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Passion and Rose
Chapter Two
The black Veylor car slid to a stop at the gates of St. Helena Academy, its presence impossible to ignore. Students turned their heads, whispers sparking through the crowd as the sleek machine idled in the sunlight. Everyone knew that car, and even more, the man inside it.
When Adrian Veylor stepped out, the air shifted. He was dressed in a tailored black suit that seemed to absorb the light, his height towering, his expression carved from stone. His cold, steel-grey eyes scanned the courtyard, and silence rippled in his wake.
Kailah had just stepped out of class with her friends when she saw him. Her heart stumbled, not with joy, but with the same sharp fury she felt every time he appeared, unannounced, uninvited, as if he owned her.
Which, technically, he did.
"Kailah," Adrian's voice was deep, cutting through the whispers, meant only for her.
Every girl around her fell silent, their gazes darting between the beautiful seventeen-year-old and the terrifying man who had just summoned her.
Kailah stiffened, her jaw tight. "I can go home on my own."
Adrian's gaze didn't waver. "Get in the car."
Her friends exchanged nervous glances. No one ever disobeyed Adrian Veylor. But Kailah, with her fiery spirit, raised her chin stubbornly.
"You think you can just appear and drag me away whenever you want? You're not my father, Adrian."
"No," he said, his tone low, measured, almost dangerous. "I'm worse."
Gasps echoed from her friends. Adrian ignored them, his focus only on her. For a moment, Kailah saw it in his eyes—the storm he kept locked inside—and her heart betrayed her, racing in a way it never did with Nicholas.
But she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
"Devil," she spat, loud enough for him to hear.
Adrian didn't flinch. He simply opened the car door and waited, his broad frame blocking the way out. It was not a question. It was not a request.
"Kailah," he repeated, this time softer, darker.
Her defiance trembled, but she forced herself to glare at him. Then, with a huff, she marched forward and slid into the car, her every movement laced with silent rage.
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For the first half of the ride, the silence was unbearable. Kailah pressed herself against the door, refusing to look at him, her fists clenched in her lap. Adrian sat beside her, calm, unreadable, his presence suffocating.
Finally, she snapped. "You think you can control me, lock me up in that golden cage of yours? I hate you, Adrian. Do you hear me? I. Hate. You."
His eyes flicked to her, and for a heartbeat, she thought she saw something crack in his expression. But it was gone as quickly as it appeared.
"You can hate me all you want," he said quietly, his voice a dangerous caress. "But you will still be mine."
Kailah turned away, blinking back frustrated tears. She wanted Nicholas. She wanted freedom. She wanted anything but this suffocating shadow of a man who ruled her life.
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When they arrived at the Veylor estate—a sprawling mansion of cold marble and towering walls—Adrian did something she didn't expect.
He locked her in.
Not with chains, not with visible force, but with guards at every exit, locked doors, and a silent command that no one disobeyed. For a week, Kailah was confined within his world of wealth and silence.
She shouted at him. She cried. She called him a devil, a monster, a heartless tyrant. But Adrian never once raised his voice. He never mentioned Nicholas, never wasted a breath on what he considered childish rivalry. While Kailah raged, Adrian worked—meetings, deals, empires expanding with the stroke of his pen.
And yet… every evening, without fail, he returned. He would find her pacing the halls like a caged bird, her eyes flashing fire at him. And though she never noticed, he always lingered just long enough to reassure himself that she was still there, still safe, still his.
One night, after another heated outburst, she shouted at him through the bars of her balcony.
"You don't love me! You don't even know what love is! You just want to control me, like one of your stupid businesses!"
Adrian's gaze locked on hers, and his voice was quiet, almost broken in its truth.
"I don't love women, Kailah. I only love you."
The words froze her. For the first time, Kailah saw not the devil, not the ruthless tycoon, but the boy who had once promised a child forever. And that realization terrified her more than his anger ever could.
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