POV: HER
I never wanted Adrian to meet my brother like this.
Not yet.
Not when everything is still so fragile.
But plans rot the moment emotions get involved, and Adrian Blackwood has a talent for stepping exactly where the floor is weakest.
I pour myself a drink this time.
He watches me like I'm a bomb that just started counting down.
"You said phase three," he says. "Start talking."
I take a slow sip. "Phase one was survival."
He doesn't interrupt.
"I made sure my family was safe," I continue. "Money. New identities. Distance. I needed my brother alive long enough to understand who actually destroyed Kingsway."
"And phase two?" he asks.
I set the glass down.
"Access."
His mouth tightens. "Me."
"Yes."
I don't sugarcoat it. That would be insulting.
"You were untouchable," I say. "Courts, media, governments you outgrew consequences. So I married you."
He exhales sharply through his nose. "Romantic."
"This was never about romance," I reply.
The lie tastes bitter.
"And phase three?" he asks.
I step closer.
"Phase three is collapse," I say quietly. "Controlled. Surgical. We dismantle the people who profit from displacement and blood without blowing up the entire system."
"And if control fails?"
"Then it becomes revenge."
His gaze flicks to my mouth, then back to my eyes. "You left one thing out."
"What?"
"Where I fit after phase three."
I hesitate.
Just for a second.
And he notices.
"You don't know," he says.
"I didn't plan for you to be… this," I admit.
He laughs softly. "That makes two of us."
The air between us tightens again familiar now. Dangerous. Charged.
"Your brother hates me," he says.
"Yes."
"And you don't."
I don't answer.
He steps closer. "Say it."
I lift my chin. "I don't hate you."
The admission lands like a fracture.
"You should," he murmurs.
"Maybe," I reply. "But hating you would be easier than trusting you."
That surprises him.
"Trust?" he echoes.
"I wouldn't have married you otherwise."
Silence stretches.
Then his hand lifts slow, deliberate and stops just short of touching my face.
"You're asking me to help destroy my own world," he says.
"I'm asking you to choose what survives," I correct.
His fingers hover there, trembling just enough to give him away.
"If I do this," he says, "there's no going back."
I lean in, voice barely above a whisper.
"There never is."
For a heartbeat, I think he's going to kiss me.
Instead, he steps back.
"I need time," he says.
I nod. "Take it."
He turns toward his study, then pauses.
"Evelyn?"
"Yes?"
"If I say yes… what happens to us?"
I meet his gaze steadily.
"That," I say, "is the part that terrifies me most."