Elena felt it the second she stepped out of her room.
Something had shifted.
Not in the house.
In Adrian.
She found him in the grand study, surrounded by three security directors and a digital map projected across the long table. Red markers blinked across the city like open wounds.
He didn't notice her at first.
"Expand sector nine," he ordered, voice low but cutting. "I want eyes on every movement within a two-block radius."
"Yes, sir."
"And freeze their accounts. All of them. Anyone who touched last night's operation shouldn't even be able to buy a bottle of water."
His team scrambled. His presence filled the room like pressure. Not loud. Not violent. But absolute. Elena had never seen him like this. Focused in a way that felt dangerous.
Not angry.
Determined.
When he finally glanced up and saw her, the room seemed to shift. His shoulders drew back, his stance straightened, and something shuttered behind his eyes.
"Elena," he said, nodding once to his team. "Give us a moment."
They left without question.
Only when the door shut did he turn fully to her.
"You should be resting."
She crossed her arms. "I didn't get hurt. Just shaken."
"That's enough."
"You didn't look shaken," she said before thinking.
He paused. "I didn't have the luxury to be."
There it was again that rigid, controlled coldness he put on like armor. She wondered how much of it was real and how much was just what he needed to survive.
"Sit," he said gently.
She didn't. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"
His jaw tightened. "I will tell you what you need to know."
"That's not the same thing."
His eyes flicked to hers, sharper than a blade. "Elena."
"No," she said softly but firmly. "You can't keep shutting me out while expecting me to play the role of the perfect wife. If someone targeted us, targeted me, I deserve the truth."
He took a breath, slow and heavy.
"You think I don't know that?" he said quietly. "You think I'm not aware of what this marriage has cost you?"
She didn't speak. Her throat tightened.
"Every move I make from now on is about keeping you safe," he continued. "So if I tell you to stay inside, you stay inside. If I tell you to avoid the press, you avoid them. If I tell you something is above your pay grade..."
"Above my pay grade?" she repeated, hurt flaring. "Adrian, I'm not your employee. I'm your wife."
A flicker hit his expression. Brief, but real.
He looked away.
"You're right," he murmured. "You didn't choose this. You didn't choose my enemies."
She stepped closer. "Then help me understand what we're dealing with."
He hesitated.
A long silence pressed between them.
Then...
"You're safer knowing less."
She swallowed, the words cutting deeper than he probably meant.
"Then what am I here for?" she whispered. "Decoration? A prop? A distraction for the media?"
His forehead creased. "You think that's how I see you?"
"You don't exactly show me otherwise."
His next breath came sharp. He pushed a hand through his hair, something he only did when he was losing control.
"Elena… if you knew half of what my world actually looks like, you'd run."
She held his gaze. "Then let me decide whether to run."
His eyes darkened. Something raw flashed there, something almost frightened.
"I can't let you make that choice," he said quietly.
"Why not?"
"Because I already made it for you."
They stared at each other, the air thick with something heavy and unspoken.
Before either could say another word, Victor squeezed into the room, expression tight.
"Sir," he said, "we have new intel."
Adrian's entire body tensed.
He didn't ask Elena to leave. Not this time. Maybe he realized she wouldn't. Maybe he just didn't have the strength to fight her anymore.
Victor placed a tablet on the table. A photo appeared.
A man. Late fifties. Gray hair. Cold eyes.
Elena didn't recognize him.
Adrian did.
Something in his face hardened into steel.
"Ferris," he said, voice dropping to something low and dangerous. "I should've known."
"Who is he?" Elena asked.
Adrian didn't answer fast enough.
Victor did.
"Ferris Dane. Former partner of Mr. Vale's father. Former friend. Current problem."
Elena felt her stomach drop. "He sent the attackers?"
"That's our working assumption."
"And he wants…" She looked at Adrian. "You? Money? Revenge?"
"Control," Adrian said simply.
Of what, he didn't say.
Elena watched him carefully. His shoulders were tense again, his voice distant. Like he'd slipped back into the cold, unreachable version of himself he used to survive the world.
"Is this why you're acting different?" she asked quietly. "Because of him?"
Adrian didn't look at her. "I'll handle it."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I'm giving."
Victor took the hint and left, but Adrian stayed where he was, staring at the table like he could force the world to obey him through pure will.
