Eva can't sleep.
She sat at the floor-to-ceiling window in Adrian's apartment well after midnight, Damien's comments echoing in her head.
Forty-eight hours.
Go back willingly, or they will come for you.
The city shone beneath her, lively and strikingly beautiful, but all she could see was crimson.
Her father fell down the pavement.
The gunshot.
The last glance in his eyes.
"You were never meant to belong to them."
She put her palms to her face.
"You should be asleep."
Adrian's voice sounded from behind her.
She dropped her hands gently.
He'd taken off his business jacket and slackened his tie, yet he still seemed strong, threatening, and too controlled.
"I can't."
He moved approaching her, holding two glasses.
"One of these is water," he said. "The other is whiskey." I'll let you choose the one you need."
Despite everything, she almost beamed.
"Which one do you have?"
"The whiskey."
"Then give me that one."
He delivered it to her without arguing.
They stood quietly for a few moments.
Then Eva said.
"Why haven't you told me?"
"About what?"
"That the Laurent family is attacking your company because of me."
Adrian looked out at the skyline.
"Because I knew exactly what you would do."
"And what is that?""
"You would blame yourself."
"Shouldn't I?"
He pivoted quickly.
"No."
One phrase rang across the room.
"They're the ones doing this, Eva. "Not you."
"But if I had never come into your life"
"Do you think I regret that?"
Her breath caught.
He looked steadily too strong and too honest.
For a moment, none of them moved.
Then the elevator doors opened.
Both of them pivoted immediately.
Marcus, Adrian's the chief security officer, came into the room.
He had an unpleasant expression.
"There's a problem."
Adrian laid his drink down.
"What happened?""
"We found one of Damien Sinclair's men outside the building."
Eva's heartbeat stopped.
"Are you watching us?"
Marcus nodded.
"And he wasn't alone."
"Laurent people?""Adrian asked.
"We think so."
The room became frigid.
"They found me already," Eva said silently.
Adrian gazed at Marcus.
"Double security." "No one enters this building without my permission."
Marcus paused.
"There's something else."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"The board meets tomorrow morning.
Three more investors backed out.
Eva gazed at him.
"So, how horrible is it?"
Marcus replied before Adrian could.
"If this continues, Cole Industries could lose billions in a week."
Silence.
Eva felt like she was hardly breathing.
The Laurents were destroying everything around her.
Just like they always have.
After Marcus had left, she went to Adrian.
"I'm going back."
"No."
"You overheard him. "They'll ruin your company."
"I don't care."
"But, I do!"
Her voice crackled.
"I can't let them destroy you because of me."
Adrian moved across the room in two steps.
"They are not taking you."
"You can't stop them forever."
"Watch me."
She gazed at him.
Before she could control herself, she whispered:
"Why are you doing this?""
The question remained between them.
Adrian's expression altered.
For the first time, he seemed vulnerable.
"Because somewhere between trying to use you and trying to protect you…"
He moved closer.
"I fell in love with you."
Eva lost how to breathe.
The room disappeared.
There was only him.
Only the way he was looking at her.
His speech contained just the truth.
He slowly and delicately stroked her face.
"You can walk away from me," he replied calmly. "You may despise me. But I will never allow them to injure you."
Then he kissed her.
The kiss was gentle at first.
Gentle as if he was offering her the opportunity to draw away.
However, she didn't.
Because for the first time in years, she did not feel alone.
She kissed him back.
And for one impossible instant, she forgot about the Laurents.
Until a bullet shattered the windows.
The glass burst across the room.
Adrian drew her down immediately.
"Get down!""
Another gunshot rang out.
Marcus raced back into the penthouse.
"We got snipers!"
Adrian placed one arm around Eva and pulled her behind the marble kitchen island.
Her heart hammered hard into her ribs.
"Who are they?""
But deep inside, she knew.
The Laurent family had decided without compromising.
And forty-eight hours had passed.