The past didn't arrive loudly.
It slipped in through old channels—sealed files reopened, names Adrian hadn't spoken in years resurfacing in quiet conversations. I noticed the shift before he said anything. He grew quieter. Sharper. Watchful.
"You're carrying something," I said one evening as he loosened his tie, movements deliberate but tense.
His eyes met mine in the mirror. "Someone reached out today."
My chest tightened. "Who?"
He hesitated. Just a beat too long.
"Marcus Hale," he said finally. "My former partner."
The name settled heavily between us.
"I thought you cut ties," I said.
"I did," he replied. "After he tried to use my company as leverage in a hostile takeover. I ended him professionally."
But not personally, the silence added.
"He's back," Adrian continued. "And he's aligning himself with people who don't care about legality."
I felt a chill crawl up my spine. "Is this about me?"
"Yes," he said without hesitation. "And about what you represent."
Later that night, I found a folder left open on his desk. Not secrets—memories. Old contracts. A younger Adrian, ruthless and untouchable, beside a man whose smile looked like ambition sharpened into cruelty.
Marcus Hale.
"You were different then," I said softly when Adrian entered the room.
"So was the world," he replied. "So was I."
"Do you regret it?"
He stepped closer. "I regret becoming someone who thought connection was weakness."
The truth in his voice made my chest ache.
The next morning, the message arrived.
You changed him. That makes you dangerous.
My hands shook as I handed the phone to Adrian.
He didn't read it twice.
"This ends now," he said quietly. "I won't let my past touch you."
"But what if confronting him costs you everything again?" I asked.
He cupped my face, eyes fierce and certain. "Then it costs me everything. But not you."
As he pulled me into his arms, I understood something terrifying and undeniable.
Marcus Hale wasn't coming for Adrian's empire.
He was coming for proof that love was still a weakness.
And Adrian Blackwood intended to prove him wrong.