Chapter 57
Adrian
The first thing I notice when I wake is the sound.
That damn machine to my left, beeping slow and steady, reminding me I’m still tethered to this body.
Every breath burns. My skin feels too tight.
And Viktor—of course, Viktor—stands over me like he’s been rehearsing this moment in front of a mirror.
“Viktor,” I rasp. My throat feels raw, the word cracking on the way out.
His smile widens. “My son. You did well. The girl seemed quite distraught over your safety, and I can assume she is now doing whatever your brother asks of her.”
I blink hard, trying to clear the haze from my head.
Aurelia.
The way she looked at me that last night before Nikolai put a bullet in me—it flashes in my mind so fast it makes my chest ache.
“Where is she?” I demand.
Viktor clasps his hands behind his back, pacing a little. Always the showman. “With Nikolai, of course. He requested to keep her while we arrange her ritual at the ball.”
Something ugly wrenches in me. I huff a humourless laugh, making me wince as it pulls on my stitches. “He’s playing you, Viktor. I’ve seen the way he is with her. He’s not thinking with his head. Not with the right one, anyway.”
Viktor just grins wide, patting my shoulder with a mockery of fatherly affection. The touch makes me want to rip the IV out and put it through his throat.
“Do not worry about the girl. He will not be able to protect her. And neither will you.”
He leaves on that note, boots clicking against the tile.
I stare at the ceiling long after the door slams shut, every muscle in my face pulled tight enough to crack.
The bastard thinks he’s untouchable. Thinks because I’m flat on my back with tubes in my arm and holes in my body that I won’t rise again. He’s wrong.
He’s been wrong about me my whole life.
I detest him. Every word he says, every smirk. But the truth is, I played his game. I took the shot. I bled for this. All because the empire should’ve been mine, not Nikolai’s.
Nikolai, the golden son. The one who never wanted the weight of the Orlov name but wore it better than I ever could. He wanted out, always wanted out, but even with his desire to leave, he thought he was above us.
Above me.
But here we are. He has her and I don’t, so I guess there’s some truth to it.
I drag a shaky breath and let my weight sink back into the pillow.
I didn’t expect her. Didn’t expect to care about her. She was meant to be a pawn, a way to expose the De Lucas secrets and make her father sweat. Instead, she sliced into me.
The way she looks at me, suspicious but still seeing something worth saving—it’s infuriating. Addicting.
She surprised me. She made me want.
But that’s the problem. Wanting in this world is weakness. And weakness gets you dead.
I let my eyes close, every muscle in my face taut with the truth I’ve been circling since the first time she smiled at me.
I can’t let her leave here alive. My family will kill me if I do.
I have to tell them what she told me about her brother—that he plans to change the way Dante is running business.