The city felt different that morning—calmer, quieter, almost ordinary. But Adrian and I knew better. Ordinary had never existed in his world, not for him, and certainly not for me.
We returned to the penthouse in silence. The tension from the past days lingered, but it was a quiet, satisfied kind—the kind that comes after surviving fire.
Adrian moved around the apartment efficiently, checking locks, cameras, and screens. Then he stopped, his gaze settling on me. "You need to understand," he said, voice measured, "that safety isn't permanent. Not in this life."
"I understand," I said softly.
He took a deep breath, and for the first time since everything began, he looked… relaxed. Not casual—never casual—but present. His hand reached for mine, fingers intertwining naturally. "But that doesn't mean we can't have rules of our own now."
I raised an eyebrow. "Rules? After all the chaos?"
"Yes," he said firmly. "Rules that we set. Not contracts, not threats, not fear."
I smiled faintly. "And what would these rules be?"
He drew me closer, careful, deliberate, as if measuring the space between us. "First: honesty. Always. Second: trust. No exceptions. Third:… us."
"Us?"
"Yes," he said, voice soft but unwavering. "We decide together. No contracts. No fear. No threats dictating our lives."
I felt warmth spread through me, relief and hope mingling. "I think I can live with that," I whispered.
Adrian's gaze lingered on mine, intense and unreadable for a heartbeat. Then he smiled faintly—a dangerous, possessive, yet tender smile. "Good. Because I don't plan to let you go. Ever."
I leaned into him, letting his presence ground me. "Neither do I," I admitted.
The storm from the past weeks—the threats, the near attacks, the chaos—was behind us. For now.
But in this world of power and danger, "for now" was enough.
We had survived together, chosen each other openly, and rewritten the rules.
And as we stood there, hands entwined, the city stretching endlessly beyond the windows, I knew one thing:
In Adrian Blackwood's world, control and danger would never leave.
But neither would we—together.