Seraphina waited for Adrian to come home.

Midnight bled into 2 a.m., and the penthouse that once felt intimidating now felt like a cage. She paced the living room, replaying the messages, the threats, the way Adrian left — silent, jaw locked, Damian following him like a shadow.

She should have stopped him.

She should have gone herself.

She should have—

The elevator beeped.

Her breath caught.

Adrian stepped inside the penthouse.

Not the polished CEO.

Not the man who teased her with glances and soft touches.

This version was lethal.

His knuckles were bruised.

His shirt was splattered with someone else’s blood.

His eyes — flat, emotionless, a hurricane buried by control.

Damian followed behind him, forehead cut, expression unreadable.

Seraphina froze.

Adrian saw her — and something violent inside him shattered. He crossed the room in three long strides, grabbed her face with both hands, and kissed her like he had been drowning for hours.

She gasped into his mouth, fingers clutching his shoulders, trying to understand what was happening.

He pulled away abruptly, breathing hard.

“He won’t come near you again.”

His voice was calm. Too calm.

“Who?” she whispered.

His jaw flexed.

“Your mother didn’t come alone. She brought someone — a man who thought he knew things about you. About your past. About how to get to you.”

Her stomach dropped.

“What did you do?”

Adrian’s eyes flickered — not with guilt. With pride.

“I taught him what happens to people who threaten you.”

Her heart sank. “Adrian, you didn’t—”

“I did,” he said, no hesitation. “And I’d do worse.”

Terror ran through her — but not of him.

Of how far he’d go… for her.

“What exactly happened?” she forced out.

Damian answered first:

“He cornered Vivienne to threaten Seraphina. Adrian warned him to walk away. He didn’t. So—”

“Stop.” Seraphina pressed a hand to her mouth.

Adrian stepped closer, voice low, steady, terrifyingly sincere.

“I won’t apologize for keeping you safe.”

“Safe?” Her voice cracked. “Violence isn’t protection. It’s escalation.”

He flinched — barely — but she saw it.

“You don’t understand,” he growled, pacing away like he needed distance or he’d break. “He was going to expose things from your past. Use them against you. Destroy everything you’ve built, everything you’ve healed from. Threats like him don’t stop. They don’t negotiate. They don’t soften.”

He turned back, eyes burning.

“I will not lose you to someone like that.”

The room was too quiet.

She felt her heart slamming against her ribs.

“You’re not going to lose me,” Seraphina whispered.

But that wasn’t enough for him.

He stepped closer again, voice dropping into something raw and broken.

“You don’t know what I become without you.”

Something inside her chest twisted painfully.

“Adrian…” She took his hand. “You don’t have to destroy people to keep me.”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “I do. Because there are people who see you and think they can take you. Use you. Hurt you.” His grip tightened, voice trembling with barely restrained desperation. “And I won’t fucking allow it.”

Her breath caught at the intensity.

He looked at her like religion, war and home all at once.

“Tell me you’re scared of me,” he whispered — and she realized he already believed she was.

“I’m not scared of you,” she said softly.

He closed his eyes like the words physically hit him.

She rested her forehead against his cheek.

“What scares me is how far you’ll go for me.”

He exhaled sharply — almost a collapse.

“You’re the only thing I love enough to lose everything for.”

Her knees nearly gave out.

She touched his jaw, gentle — grounding him.

“Then don’t lose yourself. Not for me.”

His voice was wrecked.

“You’re asking the one thing I don’t know how to do.”

She swallowed. “Then we’ll learn together.”

Slowly — painfully — she lifted his bruised, blood-stained hand to her lips and kissed it.

He froze. Completely frozen.

Something inside him cracked open — raw, vulnerable, terrified.

He whispered, like a confession dragged from his soul:

“I thought if I handled him, the fear in your eyes would disappear.”

She shook her head; a tear slipped down her cheek.

“Hurting people isn’t what protects me, Adrian. You being here is.”

His chest rose on a sharp breath — not anger, not ego.

Relief.

He slipped his forehead against hers again, almost trembling.

“You can hate me if you want. Just don’t leave me.”

Her heart broke — because he truly believed his violence made him unlovable.

“I don’t hate you,” she whispered. “But I need you to trust me as much as I trust you.”

His voice was barely audible:

“I’m trying.”

And for the first time — he meant it.

She brushed her thumb across his jaw, slow, steady. “We’ll face the past. But next time… we face it together.”

His fingers curled at her waist.

“Together,” he repeated, like it was the safest word he’d ever spoken.

But deep in his eyes, a darker truth burned:

If another threat comes… he will burn the world.

And that realization is what truly terrified her.