THE CHRISTMAS WE DIVORCED.

Shadows Between Us

Sophia's POV

" Why do you always do this?" He growled, steadying himself on the edge of the kitchen counter. My voice trembled, not from terror but from the intense surge of feelings threatening to sweep over to drown me. "Why do you behave just enough to keep me around but not enough to let me in?"

Once more Adrian was standing too near. His enormous body loomed above me, his dark and seductive perfume filling the air between us. His mouth closed as if he were attempting to swallow something he couldn't speak; his emerald-green eyes blazed with frustration.

"Because I can't let you go, Sophia," he said, his voice harsh at last. Not when every instinct I possess yells to guard you.

I laughed sadly, a sound that seemed empty even to me. " protect me? That's rich coming from the man who split me apart and left me to sort it out alone.

His hand smacked into the counter next to me, causing me to recoil with quick motion. He bent in, his face inches from mine, his breath warm across my cheek. "You believe I wanted to injure you? That I sought any of this? You know nothing of what I have gone through to keep you safe."

Then let me know! I turned to snap, burning eyes. "Stop Adrian with the half-truths and cryptic threats. Give me the truth once in your life if your level of concern matches what you profess.

His face wavered, sensitivity flickering across his features before his customary mask of control slid back into place. He started to answer, but the words never came out.

Rather, a piercing noise broke the quiet, a clear, repetitive hammering on the glass. As both of our heads swung toward the sound source, my heart stammered. The porch.

First Adrian moved, his body stiffening as he quickly strode across the space. My heart thumping in my ears, I trailed reluctantly. The glass doors outside lit by the city lights showed a dark figure just beyond them.

Adrian gave a low, threatening "Stay back." He grabbed from the side table a weapon I hadn't even noticed was there. My throat constricted, bewilderment and terror swimming through me.

"Adrian, who is that?" I said softly, my voice shaking.

He didn't reply. Rather, he opened the balcony door with a startling coolness and left, his rifle barrel firmly pointed at the invader.

The door swung wide and the frigid night air surged into the room. I gazed frozenly as Adrian faced the apparition. There stood a man in a black coat, his face hidden under a scarf and the shadow of his hood.

"You're either very brave or very stupid," Adrian remarked, his voice like ice. "Give me one cause why I shouldn't put a bullet in you right now."

The guy lifted his hands slowly, a sarcastic smirk twisting his lips. "Relax, Blackwell," he murmured, his voice silky and patronizing. "I'm not here to kill anybody yet."

Then, what do you want for?" Adrian insisted, his finger poised perilously above the trigger.

The man turned his head toward me and started to smile broadly. She understands the reason I am here.

My blood came cold. Despite Adrian's warning glance, I continued, "I don't even know who you are," moving closer to the door. "What would you want from me?"

"You'll find out soon enough," the guy said vaguely. "But you should be aware—from now on, every decision you take will have results. For yourselves as well.

Adrian lost his composure and became impatient. "You have ten seconds to leave this balcony before I cause you regret to set foot here."

The man's grin never wavered, but he lifted his hands once again in imitation submission. "Very good. I will depart for now. But you cannot shield her always, Blackwell. The clock is running against us.

He turned then and vanished into the darkness like a phantom from the brink of the balcony. Under his breath, Adrian muttered, lowering the rifle but not his guard. He turned to me, a look combining worry and wrath.

His voice lowered now, "Are you okay?" he questioned.

"Do I seem okay?" I fired back, my anxiety turning into irritation. "Who the devil was that, Adrian? And why did he behave as though it was all my fault?"

"I have no idea who he is," Adrian said, his voice tinged with annoyance. "But he obviously links to the individuals aiming at us. He is knowledgeable, too."

"Too much about me, you mean," I murmured, my chest constricting. "What aren't you bringing forward, Adrian?"

He paused; that stillness was all I needed to know—more he was not saying. The irritation erupted, and I shoved past him, snatching my coat from behind the chair.

Demandingly harsh, "Where do you think you're going?" he said.