"Elena," he said after a moment, "I'm implementing new protocols."
"What kind?"
"You'll have a security escort at all times."
She frowned. "Adrian..."
"No argument." His tone was firm but not harsh. "This is temporary. Until I know every threat is neutralized."
"And what about you?" she asked. "Do you get an escort?"
He blinked. "I don't need one."
"That's not what I asked."
A faint sound left him, almost a laugh, but too empty to be one.
"Elena, the people who come after me aren't the kind I can hide from. And they're not the kind you can stand near."
Her chest tightened. "You're saying I'm a liability."
"I'm saying you're the only thing that can be used against me."
That stopped her cold.
Because for all his walls, all his distance, all his cold silence...
that sentence didn't come from indifference.
It came from fear.
She stepped closer before she could think.
"Adrian," she said softly, "you don't have to carry all of this alone."
He shook his head once. "I do. That's the curse of being a Vale."
"But you're not alone anymore."
He looked at her slowly.
Like he wasn't sure whether to believe her or run from the possibility.
"Elena," he said again, voice lower, "I don't know how to let someone stand beside me without putting them in the line of fire."
"Then let me decide to take the hit."
He closed his eyes.
That single motion told her how deeply her words shook him.
"Elena…" His voice cracked slightly, barely audible. "Stop making this harder."
"Harder than what?"
He opened his eyes again. They were darker now, almost bruised.
"Harder than trying to keep you alive."
For a moment, the room didn't feel like a room.
It felt like a confession.
Her breath caught. "Adrian…"
But he stepped back.
Just one step.
But enough to pull a wall up again.
"I need to get back to work," he said quietly. "Stay inside today. Don't wander. Promise me."
"Adrian..."
"Promise me."
The urgency in his voice made her throat tighten.
"I promise," she whispered.
He didn't thank her. Didn't touch her. Didn't offer anything soft or reassuring.
He just looked at her one last time, something unspoken burning in his eyes.
Then he left.
The rest of the day dragged.
Elena stayed inside like she promised, but the estate felt too quiet without him. Every shadow seemed heavier. Every sound seemed like a warning.
Serena returned for another etiquette session, but Elena's mind wasn't in it. Her thoughts kept drifting back to the study. To Adrian's face when he said keeping her alive was harder than anything else he'd ever done.
When Serena finally left, Elena slipped to the balcony outside her room, needing air.
That's when she saw them.
Two black cars parked across the street.
Windows tinted.
Engines off.
But the presence was unmistakable.
Her pulse spiked.
She stepped inside and reached for her phone.
Before she could call Adrian, a hand caught her wrist.
She gasped.
Adrian stood behind her, breath uneven, eyes darker than she'd ever seen.
"You don't go near windows," he said, voice tight.
"I didn't know..."
"You go nowhere without me or security."
"Adrian, I didn't.."
"I told you to stay inside," he said, voice suddenly sharp. "I told you not to wander. Do you have any idea what could've happened if they decided to move tonight?"
"They were watching the house?"
"They were watching you."
Her stomach turned.
"And if I hadn't gotten here on time..."
He cut himself off.
His eyes were on her face.
Her hair.
Her trembling hands.
Every detail, as if cataloguing proof she was still standing in front of him.
He stepped closer.
Too close.
"Elena," he said softly but fiercely, "don't ever scare me like that again."
She felt her breath catch.
Because she finally understood.
His coldness.
His distance.
His walls.
They weren't about her.
They were about fear.
Real fear.
The kind that makes a man built from iron shake.
"I wasn't trying to," she whispered. "I just… didn't realize."
He closed the small distance between them with one step.
"What happens to me doesn't matter," he murmured. "But what happens to you..."
He stopped again, jaw tight.
Her voice softened. "Adrian…"
For a second, she thought he might pull her closer.
For a second, she thought he might finally let himself break.
Instead, he exhaled and stepped back.
Not because he wanted to.
Because he thought he had to.
"Get some sleep," he said quietly. "I'll be outside your door."
She blinked. "You don't need to..."
"I'm not arguing."
He turned, hand already on the door.
"Goodnight, Elena."
She watched him leave, her heart too full and too heavy all at once.
It wasn't until the hallway fell silent that she whispered into the empty room:
"Goodnight… Adrian."
Even though she knew he would never hear it.
But maybe he already felt it.