Chapter 98
Chapter 98
The morning came gray and thin, like the city was holding its breath. Elena sat on her couch, wrapped in a blanket, clutching a mug of coffee that had long since gone cold. The note lay open on the coffee table.
He’s not alone.
She’d read it a dozen times, maybe more. Each time, it seemed to change meaning — to twist, to grow heavier.
Her eyes darted toward the door again. The locks were still bolted. The chain was in place. But it didn’t make her feel safe. Not after what had happened last night.
The mask. The footsteps. The note slipped beneath her door.
It wasn’t her imagination anymore.
She considered calling Hale — but the thought turned her stomach. The detective had lied, twisted facts, vanished when she needed him most. And she couldn’t shake the unease that maybe the warning had been about him.
That left one person. The one man she both loved and feared.
Adrian.
She hated that his name was still the first thing her heart whispered when it needed comfort.
By noon, she gave up pretending she could handle it alone. She picked up her phone — the backup one she’d kept since the last time her messages were hacked — and texted him.
Elena: I need to see you.
Adrian: Where are you?
Elena: Home.
Adrian: Stay there. I’m coming.
She wanted to tell him no. To say she didn’t trust him anymore, that everything felt wrong. But the truth was, she didn’t want to be alone either.
And so she waited.
Rain began to fall again, light but steady, streaking the windows with silver lines. She sat in silence, jumpy at every sound — the hum of the fridge, the whisper of pipes behind the wall.
Then, a sharp knock.
Her heart jumped. “Adrian?”
“It’s me,” his voice called from the hall.
Elena hesitated. Her fingers hovered over the lock. Something felt…off. His tone was calm — too calm.
“Say something else,” she whispered.
A pause. Then: “The first night we met, you were talking to your coffee.”
The breath left her lungs. It was him.
She unlocked the door.
Adrian stood there, soaked from the rain, black coat dripping, eyes scanning her face before moving past her into the apartment. He looked exhausted — dark circles under his eyes, jaw tense.
“What happened?” he asked.
She told him everything — the masked figure, the footsteps, the note. He listened silently, pacing near the window, his expression unreadable.
When she finished, he said, “You shouldn’t have stayed here alone.”
“I didn’t know where else to go,” she snapped. “I couldn’t trust anyone.”
His jaw clenched. “You can trust me.”
“Can I?” she asked quietly. “Because every time I do, something terrible happens.”
Adrian’s gaze flickered — hurt, frustration, something else she couldn’t name. “You think I’d hurt you?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore.”
He exhaled slowly, running a hand through his damp hair. “Elena, someone’s playing with you. They want you to doubt me. That note — it’s meant to divide us.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You sound very sure of that.”
“Because I know what it feels like,” he said, stepping closer. “To be blamed for something you didn’t do. To have everyone believe the worst of you.”
She turned away, hugging herself. “You still haven’t told me everything. About your past. About your sister. About those nights you disappear.”
“I’ve told you enough to know I’d never hurt you,” he said. His voice softened. “Look at me, Elena.”
When she did, his expression broke her heart — that familiar mix of intensity and tenderness that had always undone her.
And for a moment, she almost believed him.
Until the lights flickered.
Once. Twice. Then out.
Elena froze.
Adrian’s head snapped toward the window. “Stay behind me,” he whispered.
The apartment sank into darkness. Rain hammered against the glass. Somewhere outside, a noise — faint, scraping metal.
Her breath hitched. “It’s them.”
Adrian moved quickly, pulling her behind the couch. “Stay low.”
A second later, the window shattered.
Glass exploded inward in a rain of shards. Elena screamed, covering her head as a figure in black climbed through the frame, face hidden behind that same smooth white mask.
“Run!” Adrian shouted.
The masked figure lunged, blade glinting in the dim light. Adrian met him halfway, tackling him into the coffee table with a crash. They struggled violently — fists, elbows, the flash of metal again.
Elena crawled backward, heart pounding so hard she could barely breathe.
“Adrian!”
“I said run!” he roared.
She hesitated — and that split second cost her. The attacker shoved Adrian off and turned toward her. She saw the knife, raised high.
Then Adrian was on him again. A flash. A grunt. A sickening thud.
The figure crumpled. The mask hit the floor and rolled across the wood, stopping at Elena’s feet.
She stared at it — at the blank, lifeless eyes staring back — and felt something inside her snap.
Adrian staggered up, chest heaving. Blood — his or theirs, she couldn’t tell — streaked his sleeve. He turned to her, eyes wild.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, speechless.
He grabbed her shoulders. “Elena, look at me. You’re safe. Do you understand? You’re safe now.”
She nodded, but her eyes were fixed on the body.
“Who—who was that?”
Adrian looked down. “I don’t know.”
“Then how did they find me?”
“I told you,” he said. “You’re being watched. They want to destroy everything between us.”
He pulled her into his arms. His heartbeat pounded against her cheek. “You’re okay,” he whispered again and again, like a mantra.
Elena let him hold her — partly because she wanted to believe, partly because she couldn’t stand on her own. But as her hands trembled against his chest, a new thought crept in.
It was too perfect.
The timing. The rescue. The way he’d arrived minutes before the attack — almost expecting it.
Her gaze slid to the broken window, the street below. No witnesses. No police. Just rain and silence.
Adrian brushed a strand of hair from her face. “You’re shaking.”
She looked up at him, voice barely a whisper. “How did you get here so fast?”
He blinked. “What?”
“You said you were coming. But it was—what—fifteen minutes?” She pulled back slightly. “You live across town, Adrian. Even without traffic—”
“I was nearby,” he said quickly. Too quickly.
“Nearby?”
He didn’t answer right away.
The silence between them stretched tight.
Finally, he said, “I’ve been watching your building since last night.”
Her stomach turned. “What?”
“I wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“That’s not protection, Adrian,” she said, stepping back. “That’s surveillance.”
“Elena—”
“Did you know this would happen?”
He reached for her hand. She jerked away.
“I saved your life,” he said, voice rising. “That’s what matters.”
Her mind raced. The shattered glass. The blood. The mask.
What if it was staged? What if he’d set it up — another manipulation, another way to bind her to him through fear and gratitude?
The thought horrified her — but it wouldn’t leave.
Adrian moved closer again, lowering his tone. “I would never hurt you. You know that.”
She stared into his eyes, searching for truth — and saw only exhaustion. Desperation. Something that might have been love. Or obsession.
Outside, the wail of a siren rose in the distance.
Elena exhaled shakily. “We have to call the police.”
His jaw tensed. “No.”
Her blood ran cold. “What do you mean, no?”
He looked away. “You can’t trust them. Hale will twist this, make it look like I killed him.”
Her voice trembled. “Then what are you suggesting?”
“Let me handle it,” he said softly. “Just this once. Trust me.”
Elena’s chest tightened. She wanted to. God, she wanted to. But when she glanced again at the body — at the mask — a terrible realization flickered in her gut.
What if there was no killer anymore?
What if Adrian had just invented one?
And what if saving her had been the cruelest act of control yet?
As the sirens grew louder, Adrian reached for her again. “Elena, please. Stay with me.”
She stepped back. Her voice was steady, but her hands shook.
“I’m not sure who just saved me, Adrian. But I don’t think I can thank you for it.”
He froze — the first crack of fear in his expression.
Then, without a word, she turned toward the door.
And this time, she didn’t look back.