Chapter 2 - Shadows in the MarbleAdrian didn't yell. He didn't summon security, and he didn't bark orders for Mrs. Holloway to drag us out into the street.
Instead, in a move that sent a tremor through every member of the domestic staff, the billionaire slowly pushed back his chair, slid his long legs out from beneath the mahogany table, and crouched down until he was eye-level with my three-year-old daughter.
James used to crouch down like that whenever he talked to stray dogs or neighborhood kids—open, patient, entirely devoid of condescension. Watching Adrian mirror his dead brother’s physical mannerisms so precisely made my chest ache with a physical, bruising pain.
Adrian reached out, his long, elegant fingers lightly touching the edge of Nora’s plastic purse.
“So,” Adrian murmured, his voice softening into a low, velvet timbre that sent shivers down my spine. “What’s in the briefcase, Agent... what’s your name?”
“Nora,” she replied without a shred of intimidation, leaning forward to inspect his gold wristwatch. “And it’s top secret. It has snacks and a rubber duck.”
“Top secret, huh?” Adrian’s lips twitched upward into a faint, ghost of a smile—the first real smile I had seen on his face in the eight months I’d worked on this estate. “And who authorized you to wear my tie, Agent Nora?”
“You did,” she chirped brightly.
Adrian raised a dark eyebrow. “Did I?”
“Mhmm. It was hanging on your doorknob. It looks better on me anyway. Yours is too long and boring.”
A sharp cough echoed from the doorway as Mrs. Holloway frantically tried to intervene. “Mr. Cole, please forgive her! The babysitter fell ill at the last moment, and with permission from the agency—just for today—we brought her in through the back—she won't disrupt—”
“She isn't disrupting anything, Mrs. Holloway,” Adrian interrupted smoothly, his eyes never leaving Nora’s face. He stood up slowly, brushing off the knees of his impeccably tailored charcoal trousers. He looked across the room toward me, his gray eyes narrowing slightly as he assessed my pale, trembling posture.
“Elena,” he said, using my first name for the first time since I had been hired as a junior estate assistant.
“Yes, Mr. Cole?” I managed to choke out, stepping out from the shadow of the breakfast-room doors.
“My office requires a new file organizer,” he said evenly, his gaze boring into mine with an intensity that suggested he saw straight through my composure. “Someone to keep track of incoming schedules and handle minor correspondence. Bring the child to the east wing library at nine o'clock. I expect her to keep up with my schedule.”
Before I could stutter a refusal, he turned on his heel, grabbed his leather briefcase, and strode out of the room toward his waiting private car.
The moment the heavy front doors clicked shut, Mrs. Holloway rushed over, pressing a hand to her chest.
“Blessed Mother,” she breathed. “He didn't fire you. He didn't even yell! Elena, what is magic do you and this little girl possess? Mr. Cole hates children. He hates noise. He hates anything that disrupts his routine!”
I didn't answer. I knelt down on the cold marble floor, pulling Nora into my arms so tightly she squirmed in protest.
“Mama, you’re squishing my duck!” she complained.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” I whispered, burying my face in her soft curls, inhaling the scent of baby shampoo that masked the terrifying reality closing in around us.
Because I knew something Mrs. Holloway didn't.
Adrian Cole wasn't just curious about Nora because she was cute. There was a predatory, hyper-analytical intelligence behind those gray eyes—the same brilliant, relentless mind that had built a multi-billion-dollar empire out of the ashes of his family’s grief.
And if he spent an hour in the same room with Nora, watching her mannerisms, hearing her speak, and piecing together the timeline of four years ago...
He would calculate the math.
And he would figure out that Nora wasn't just a random child wandering his halls.
May you like
She was his niece. The daughter of the brother he had failed to save.
And if Adrian ever found out, he wouldn't just take her into his world of iron rules and high-stakes surveillance—he would wage a war to keep her, and I would lose the only piece of James I had left in this world.
Related Stories
