Chapter 9 - THE UNBROKEN GAZING
For ten agonizing seconds, no one in the room moved.
The fluffy white cat, Snow, stretched its long legs on the blue velvet armchair, letting out a soft, silent yawn before curling back down into its nap. The golden afternoon light shifted slightly, casting a sharp, metallic glint across the steel watch on Adrian’s wrist and the small silver locket still held firmly in his right hand.
Adrian did not release his grip on the locket.
He kept the tiny oval piece snapped shut now, wrapped securely within his scarred, tattooed fingers, while his left arm remained locked like an iron band around Nora’s back, shielding her small floral dress against his bare torso.
He stared at Emma Foster.
He looked at her trembling hands. He looked at her posture—not the posture of a hired servant cowering before a wealthy employer, but the defensive, instinctual stance of a mother protecting her child from a man she knew far too well.
He looked at the subtle structure of her cheekbones beneath the simple makeup. He looked at the shape of her brown eyes, filled with tears that mirrored his own.
"You..." Adrian rasped, his voice vibrating with a dark, shattered resonance that shook the quiet room.
Emma didn't answer. She took another shaky step forward into the room, her eyes never leaving her sleeping daughter, her hands clutching her apron so hard the black fabric groaned under the strain.
"Please..." Emma sobbed quietly, her voice a fragile, broken plea that drifted across the vast expanse of blue and gold. "Please, Adrian... just give her to me."
She used his name.
Not Mr. Kane. Not Sir.
May you like
She used the name she hadn't spoken aloud in three long, secret years.
Adrian’s jaw set into an iron line. A fresh wave of tears welled in his dark eyes, but he didn't blink. He didn't offer to hand Nora over. Instead, he tightened his broad arm around the three-year-old girl, pulling her an inch closer to his heart.
