A Dangerous Alliance

Some betrayals push you closer to the person you should fear the most.

Celeste..

There were too many questions, too many missing pieces, and nowhere near enough time.

I walked through the dimly lit hallway of Adrian's estate, my mind a battlefield of conflicting emotions. The weight of what I had just told him still lingered in the air between us. The enemy is inside. Someone close is feeding them information. It wasn't a theory anymore—it was a fact. But what did that mean for me?

I wasn't supposed to care. I wasn't supposed to feel anything when it came to Adrian Russo. But I wasn't blind either. Someone was setting him up, and if they were inside his circle, that meant I was in danger too.

My heels clicked against the marble floors as I made my way to the library—one of the few places in this house where I could be alone. The fire crackled in the grand fireplace, casting long shadows against the dark wood bookshelves. I pressed my hands against the cool surface of the desk, exhaling slowly.

I needed to think.

I had been undercover for months, walking this fine line between truth and deception. But the more time I spent in this world, the more blurred those lines became. Who was the real enemy here?

A creak at the doorway pulled me from my thoughts. My hand instinctively moved to the knife strapped to my thigh, but I didn't reach for it just yet.

"Paranoid much?" a voice drawled.

Lorenzo. Adrian's right-hand man.

I schooled my expression into something neutral. "Shouldn't I be? Someone is clearly trying to get us all killed."

Lorenzo stepped inside, hands in his pockets, watching me like I was one of two things—a threat or a puzzle he couldn't quite solve. "You always know more than you let on, Celeste. It makes me wonder where your loyalties really lie."

I smiled, slow and deliberate. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

He chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "Adrian trusts you. That doesn't happen often. But trust is a tricky thing, isn't it? One wrong move, and it turns into a blade to the throat."

I held his gaze, refusing to let him see that his words struck a nerve. Adrian trusts me? No. He watches me. He tests me. He doesn't trust anyone.

Before I could respond, Lorenzo sighed, shaking his head. "Just be careful, Celeste. You're playing a dangerous game. And Adrian…"

I raised a brow. "What about him?"

Lorenzo hesitated, then smirked. "Let's just say, if you're not careful, he won't be the only one burned."

With that, he left, leaving me alone with a thousand unanswered questions and the unsettling realization that maybe, just maybe, I wasn't as in control of this as I thought.

Later that night

Sleep never came easy in a house like this. Every shadow felt like a threat. Every silence was too loud. And Adrian Russo was never far from my mind.

I tossed the blanket aside and padded toward the window, staring at the city lights beyond the estate. There was no turning back now. I was in this, whether I wanted to be or not.

A sudden noise behind me made me turn, heart hammering. I reached for the knife at my thigh, but then I saw him—

Adrian.

He leaned against the doorframe, watching me with that unreadable gaze of his. "Can't sleep?"

I forced my pulse to steady. "Neither can you."

He stepped closer, his movements slow, deliberate. "There's a war coming, Celeste. And I need to know where you stand."

I swallowed hard. "What do you mean?"

He exhaled sharply, stepping close enough that the heat of him curled around me. "Someone in my house wants me dead. Someone is feeding information to my enemies. And the only person I can't figure out… is you."

The accusation wasn't direct, but it was there. 

I lifted my chin. "If you thought I was the leak, you wouldn't be standing here. You would have already made sure I disappeared."

His smirk was slow, dangerous. "You're right. But that doesn't mean I don't have my doubts."

Silence stretched between us, thick with tension, mistrust, and something neither of us wanted to name.

I knew what I should say. I should tell him to stay away, to keep his guard up. But instead, I took a step closer, my voice lower than it should have been. "Then watch me, Adrian. See for yourself."

Something shifted in his gaze. The air between us changed—too hot, too heavy. His hand lifted slightly, like he was about to touch me, but at the last second, he stopped himself.

"I already am, Ogonëk."

I hated the way my pulse betrayed me. Hated the way his presence felt like a gravitational force I couldn't pull away from.

He took a slow step back, his eyes still locked onto mine. "Get some rest. Tomorrow, we start finding the traitor. Together."

And just like that, he was gone, leaving me standing in the dark, with a war waging not just around me—but inside me.