Chapter 9 Between two worlds

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Chapter 8: Between Two Worlds

Delilah stood at the edge of the rooftop garden, the city sprawling beneath her like a sleeping beast. Rain still lingered in the air-fresh, heavy, and cold. But her skin was burning.

She wrapped her fingers tighter around the glass of wine in her hand, trying to find warmth in it. But no drink could numb the storm within her.

Adrian's message replayed in her mind on a loop.

"Let me be the one who worships you instead."

Worship.

Such a dangerous word.

Because worship could destroy her faster than desire ever could.

She heard the shift of steps behind her before she saw him.

"Do you ever sleep?" Adrian's voice, velvet and smug, slipped through the mist of night like smoke.

Delilah didn't turn. "Do you ever knock?"

"I don't need permission to check on someone I care about."

She let out a breath that was almost a laugh. "You don't care about people, Adrian. You collect them. Like rare coins."

He was beside her now, close enough for her to feel the heat from his body, but not touching. He never touched unless she allowed it. That was his game.

And he was good at it.

"I don't collect you," he said softly. "I remember you."

That made her look at him. His face was too perfect, too composed-until she met his eyes. They were oceans, deep and old, and for the first time in a long while, she saw vulnerability in them.

"I'm not the same girl you knew in Paris," she whispered.

"I know," Adrian said. "You're harder now. Colder. But still... unbreakable."

Her guard faltered. For a moment, just one moment, she wanted to fall into his arms-to remember the version of herself that once laughed without calculation. The version that had trusted love.

But another face invaded her thoughts-Sebastian's. His hands in her hair. His breath in her mouth. His control, wild and absolute.

She stepped back from Adrian.

"I can't give you what you want," she said.

"And what do I want?" His voice was quiet, but sharp.

"Me. All of me." She looked away. "I'm already breaking apart. I can't be yours, not while I'm trying not to lose myself."

Adrian's jaw clenched. "He'll break you faster."

She turned on him. "And you won't? You think your love comes without a price?"

Silence.

Then, softly, "No. But I'm willing to pay it."

Delilah was done.

She pushed past him, walking toward the elevator.

And yet, when she entered her penthouse again, she didn't feel safe. She felt... watched.

The shadows clung to the walls like secrets. She walked to the grand mirror across the room-and froze.

There, in crimson lipstick scrawled on the mirror's surface:

Choose, Red.

Her heart slammed in her chest. Not fear. Not shock.

Fury.

Sebastian had been here.

No security breach. No trace of entry.

He was a ghost in the shadows-and he wanted her to know he wasn't going to wait much longer.

Delilah stared at her own reflection. Lips painted, eyes wild.

Two men.

Two worlds.

And only one path forward.

But which one would cost her soul?

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