Chapter 5 - The Crack in the Armor
Mara stared at her husband in horror. "You're baiting him."
"I don't leave threats hanging over my family," Adrian said. "Especially not now."
"We aren't a family, Adrian," Mara said bitterly, pulling her knees up to her chest. "We are a transaction. You paid off my mother's hospital debts, you bought me clothes and a house, and in exchange, you got a respectable wife to stand next to you at political dinners so the city wouldn't think you were a savage. That was the deal."
Adrian was quiet for a long time. The only sound was the wind rattling the heavy glass panes of the balcony.
"Is that what you think?" he asked softly.
"It's what it was."
Adrian stood up and walked to the bed, stopping just inches from her feet. "If I wanted a trophy wife to impress politicians, Mara, I could have chosen the daughter of a senator or a real estate heiress. I could have married into old money and doubled my influence overnight."
Mara looked up, startled by the intensity in his gaze.
"I went to that diner three nights a week for six months before those two men ever laid a hand on you," Adrian confessed, his voice dropping to a gravelly rasp. "I sat in the corner booth, drank terrible coffee, and watched you work sixteen-hour shifts with a smile on your face, sending every dime to your mother's hospice care. I watched you protect the teenage dishwashers from the abusive manager. I saw a woman who had more spine and heart than every lying aristocrat in this city."
Mara’s breath hitched in her throat. "Adrian..."
"I married you because the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were the only thing in this rotten world that wasn't for sale," he whispered, kneeling down beside the bed so his eyes were level with hers. "I kept my distance because my hands are covered in grease and blood, and I didn't want to drag you into the mud. I thought keeping you safe meant keeping you apart from me."
He slowly reached out, his broad, calloused hand hesitating before gently resting over her swollen stomach.
May you like
The baby fluttered immediately, welcoming the warmth.
Adrian closed his eyes, a single shudder passing through his massive frame. "I was an idiot, Mara. I built a fortress, but I forgot to build a life inside it."
