ch-3 A pact in the dark

Chapter 3 – A Pact in the Dark

The city was quieter than usual, as if the night itself held its breath. Elena stood in her apartment, pacing the wooden floorboards until they creaked beneath her restless steps. Her mind refused to release the memory of silver eyes catching hers under the moonlight, the weight of Adrian Moretti’s hand closing over hers, the whisper of his words: “Do it now. Because after tonight, I won’t let you go.”

She should have killed him. Every part of her screamed that she should have buried the dagger deep and ended the heir of the Moretti empire right there in the alley. But instead, she had frozen—caught between vengeance and the unfamiliar pull of something far more dangerous.

A sharp knock startled her from her storming thoughts. She grabbed her dagger and crept toward the door. Silence. Then, the faint sound of paper sliding against wood. Cautiously, Elena bent down. A folded note lay on the floor, stark against the shadows. She unfolded it with trembling fingers.

The message was short, jagged, and cold:

“Stay away from him. Or you won’t live to regret it.”

Her breath hitched. Someone knew. Someone was watching.

For the rest of the night, she sat awake by the window, the city’s neon lights painting her face in shades of danger. Every sound in the hallway made her grip the dagger tighter. By dawn, she had made her decision. She wouldn’t run. Whoever thought they could threaten her would learn she was no pawn.

The next evening, Elena followed the instructions that had come hours later—a single text from an unknown number. Meet me. Midnight. The old cathedral.

The cathedral stood at the edge of the city, abandoned for years, its broken windows staring like empty eyes into the night. The wind whistled through its bones as Elena stepped inside, boots echoing softly against the cracked stone floor.

“Always this cautious?” a voice murmured, low and familiar.

Adrian emerged from the shadows, dressed in black, but not the polished black of his public persona. Tonight, he was stripped of pretense. A wolf, not a prince. His silver gaze locked onto hers, piercing, assessing.

“You sent the note,” she accused.

“No,” he said, his tone calm but sharp. “But I knew it would come. My enemies are getting bolder. They don’t just want me dead—they want to erase anyone who stands too close.”

Her grip on the dagger tightened. “Then maybe I should thank them. They might save me the trouble of doing it myself.”

A smirk ghosted across his lips. “You had your chance, Elena. And you didn’t take it.”

The words stung. She wanted to deny them, but the truth lingered heavy in her silence.

Adrian stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Listen to me. Whoever sent that note is no ally of yours. If they want you gone, it’s because you’re more dangerous than you realize. And I don’t intend to let them have you.”

Her brow furrowed. “Why? Why protect me? You’re the reason I’m in this mess.”

His gaze softened for the briefest flicker, but the steel returned quickly. “Because whether you like it or not, our fates are tied. You want revenge. I want to know who’s bleeding my family from the inside. That makes us allies—if you can stomach it.”

Elena’s laugh was short, sharp, bitter. “An alliance with a Moretti? That’s a pact with the devil.”

“Perhaps,” Adrian said, taking another step, until his presence pressed against her like heat in the cold. “But devils make excellent protectors. And I’d rather have you alive and furious than dead in a gutter.”

She studied him, heart pounding. His offer was madness. Yet beneath her anger, a darker thought clawed at her chest: with him, she might finally have the power to reach the truth.

Slowly, she extended her free hand, dagger still firm in the other. “Fine. A pact in the dark. But don’t mistake this for trust.”

Adrian’s hand closed around hers, warm, commanding, unyielding. “Trust can wait. Survival cannot.”

The pact was sealed beneath the broken eyes of the cathedral, but Elena knew this was no alliance of equals. It was a dangerous game, one where desire threatened to eclipse vengeance, and where one wrong move could bind her to the wolf forever.

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