Crisis Averted

I woke up to numerous notifications chiming on my phone, groaning when my peaceful sleep was ruined.

Grumbling under my breath, I turned to look behind me when I felt colder than usual, my eyes narrowing beside me at the empty space.

Where'd he go?

Sitting up in bed, I looked around the room and surely, there was no sign of Adam. Pulling the covers off from myself I got out of bed and figured he must be downstairs.

Pulling my hair into a messy bun, I brushed my teeth and washed my face to get rid of the sleepiness from my eyes.

Putting on one of Adam's hoodies, I went downstairs, shocked at what I saw. Papers, files, folders and what not scattered everywhere.

What the hell?

Moving towards the mess, I tried to gather them and put them aside on a nearby table, frowning when I saw different bank statements and photocopies of bank checks ranging to millions, all with Adam's signature on them.

What is this?

Confused as hell, I went back to the room and unplugged my phone and tried dialing Adam's number, but it went to voicemail every time I tried.

Getting worried now, I scrolled through the numerous messages and opened the ones from Lance.

"Okay, we'll talk about the interview tomorrow."

"Are you awake yet? We need to talk."

"Belle? Don't tell me you're still asleep. I'll call later since I'm in a meeting."

"For fuck's sake are you even alive?"

"Okay, now I'm worried, even Adam's not picking up."

"Never mind, I met Adam and talked to him."

"We need to talk about some important things, call me when you get my message."

"Sweetheart where are you? I'm worried."

"Jeez, what did you do last night?"

"Are you okay? Tell me you're okay."

"We desperately need you here Belle, Adam's gone berserk."

Ignoring all the messages, my eyes fixed on the last one as a crease formed between my eyebrows.

Adam's gone berserk? What the hell does that mean?

Dialing Lance's number, I heard two rigs before he picked up.

"Lance, hey I-..."

"Are you okay? Tell me you're fine and not dead." Lance's concerned voice cut me off.

"Yes, I'm okay. I just overslept a bit." I said and heard his breath of relief.

"Okay, that's good. But we really need you here right now. There's been a problem at Adam's company and he's gone crazy. Been throwing a tantrum since morning." He said worried, making me frown.

"What happened? Is everything alright? Is Adam okay?" I asked concerned.

"Yes... Well, no. He's been screaming and shouting on literally everyone and firing people for the smallest mistakes. There's been a huge loss at the company and its affected ours too. Someone has been taking out money illegally." Lance explained, making my eyes widen.

"What? How? Why?" I asked confused and heard his sigh.

"I don't know Belle, but I'd suggest you come down here because we can't seem to help him calm down. Don't want to hurt himself, now do we?" He spoke as I fumbled through the closet for clothes.

"Yeah I'm getting ready as we speak. I'll be there in twenty, max." I said when he replied with an 'okay' and hung up, putting on a turtleneck and pants, I slipped on my heels and a coat.

Keeping my hair open, I grabbed my phone and dialed Adam's driver, Carter, who picked up on the first ring and said he'd be here in five minutes.

Quickly walking out of the penthouse I stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the private garage where Carter would be waiting for me.

Stepping into the garage, I approached Carter with quick steps as he opened the door for me and I sat in, buckling my seat belt as we drove off.

"Carter, do you know what happened? Is everything alright?" I asked him worried and saw him glance briefly at me through the rear view mirror.

"Mr. Thorne was quite in a hurry to get to the company this morning. He always is, but today he seemed... disorganized and quite frantic. And Mr. Throne is always anything but frantic." He said, his eyebrows creasing slightly and so did mine in confusion.

"And do you know what happened?" I asked again, hoping to get to know anything I could.

"He was talking on the phone quite angrily to the board members, I presume. Something about money being illegally transferred and laundered out." He spoke, the nerves kicking in as the company's building came into view.

"Okay. Thank you Carter." I said with a weak smile as my door was opened by a guard at the entrance.

With quick steps, I walked inside, heads turning my way as eyes widened, but I ignored them all and headed straight for the private elevator that Adam used so I'd reach him quicker.

