Chapter 85: The Calm Before the Storm

The silence between them had shifted into something else entirely. It wasn't tense, wasn't heavy with the weight of unspoken things like it had been before, but neither was it light. It was something in between, something Kian wasn't sure he knew how to define, something Adrian wasn't even trying to. That was always the difference between them, wasn't it? Kian was always calculating, always searching for the next move, the next weakness, the next opportunity to stay in control. And Adrian? Adrian was always steady, always waiting, always watching, like he knew Kian would unravel on his own if he just gave him enough time. And maybe Adrian had been right all along, because here Kian was, standing in the middle of his penthouse, his entire world still under his command, still untouched by the chaos of the outside, and yet—he didn't feel in control at all.