What kind of man hides like a ghost… but lives like a king?
Behind me, Adrien's voice dropped into a language I didn't understand. Russian, maybe. Or Greek.
Then silence. A sharp click. He'd hung up.
I turned. He was already watching me—his eyes unreadable. Not angry. Just… exposed.
"That was my uncle," he said finally. "Head of the family. He knows you're with me." I swallowed. "Is that a bad thing?"
He walked toward me, slow and deliberate. "No.
It's a declaration."
He paused.
"Now they know exactly who I'm willing to fight for."
She stared at it the way she stares at me—like I'm a puzzle she wants to solve, even if it cuts her fingers open.
Selene isn't my weakness.
She's my weapon.
Because for the first time in years, I feel something I thought was dead. Something that makes me dangerous in a way even they can't predict.
Even the way we met feels no less than a beautiful piece of fate — like something pulled straight out of a dream.
But now, it feels like not meeting you would've been the better fate.
She looks up at me—wide eyes, parted lips, curiosity still burning through her like fire.
You live like this? she whispers. Behind walls and velvet and lies?
No," I say. "I survive like this.
And now I'm part of it?
My throat tightens.
"You always were," Silently, I whispered in my heart. You just didn't know it. Because now that I've chosen her…
There is no version of this where I let her go.
And if my family wants to come for her—
They better bring every last bullet they own. Because Adrien Vasilis bows to no one.
Not anymore. Adrien Vasilis.
A name carved in blood and silence.
There's no mercy in him — not even a flicker of it. Just cold eyes and the kind of darkness you don't come back from. Even his own father, Richard, fears speaking to him.
Adrien wasn't meant to turn out this way. He was supposed to be like his mother — calm, gentle, soft-spoken. Not this cold, ruthless shadow of a man shaped by blood and betrayal. But fate carved something else into him.
No one wins against fate. Adrien tried — and he lost, like everyone else.
When Adrien looks at Selena, he's reminded of his mother —
the same softness in her eyes, the same quiet soul.
Selena carries that same softness,
the kind that once made him believe the world could be kind.
What would've happened… if Adrien's mother had lived?
She would've loved Selene — there's no doubt about it. Her gentle nature, her quiet strength — it's everything my mother once was.
Tell me… what happens in the end?
Will we ever truly be together? Or will you leave me too —
Like my mother.
The sky cracked open with a roar.
Thunder slammed against the windows like the world itself was breaking apart.
Rain hammered the roof, drumming a wild rhythm over the quiet of the hidden palace.
Selene took a quiet moment to observe her surroundings, letting her eyes wander, taking in every detail.
For the first time, she was truly seeing everything — not just looking, but noticing.
Adrien snapped out of it.
He hadn't even realized how long he'd been lost in thought —
Adrien walked toward the window
his silhouette sharp against the flashes of lightning. He closed his eyes, letting the wind brush against his face, breathing in the earthy scent of rain-soaked soil — a scent that somehow felt like a memory he couldn't quite reach.
Since childhood, the scent of wet earth had always calmed him.
It reminded him of simpler days — of muddy shoes, gentle rains, and a woman with the softest smile.
His mother had loved the rain.
She used to say it washed away the weight the world couldn't see.
And now, standing by the window, Adrien wondered…
if the rain could still reach the parts of him that had long since turned to stone.
For a moment, he looked less like a mafia king and more like a man haunted by something deeper than power or blood.