Chapter 9 The Scent of Control

The next morning, sunlight spilled over the sheets like guilt. Celene stirred alone in the bed, the cold side beside her confirming what she already knew-Adrian had left before dawn. Again.

Coward.

Liar.

Addiction.

She sat up, pulling the sheet around her body, her muscles still aching from the night's unresolved tension. Her lips still tingled from his kiss. Her thoughts were a tangle of want and why.

The door creaked open, and she flinched. But it wasn't Adrian-it was Sofia, the housekeeper with hawk eyes and a sharp tongue.

"Breakfast?" Sofia asked flatly, already setting down a tray. "Or will you just stare into space and punish the eggs with your silence?"

Celene blinked. "Uh... thanks."

Sofia paused. "You look like a woman who's either been ruined or about to ruin someone. Good for you. Finish your toast."

Before Celene could respond, the woman vanished like a ghost with sass.

She ate quietly, wondering if the breakfast was a peace offering or a bribe. Adrian Cross didn't seem like the kind of man who apologized-he compensated.

Later that day, she wandered into the library, not to read but to breathe. The books smelled like ink and leather and time. She trailed her fingers along the spines until her hand froze.

One book stuck out-a deep navy leather with no title. She pulled it out and flipped it open. Inside were notes. Diagrams. Blueprints.

And Adrian's handwriting.

She scanned the page. Her heart dropped.

It wasn't fiction. It was an acquisition file.

Her name was on the corner of the page-Celene Monroe. Labeled. Studied. Valued.

"What the hell is this?"

The voice behind her made her spine straighten.

"It's business," Adrian said coolly.

She turned, fury unraveling from her throat. "You're documenting me like I'm some... product?"

He didn't flinch. "I needed to know if you could handle my world."

"By treating me like I'm part of your portfolio?"

"You are part of it," he said. "But not how you think."

She shoved the book at his chest. "I'm not a deal. I'm not a dossier. I'm a human being who made one mistake-"

"No," Adrian cut in. "You made two. The first was sleeping with me. The second is pretending you don't want to again."

Silence exploded between them.

Her eyes burned. "You think you know me because you can afford to?"

"I know you because I see you," he snapped. "Even when you're lying to yourself."

Tears threatened, but she wouldn't let them fall. Not for him.

She shoved past him, heart hammering, fury rising.

But his voice chased her down the hall like heat.

"Celene," he called out, softer this time. "You're not a file. You're the only variable I can't calculate. That terrifies me."

She didn't stop walking.

She wasn't ready to be anyone's unsolved equation.