The soft knock on the door broke whatever quiet spell we'd been under. Adrian's eyes flicked toward it, and in the space of a heartbeat, his whole demeanor shifted back to the cool, unreadable version of himself.

"Come in," he called.

Ava stepped inside, dressed in her usual black blazer and trousers with a folder tucked under one arm and a pistol strapped openly to her thigh as casually as one would wear a watch.

Her gaze took in the scene, me sitting cross-legged on the bed and Adrian still leaning back against the headboard, but she didn't even blink.

"Security briefing, sir. If that's okay with you." she said simply.

"Later," Adrian replied.

"Now," she countered, stepping forward. "Press crews are still camped at the gates. Someone sent a drone into the gardens before sunrise. We shot it down, but not before it got footage of you two standing at the window in here."

I blinked. "Wait, what?"

Ava turned her attention to me. "It's already trending online. Most of them think it's proof your marriage is real, however a few people are calling it a hostage situation."

My mouth fell open. "That's completely insane."

She shrugged. "What can I say? Insane is what sells clicks."

Adrian took the folder from her and flipped it open. "We'll put out a statement. Nothing too personal, just enough to quell some of the questions they have."

Ava smirked faintly. "Your call."

That was when I noticed the faint bruise along her jaw, half-hidden by her dark hair. "What happened to your face?"

She glanced at me. "One of the guys from the north wall was still breathing when I got there, he didn't want to come quietly."

"You fought him?"

"Dragged him to the van myself." She said it like she was talking about hauling groceries from the car. "He's in police custody now, if he's lucky."

I stared at her. "So you're... what exactly? Head of PR and some kind of enforcer?"

"Both," she said, without missing a beat. "I can kill a news story or kill a person, depending on what the situation calls for."

"So which one exactly are you here for?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Her eyes held mine for a beat too long. " For the most part, I'm here to keep you safe. Adrian thought it was worth the investment."

I turned to him. "You hired her specifically to protect me?"

"I hired her because Allegra's not the only person who might want leverage over me," he said. "You're the easiest way to get to me for anyone who can't touch me directly."

That wasn't exactly the comfort I was looking for.

Ava closed the folder and then set it on the desk. "There's also the matter of tonight's charity gala."

I groaned. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Cancel it," Adrian said immediately.

"You can't," Ava countered. "Half the board will be there, plus two foreign investors you've been courting for months. If you pull out now, it'll look like you're running scared."

"I am running scared," I muttered.

Ava ignored me completely. "We'll have security doubled. I'll shadow her the entire time."

Adrian's jaw tightened, but he didn't argue with her. "Fine. But the second anything looks even slightly off, we're gone."

"Agreed," Ava said.

By mid-afternoon, the press outside had thinned out slightly, but the cameras were still there, waiting around like vultures as I watched them from an upstairs window while Ava went over the evening's security plan.

"You'll be in the same car as Adrian," she said, consulting a tablet. "Two security SUVs in front, two behind. Inside the gala, you don't leave his side for any reason. No drinks from strangers, no slipping off to the bathroom alone, no—"

"No fun whatsoever," I finished for her.

"Exactly," she said without cracking a smile.

I glanced at her. "How long have you been doing this kind of work?"

"Long enough to know you're gonna try and break at least one of those rules before the night's over."

I couldn't help it, I laughed. "What? You don't even know me."

"I know enough," she said, and there was something almost amused in her tone. "You've got that look."

"What look?"

"The look of someone who thinks rules are only more like suggestions."

I studied her face. "And you? Do you follow all the rules?"

She smiled. "I prefer to make my own rules. Except of course, there's money involved."

The rest of the day passed in a blur of preparations and phone calls. I stayed in the east wing, partly because it was quieter and partly because I didn't want to walk past those front gates and see the press circus again. Adrian came and went, his phone practically glued to his ear, his voice low but firm whenever he spoke.

At one point, I found him in the small sitting room across from my temporary bedroom, loosening his tie with one hand while scrolling through messages with the other.

"You really think I'm safer here than in my own room?" I asked from the doorway.

"Yes," he said simply, not looking up from his phone.

"Because it's closer to yours?"

He finally looked at me then, and there was something gentle in his gaze. "Exactly."

I should have felt annoyed by the possessiveness in his tone, but instead I found it strangely comforting.

"What if I don't want to go tonight?" I asked.

"Then we don't go."

"But Ava said—"

"Ava works for me. Not the other way around." He set his phone down and gave me his full attention. "If you're not comfortable, we stay home."

The simple certainty in his voice caught me off guard. "And the investors? The board members?"

"Can wait."

I studied his face, looking for the catch. "Just like that?"

"Just like that."

For a moment, we just looked at each other across the small room. Then I shook my head. "No. We should go. I can't hide forever."

Something shifted in his expression, approval, maybe, or respect. "You sure?"

"No," I said honestly. "But I'm going anyway."

By evening, Ava appeared again, dressed for the gala in a sleek black dress that somehow still managed to accommodate her shoulder holster. "Time to move," she said.

The three of us made our way quickly through the service entrance, avoiding the front of the house entirely. Markus was waiting with the car, engine already running, his eyes constantly scanning the driveway.

As we pulled away from the house, the flash of cameras lit up the end of the driveway like lightning. Reporters shouted questions that I couldn't make out through the bulletproof glass, but I didn't need to, I already knew what they were asking.

Inside the car, Adrian's hand came to rest lightly on my knee. It wasn't possessive or demanding, more like a quiet reminder that he was right there. The contact was brief, but it sent a warm ripple through me all the same.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

I looked out at the city lights streaming past us. "Ask me again in a few hours."