The warning signs came too late.
The injunction hit first—freezing one of Adrian's core subsidiaries overnight. Then the leak followed. Carefully curated. Perfectly timed. Headlines framed it as scandal, not strategy.
Adrian stared at the screen, unreadable.
"They're forcing your hand," I said quietly.
"Yes," he replied. "Marcus never plays to win. He plays to ruin."
By noon, the board demanded an emergency session. By evening, sponsors were threatening withdrawal. The empire Adrian had spent years controlling was buckling—not from incompetence, but from precision sabotage.
And I was the pressure point.
"They want you gone," he said flatly once the calls ended. "They think removing you stabilizes me."
My chest tightened. "And does it?"
He turned to me slowly, eyes dark with something dangerous. "No. It destroys me."
Silence pressed in, heavy and sharp.
"I won't be the reason you lose everything," I said, voice shaking despite myself. "If stepping away—"
"Stop," he cut in. "You don't get to sacrifice yourself to protect me."
"This is bigger than us."
"No," he said quietly. "This is exactly about us."
He paced once, hands clenched, control cracking. "Marcus wants me to choose power over you. To prove I haven't changed."
"And if you don't?" I asked.
"Then I burn what's left of the structure he understands."
Fear flickered through me—not of him, but for him. "That could end you."
He stepped closer, resting his forehead against mine. "I already told you. I won't survive going back to who I was."
My breath hitched.
The call came just after midnight.
Marcus Hale's voice was smooth, amused. "You're running out of time, Adrian. Choose stability—or choose her. Publicly."
Adrian didn't hesitate. "You don't get to dictate my life."
Marcus laughed. "You always were sentimental. That's why you'll lose."
The line went dead.
I looked at Adrian, heart pounding. "What are you going to do?"
He cupped my face, thumb brushing my cheek with fierce tenderness. "I'm going to end this. Not as the man he expects—but as the man you believe in."
And in that moment, I knew the breaking point wasn't the threat.
It was the choice Adrian Blackwood was about to make.
One that would either cost him his empire—
Or redefine power forever.