The café was quiet — tucked away between the steel towers of the business district.Rain pattered gently outside, the world muted by the fogged windows.
Adrian arrived first, calm and collected.But when Elena Moore walked in, the stillness cracked.
Her hair was tied back, her eyes uncertain, carrying both pride and regret.For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Adrian said softly, "You shouldn't have come."
"I had to," she whispered. "I needed to see you."
He leaned back, unreadable. "You saw me once before. The day I lost everything."
Her eyes glistened. "I didn't know, Adrian. I swear I didn't know what my father planned."
He didn't answer immediately — just looked at her, studying the woman who had once been both his salvation and his ruin.
Finally, he said, "You're lying."
Tears welled in her eyes. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm just trying to forgive myself."
Adrian stood slowly, buttoning his coat. "Forgiveness is a luxury, Elena. And some of us stopped affording it long ago."
He turned to leave — but paused.
"Tell your father," he said, voice quiet but sharp as glass, "that the next time he moves against me, he won't lose money."
Elena swallowed hard. "Then what will he lose?"
Adrian looked over his shoulder, eyes cold and endless.
"Everything he ever loved."
Outside
As he stepped into the rain, Luna's voice echoed in his earpiece."I've traced the threat. Whoever sent that message — they're watching you right now."
Adrian's jaw tightened."Let them watch," he said. "Because this time, I'm not the prey."
At the Moore Mansion
Elena returned home, soaked and trembling.Her father was waiting, anger simmering beneath the surface.
"You met him, didn't you?" Reginald hissed.
Elena didn't answer.
He slammed his hand on the desk. "If you bring that man's shadow into this house again, you'll regret it."
But deep down, he was afraid — because Reginald Moore knew one thing.
Adrian Vance had come back from the dead.And he was no longer a pawn.
He was the storm.