" Somewhere you're not," I said. "Adrian, I can't remain here and play this game with you any more. If my life is in jeopardy, I deserve to know the truth—not whatever half-baked version you believe would keep me from disintegrating."

Stepping in front of me, he said, "You're not leaving." His presence physically and emotionally was a wall I could not get beyond. " NOT tonight. Not under his direction out there."

"And what do you propose I do, then?" My voice grew as I asked. "Sit here and watch for the next masked madman arriving bearing a cryptic threat. Since thus far that's working out really nicely.

"Let me handle it," he responded, his voice steely. "Sophia, I will keep you safe. You only have to believe me.

Confidence. One delicate thread, one that may break at any moment, stretched between us. I wanted to believe him—I really did—but the weight of all he was not telling destroyed any sense of security.

Quietly, my voice cracking, "Trusting you is what got me into this mess in the first place." "And I doubt whether I could survive trusting you once more."

His countenance softened, and for a brief instant I saw the guy I had fallen in love with all those years before. the man intended and promised me the world. Promises, however, were meaningless when they rested on falsehoods.

With a strong and unbroken voice, he added, "I'm not letting anything happen to you." "even though it costs everything."

Before I could reply, the flat once more resonated with broken glass. We both stopped, our eyes flying to the source—a sleek black automobile parked across the street with its headlights squarely pointed at the penthouse.

The engine sprang to life and then, without suddenly, started for the structure. toward us.

"Be down!" Just before the automobile slammed into the front lobby of the building below, Adrian yelled and grabbed me and dragged me to the ground. The crash rocked the whole penthouse; I could hear broken concrete and twisted metal.

I heard a weak, garbled voice emanating from the ruins through the cloud of dirt and trash. a playback.

"This is just the start."

As the dust cleared, Adrian's hold on my arm tightened, and his words sliced through the tumult like a razor. "Stay here, Sophia. Do not migrate.

"Wait, Adrian," said My voice quivering with terror, I gripped his sleeve. "You cannot simply drop down there. Suppose it is a trap instead?

He turned to me, his emerald eyes flashing with a force that made my breath stop. He sadly remarked, "It is a trap." "But they'll come for you again if I can't find out what the heck is going on. They won't miss either the next time.

He stood, his motions quick and deliberate as he holstered his rifle and reached for a second weapon from a wall-mounted secret container before I could object. My heart thumping in my ears, I watched him, caught between the terrible need to follow him and terror.

"adrian—" My voice stopped, then he stopped gazing back at me. The mask of control briefly fell, revealing something raw and vulnerable under it.

"I'll be back," he whispered gently, his voice hardly a whisper. "Just... trust me."

Then he vanished, down the stairway without another word. Fighting the need to dash after him, I tightened my hands and nails dug into my palms. Every feeling shouted that something wasn't right, that this was not a haphazard act of violence. Behind this was someone with perfect knowledge.

Now the penthouse was strangely still, the only sound the far-off screech of sirens rising as emergency crews arrived. My pulse pounding, I walked the room trying to fit the bits of this dream together. These were individuals. Their preferences were what? And why did Adrian seem to be hiding more than he was reporting?

A little groan from the balcony jolted me out of my day-dream. As I turned slowly and locked my eyes on the sliding glass door, my blood became ice. It was opening.

'Adrian?' My voice a little above a whisper, I cried out. Nothing.

My skin crawled as the frigid night air poured into the chamber, bearing a sensation of foreboding. My heart thumping like a rhythm in my chest, I moved forward. The shadows outside changed, and for a second I thought I could see movement—a flutter of something sinister and black.

Then there was a voice. Low, chilly, and obviously near. Sophia, you shouldn't have stayed by yourself.

Still whirling, it was too late. A gloved palm clamped over my lips, muffled my cry as two arms pulled me back into the darkness.

The flickering light from the broken window and Adrian's figure sprinting into the room caught my final view before everything went dark—his voice a shout of wrath. The planet vanished into silence then.