The ride back from the gala was silent, except for the faint hum of the engine. Elena sat rigidly on one side of the car, staring out at the blur of city lights, while Adrian reclined with his usual composure.
Her fingers twisted the ring on her hand, the diamond gleaming mockingly under the streetlights. Every whisper from the ballroom replayed in her head. Convenient. Temporary. A strategy.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.
"You could've warned me," she said, her voice sharp.
Adrian glanced at her, brow slightly raised. "Warned you about what?"
"The stares. The questions. The way they looked at me like I was—" Her throat tightened. "Like I was some… charity project you picked up off the street."
Adrian's jaw flexed, though his tone remained even. "Did you expect them to welcome you with open arms? These are people who thrive on tearing others down. They would have found something to whisper about, no matter what you wore or how you smiled."
"That doesn't make it easier," she snapped. "You paraded me out there like a pawn on a chessboard. Did you even see the way they looked at me?"
His gaze hardened. "I saw. And I stopped it before it went too far."
She blinked. "What are you talking about?"
Adrian leaned forward slightly, his voice lower, sharper. "The woman in silver—the one who asked what you do? She was testing you. If I hadn't cut her off, she would've twisted your words into ammunition and spread it through the room by midnight."
Elena's breath caught. He had noticed. He had protected her.
But her anger didn't fade. "That doesn't change the fact that you threw me into that room without a single warning. You think I can just… slip into your world and play the perfect role overnight? I'm not like them, Adrian."
For the first time, his composure cracked—just slightly. His eyes softened, almost imperceptibly.
"I know," he said quietly.
The honesty in his voice caught her off guard. She expected coldness, arrogance, anything but that fleeting moment of vulnerability.
Elena turned back to the window, her chest tight. "Then why me?" she whispered. "Why not someone who belongs there? Someone who knows how to handle the stares and the whispers?"
There was a long pause. When Adrian finally spoke, his tone was steady again, but there was something buried beneath it.
"Because I don't need someone who belongs there. I need someone who won't betray me the moment they smell blood in the water."
Her pulse quickened. "You really don't trust anyone, do you?"
His silence was answer enough.
The car pulled up in front of her apartment. Adrian stepped out first, then extended his hand. She hesitated, but took it, the contact sending an unwelcome jolt through her chest.
On the sidewalk, under the glow of the streetlamp, she pulled her hand free. "I'm not your pawn, Adrian. If I'm going to be in this with you, you're going to treat me like a partner."
His gray eyes locked on hers, unreadable but intense. Then, slowly, he nodded. "Very well, Elena. Partner."
The word lingered between them, heavier than the glittering diamond on her hand.
As she turned to go inside, she couldn't ignore the strange, unsettling truth:
For all her anger, for all her defiance, a part of her believed him.
And that part of her was the most dangerous of all.