Chapter 4 - The Gilded Cage
The Escalade glided silently down Lake Shore Drive, the city skyline blurring past tinted windows. Inside, the leather was supple, smelling of cedarwood and Adrian’s expensive cologne.
I stared out the window, refusing to acknowledge the man sitting beside me. Yet I could feel his gaze tracking every rise and fall of my chest.
Eventually, the motorcade swept down a private subterranean ramp beneath a towering glass monolith in the Gold Coast. Gates opened, biometric scanners flashed green, and the heavy security grates slammed shut behind us.
We took a private elevator directly to the top floor.
When the doors parted, I gasped in spite of myself. The penthouse spanned two stories, wrapped entirely in floor-to-ceiling glass that framed a breathtaking panorama of Lake Michigan. Hardwood floors gleamed beneath abstract art, minimalist Italian furniture, and soaring vaulted ceilings. It was a fortress disguised as a palace.
"Welcome home," Adrian said quietly, slipping off his tailored suit jacket and tossing it onto an armchair.
"This isn't my home," I reminded him, clutching my purse to my stomach like armor. "My home is a six-hundred-square-foot walk-up in Pilsen where the radiator clanks all night."
"Your lease was terminated an hour ago," Adrian replied smoothly, walking toward the marble bar to pour a glass of sparkling water. He dropped a slice of lemon into it and brought it over to me. "Your belongings have already been packed by professional movers. The unsanitary dump you were living in has been condemned."
I stared at him, my fury igniting. "You did what? You destroyed my apartment?!"
"I bought the building and evicted everyone with six months' worth of severance pay, Claire," he corrected, offering the glass. "The wiring was a fire hazard. There were no deadbolts on the exterior doors. You were sleeping three blocks away from an active gang territory while carrying my heir. Drink the water. You are dehydrated."
"I don't want your water! I don't want your penthouse!" I shouted, the dam breaking. Tears of exhaustion and terror threatened to spill over. "You think you can just buy everything? Buy me? I ran away from you because I don't want my child around guns, bodies, and crime syndicates! Nathan was cruel, yes, but he wouldn't get our baby caught in a crossfire!"
Adrian set the glass down on a glass console table with a sharp *clack*.
In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance between us. He didn't hurt me—his hands were impossibly gentle as they cupped my jaw, tilting my face up to his. His thumbs wiped away the single tear that betrayed me.
May you like
"Nathan would have let you drown to save his own pride," Adrian said, his voice thick with an intensity that rattled my soul. "I would burn the entire city to ash before I let a single stray bullet fly within a mile of you. Do you understand me, Claire? You are the safest woman on this continent."
***
