Chapter 9:
Adrian Blackwood had always believed control was survival.
Control over his company.
Control over his image.
Control over his emotions.
That belief had kept him alive long after the night his parents' car never made it home.
But Elara Quinn disrupted that order in ways he hadn't anticipated.
He stood in his study long after leaving her room, hands braced against the desk, staring at nothing. The faint image of her expression lingered — not tears, not anger, but quiet acceptance.
He hated that look.
She shouldn't have to endure this world the way she did. Not this house. Not his family.
And certainly not him.
Adrian exhaled slowly, reaching for the tablet on his desk. With a few taps, security footage filled the screen — the small café near the east district, recorded weeks ago.
There she was.
Elara, seated by the window, sunlight cutting through dust in the air. She had been alone, stirring a cup she hadn't touched, eyes distant.
He remembered that moment clearly.
Not because it was romantic.
Because it was familiar.
She had looked like someone on the edge of losing everything.
Lucas had stood behind him that day.
"She fits the criteria," his assistant had said.
Adrian hadn't replied.
He didn't choose Elara because she was convenient.
He chose her because he recognized the damage.
The kind that doesn't show on the surface.
His jaw tightened as he dismissed the footage. He hadn't told her how much he already knew. About the debt. About her sister. About the eviction notice that would have arrived two days later.
He had intervened quietly.
That was the only way he knew how to protect.
A knock interrupted his thoughts.
"Sir," Lucas said from the doorway. "Your grandmother has scheduled the public appearance."
Adrian's gaze sharpened. "When?"
"Tomorrow evening."
Too soon.
His mind immediately went to Elara — her unease, her hesitation, her strength that hadn't yet been tested in public.
"Prepare her," Adrian said.
Lucas hesitated. "She doesn't know?"
"No," Adrian replied. "And she won't until morning."
After Lucas left, Adrian turned toward the window, the city lights reflecting faintly in the glass. For the first time in years, control felt fragile.
Because if Elara discovered how deliberately he had chosen her…
If she learned that he had been watching long before she noticed him…
She wouldn't forgive him.
And for reasons he refused to name, that mattered more than any deal he had ever made.