"Serena!"
Adrian roared her name through gritted teeth, his voice hoarse from the pain.
Serena scoffed, staring down at him like he was dirt. "You're just a brainless idiot who let Hailey play you like a fiddle. What gives you the right to stand in front of me and talk about making things right?"
"You!" Adrian was so used to her absolute obedience, so accustomed to her pathetic desperation to chase after him.
Her current apathy and the sheer condescension in her insults were too much for his pride to handle.
He snapped his head up, his contorted face looking downright terrifying. "When did you become so vicious and unforgiving?"
He struggled to his feet, reaching out to grab her arm. "Do you really think being Queen wipes your slate clean after all the men you've been throwing yourself at?"
"Oh?"
Just as Adrian lunged at her.
A strong, elegant hand clamped down on his wrist like a vise.
"Throwing herself at men?"
A lazy, wicked voice echoed from behind him, carrying a suffocating sense of dominance.
A chill shot straight down Adrian's spine.
The next second.
The sickening crunch of bone fractured the night air.
"Ah!"
It felt as if his wrist had been snapped clean in two. A cold sweat instantly soaked through his shirt.
He whipped his head around in sheer panic.
He saw a figure of pure, aristocratic elegance standing there with one hand tucked
in his pocket. The moonlight fell upon his strikingly handsome face, giving him a lethal, almost predatory allure.
But...
When those mesmerizing, deep-set eyes locked onto Adrian.
Absolute terror gripped Adrian's mind.
"Mr... Mr. Blackwood..."
He rasped out, his face still twisted in agony.
Nicholas Blackwood didn't even spare him a glance as he strolled casually over to Serena.
The man, who had been radiating a
terrifying, ice-cold aura just a moment prior, instantly shed all his hostility the second he stood in frant of her. His gaze softened
completely. "Serena, let's go home."
His deep, magnetic voice was incredibly gentle.
Adrian looked at him like he had just seen a ghost.
Back at the Obsidian Palace, he could tell Nicholas had taken a slight interest in her.
But he had assumed a billionaire at the very top of the social pyramid like him was
just looking for a quick fling. He never thought Nicholas actually cared.
But now...
Nicholas was very clearly stepping up to protect her!
Since when were they this close?
No wonder! No wonder she had been so utterly indifferent when he had humbled himself to beg for her forgiveness!
Fighting through the pain, Adrian
gritted his teeth. "Mr. Blackwoodet
she... she's nothing but a pathetic stray used to keep around. Donflet her fool you! She sleeps with, Ah!"
His venomous insults were abruptly cut off.
Replaced by an agonizing scream far more gut-wrenching than the last.
Because the instant he opened his mouth, Nicholas simply raised his leg and drove his heavy boot right down onto Adrian
ginning the
furious struggling mant firmly
against the asphalt.
The pain was so intense that Adrian nearly blacked out.
"I never want to hear another insult leave your lips when it comes to her."
Nicholas glanced sideways, his relaxed gaze suddenly devoid of all warmth.
He ground his shoe into the pavement near Adrian's head. "Get the hell out of my sight."
Then, as Adrian watched with a mixture of absolute humiliation and terror.
Nicholas lifted his foot and seamlessly intertwined his fingers with Serena's...