Adrian's pov
The rain pounded relentlessly against the windows of my office, a mirror to the storm raging inside me. The city sprawled beneath, indifferent and cold — just like the world I had built. Yet all I could see was her.
Laila.
Her name tasted like fire on my tongue, a constant ache I couldn't ignore.
I closed my eyes and let the past drag me back.
---
The sun-drenched playground was alive with children's laughter, but she sat alone on the swings, a defiant shadow in the golden light. I remember watching her — this fierce little girl with wild hair and eyes too sharp for her age.
She didn't need saving, but I wanted to be the one to offer it.
"Why do you sit here by yourself?" I asked, stepping closer.
She glanced up, wary but unyielding. "Because no one ever wants to play with me."
The honesty stunned me.
"I want to," I said simply.
Her small lips curled into a tentative smile, a brief crack in her armor.
In that moment, she wasn't a contract, a debt, or a pawn in a dangerous game.
She was Laila — fierce, broken, beautiful.
---
But now?
Now she was mine on paper. Bound by ink and blood.
Yet every command I gave, every order she obeyed, felt like a battle between control and surrender.
I hated that I needed her obedience to protect her brother, yet I feared that control was the very thing that would push her away.
The memories gnawed at me — her fiery spirit, her defiance, her unwillingness to be owned.
And beneath my own cold exterior, a fragile hope whispered: Maybe she could be more than this. More than a possession. More than a weapon.
But that hope was fragile, shattered every time I saw the hatred flicker in her eyes.
She was trapped — by me, by our past, by the secrets that bound us.
And I was the monster holding the leash.
---
A sudden knock pulled me from the memory. Rafe's name echoed in my mind — the brother who challenged everything I was trying to protect.
The tension between us was a silent war, charged with unspoken threats and bitter history.
If I couldn't keep Laila safe, if I couldn't keep her by my side — then what was the point of all this power?
The city's neon glow cast sharp shadows across my face as I stood.
This wasn't just a game anymore.
It was war.
And I was ready to fight.