Just as I stepped on Adam's floor, my eyes widened at the scene before me as people scurried about frantically, running around like mice from a cat.

I spotted Lucas speaking on his phone to someone in a corner and made a beeline for him.

"Lucas?" I spoke and he looked up from the floor, his eyes momentarily widening before he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ms. Edward, hello. How can I help you?" He asked politely but I could sense that he was barely keeping it together.

Poor guy.

"Where's Adam?" I asked, my eyes searching for him but I couldn't find him.

"In the boardroom, shouting at people." He said with a sigh when I frowned.

"Is it that bad?" I asked carefully to which he nodded. I bit my lip in thought before speaking again.

"And where are my brothers?" I asked him.

"They just left a while ago." He said, his eyes fixated on something behind me. I looked back and saw Liam running towards the boardroom with lots of papers and files in his hands, his hair tousled and messy.

"Is the meeting important?" I asked gesturing towards the boardroom to which Lucas shook his head.

"There's only people of our company in there, no one else. You can go in if you'd like." He said, his eyes full of hope as I nodded, deep in thought.

"Okay, thank you." I replied, hearing him mutter something about 'Mr. Thorne finally calming down after I came', but I ignored it and headed towards the boardroom.

On reaching it, I flinched when I heard someone inside shouting very loudly, and recognized the deep voice as Adam's. I reached for the door's handle, but stopped mid way, hesitating a bit.

Should I go in?

What if he gets mad?

Should I wait for him?

Will he be angry that I came here?

All my thoughts and insecurities flew out the window when I heard something shattering inside, and without another thought, I opened the doors quickly as silence fell upon the room and all heads turned towards me.

Yikes.

I had everyone's gaze on me but one, as his back faced me, his hands resting on the table in fists and his head hung low as if he was trying to calm himself down.

Although failing miserably.

I met Liam's eyes for a brief second and saw the worry in them as I walked over to Adam slowly, but he still didn't notice my presence in the room. Coming closer to him, I saw him breathing heavily before he released a shaky breath.

Biting my lip, I slowly put my hand on his shoulder, the action causing him to jerk up suddenly and turn around, his eyes widening a fraction when he saw me in front of him.

Is he mad?

"Rose?" He whispered weakly as I offered him a small smile.

"It's me. It's okay. You're okay." I whispered, cupping his face with both my hands when he closed his eyes and released a breath of what seemed like relief.

His arms went around my waist as he pulled me closer to him, his face nuzzling in the crook of my neck as he took a deep breath while my own hands gently ran through his hair.

"It's alright. Calm down." I whispered, placing a kiss on his cheek and then his neck, feeling his arms tighten around me.

"Get out." His cold voice rang through the boardroom, initially scaring me a bit as well but as everyone scurried out of the room, I felt myself relaxing a bit too.

"Adam?" I called out to him softly and heard him hum in response.

"Yes baby?" He said, his voice more gentler now as I stroked his hair.

"Are you okay?" I asked carefully and heard him take a deep breath before speaking.

"I am now that you're here." He whispered, kissing my neck softly but I pulled away a bit from him.

"Let's go to your office, yeah?" I asked stroking his cheek lightly to which he nodded and kissed the inside of my palm before taking my hand in his and leading us out of the room and into his office.

On reaching his office, he went ahead and sat in his chair, pulling me along with him so I ended up in his lap.

"I looked for you when I woke up, but I couldn't find you anywhere." I said as his eyes raked my face hungrily.

"I know baby, I'm sorry. I had to leave early because of some... problems." He gritted out, his hands forming fists at the end to which I quickly held them, stroking his knuckles gently and placing a kiss on his cheek.

"It's okay." I said and rested my head on his chest, hearing his heartbeat go back to normal.

"What happened?" I asked softly as his fingers combed through my hair and heard him grunt.

"It's nothing. It'll work out sooner or later." He said, clearly angry judging by the tone of his voice.

"Adam... I know what happened. You don't have to hide anything from me. Tell me your problems. You'll fell much lighter," I said, now looking up to his eyes that were overflowing with emotion at the moment, a drastic contrast to before when they cold and lifeless.

