time she ever looked at me with trust.

By the time I board the flight, my hands are shaking.

But not with fear.

With resolve.

She’s coming back to Denver.

And I’ll be there—waiting.

Not just to explain.

But to fight for us .

I get to Denver late in the evening and choose to go to Jonathan and Marge , they are still up so we sit and talk for a bit and I tell Jonathan about the results .

“Selene comes back Monday, what’s your plan ? Are you going to see her “, he asks .

“Yes I know, she texted and told me that’s why I’m back so soon , I need to be here so I can see her as soon as she gets home and sort things out with her. I couldn’t wait in Cali , I had to come back.”

Selene

The sheets are tangled between our legs.

John is still half-asleep, one hand draped possessively across my waist, his chest rising and falling against my back.

My thighs ache—in the best possible way. My skin still hums from the way he let me take control last night. No resistance. No ego. Just hunger and total submission.

It was… intoxicating , ti yield that much power over such a powerful Alpha male . .

I shift slightly, and he groans softly behind me, tightening his arm around my waist and nuzzling my neck.

“You’re dangerous, you know that?” he mumbles, voice low and rasped from sleep.

“So I’ve  been told.” I laugh .

He pulls me closer, lips brushing behind my ear. “You could ruin me and I’d thank you for it.”

I turn over, and he cups my face, studying me. “You’re still thinking about him.”

It’s not an accusation. It’s a statement. Quiet. Bare.

I nod. No point in lying.

His thumb strokes my cheek.

“I won’t pretend to assume that this is easy for you,” he says. “But I’m not going to pretend either about the way I feel.” He pauses. “I want you. I want all of you. And I’ll do whatever it takes to have you.”

My breath catches.

“I mean it, Selene. I don’t care how long it takes. Or how hard it gets. I’ll fight for you. Even if it means fighting him.”

I don’t know what to say.

Because part of me still feels tangled up in Adrian’s mess.

But another part—aching, electric, alive—wants to see what happens if I let John fight.