He took a deep breath before relaying all of today's events to me, and how the company was facing a big loss because someone had been taking out money form the company's account illegally, and the money had now amounted to millions.

"I saw the papers scattered everywhere in the morning. Did you do that?' I asked, playing with the buttons of his white dress shirt.

"I was looking for anything that could tell me who could've done such a thing. Any evidence, proof, anything at all to see if I could pinpoint a specific person or if I was the one who had actually taken out the money. But I got nothing." He sighed defeated and I couldn't help but feel his pain.

"It'll be okay Adam. I'm sure of it." I said determined, watching his full lips form a small smile as he cupped my cheek.

"With you by side, I'm sure it will." He said, leaning down and capturing my lips in a sweet kiss, our lips molding together perfectly and moving as one.

It wasn't long before the kiss got heated and Adam had me sitting on his desk with him standing between my legs as his lips assaulted my own.

"Adam..." I tried pushing him away but he only grunted in displeasure, his fingers digging onto my skin as his hold on me tightened considerably while he kissed me absolutely breathless.

Finally pulling away, he tugged at my turtle neck sweater, his eyes dark as he gazed at me hungrily.

"Take this off." He commanded, his dominating voice making me want to clench my thighs together as I felt the wetness pooling between my legs.

"But-.." I started but was cut off when he came impossibly close to me, his lips hovering over my own while his fingers tugged my sweater out of my pants.

"Take. It. Off." He grumbled, causing me to bite my lip as I pulled the sweater over my head, now only in a bra in front of him.

"Fuck." He muttered, his hands taking a hold of my waist as he pulled me towards him, my core throbbing when I met his own pulsating one.

"Adam, we can't... Not here-..." I was so rudely cut off once again when he grunted, his lips leaving a trail of kisses down my neck, sucking and biting and I was sure he was leaving marks.

Only when I adjusted myself on the table did he growl when I accidentally ground myself against him.

"Fuck sweetheart, you're driving me crazy." He said as one of his hands slid to the back of my neck, pulling my head up to meet his lips in another long and searing kiss.

Pulling away a few moments later, he rested his forehead against mine, both of us panting and breathless.

"I'm sorry. I... I got carried away. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Adam spoke slowly, his eyes finally meeting mine as I saw something like regret and guilt pass through them. I cupped his face and made him look properly at me before speaking.

"Hey, it's okay. It's alright. I understand. I wasn't uncomfortable at all. In fact, I feel safe when I'm with you. Really safe. I'm just worried about you." I said softly, watching as he closed his eyes, a pained expression crossing his face before he masked it quickly.

"You have no idea what it means to me that you're here. For me. That you feel safe with me. I'm still sorry though, for getting rough." He said, his hands taking a hold of my wrists.

"It's okay." I whispered, placing a peck on his lips when I saw him smile faintly, this one actually reaching his eyes.

"Thank you." He whispered back, pecking my lips once more before helping me pull my sweater back on.

"I just want you to promise me one thing. Please." Adam said once I was dressed, still sitting on the table as he pushed away my hair from my face.

"Anything." I said smiling a little, to which he gave me an unsure smile.

"I want you to stay with me. Because I don't know what I'd do without you. Please, just don't... leave me. I can't lose you." He said, his eyes vulnerable as my heart rate picked up speed when I saw him taking off a ring from his finger and holding it out to me.

"Is this...?" I trailed off, looking at the ring then Adam who shook his head lightly.

"It's not an engagement ring. It's like... a promise ring. That you'll stay with me. That you're mine. Forever." He said, his thumb drawing circles on my cheek as I stared at him wordlessly.

Forever.

"Stay with me?" He asked softly and before I could say anything, I found myself nodding my head at him.

His face morphed into one of pure happiness as he took my right hand gently and slipped the ring on my fourth finger, admiring it before looking back at me with such adoration I felt myself melt.

"Forever?" I finally spoke, my voice coming out higher than expected when he smiled and nodded.

"All Mine. Forever." He said, and something about his words sounded as if they were being written in stone. And that was the moment I knew it all too well.

I was falling.

Hard.