"Come home. Focus on your breakthrough to Apex Realm and accept that you're not suited for this kind of work. I'll send someone else... someone who will do the job better than you."

The call had ended minutes ago.

But his father's voice still echoed in Adrian's ears like a knife tearing his heart apart, each word a fresh cut that refused to stop bleeding.

Adrian could handle disappointment. Could handle anger. Could handle being called pathetic, a failure, a waste of the Blackwell name.

But this... the thought of someone else being sent to Catherine... this he couldn't handle.

The image formed unbidden in his mind: another operative, someone "better suited" for this kind of work, arriving at Thornhaven Manor, sliding into the spot Adrian had carved out for himself, using closeness to charm Catherine... seducing her with an ease Adrian had failed to achieve.

Touching her. Making her laugh. Earning those rare moments of genuine warmth she showed so sparingly.

His hands clenched into fists, Enhanced strength making his knuckles crack with pressure that would have shattered normal bones.

I'll never allow it.

The conviction burned through him with absolute certainty... irrational, possessive, completely at odds with the professional detachment he was supposed to maintain.

But beneath the anger… beneath the humiliation… something darker twisted in his chest.

To Adrian, Catherine wasn't just a mission anymore.

She was his.

His woman.

His future.

His inevitable.

So what if he hadn't confessed yet?

So what if she didn't know it yet?

She will.

Today. Tomorrow. Eventually.

It was only a matter of time.

That certainty... delusional, territorial, absolute... settled into him like iron.

And the thought of another man stepping into her orbit, touching what was his, speaking to what was his, being near what was his…

It made something primal roar inside him.

I won't let anyone else have her.

Never.

Yet even as the thought formed, reality crashed back with crushing weight.

He knew his father.

Whatever the old man said was final.

There were no negotiations.

No second chances beyond what he'd already been granted.

Three days. That was all he had. Three days to succeed at what he'd failed to achieve in twelve months.

Fail... and someone else would be sent in his place, and he'd be forced to watch from afar while they did what he couldn't.

Adrian moved to the window, staring out at Thornhaven Manor's grounds without really seeing them, his Enhanced perception turned inward instead of outward.

The deadline felt simultaneously impossibly short and agonizingly long.

'But how?'

The question tore through him with desperate force.

'How can I do in three days what I couldn't accomplish in almost a year? What can possibly change in seventy-two hours that would make Catherine suddenly see me differently?'

The doubt crept in like poison through his veins, cold and paralyzing.

'Am I even good enough for her?'

The question... one he'd suppressed for months through sheer force of will and family pride... finally surfaced with brutal honesty.

Catherine Blackwood. Brilliant. Powerful. Positioned to lead one of the Seven Sacred Houses.

And him? Adrian Blackwell. Peak Enhanced, yes. Prodigy, supposedly. Heir to a prestigious vassal family.

But when he stood before Catherine, all of that seemed to evaporate, leaving only a twenty-eight-year-old man who couldn't speak without second-guessing every word, whose hands grew unsteady at her proximity, whose confidence shattered under the weight of actually wanting something beyond professional achievement.

She'll never accept you.

The voice in his head sounded disturbingly like his father's... cold, dismissive, absolutely certain of Adrian's inadequacy.

You've had a year. If she wanted you, she would have given some indication by now.

Instead she treats you with the same professional courtesy she shows every competent member of her security team. Nothing more. Nothing less.

You're just another employee to her. Another Peak Enhanced practitioner who serves House Blackwood interests. Replaceable.

Adrian's reflection in the window glass stared back at him, and he barely recognized the man he saw... jaw tight, eyes hollow with something that looked dangerously close to despair.

No.

The denial rose from somewhere deep, instinctive, refusing to accept defeat even when logic screamed that defeat was inevitable.

She never rejected me.

The thought struck with sudden clarity, and Adrian latched onto it like a drowning man finding driftwood.

'She knew I liked her. She has to know... I haven't exactly been subtle. The way I look at her. The way I position myself to be near her. The way I volunteer for every assignment that might bring us into proximity. She's too intelligent, too observant not to have noticed.'

'And she never rejected me.'

Adrian's mind raced, re-analyzing a year's worth of interactions through this new lens, searching desperately for evidence that his interest hadn't been completely one-sided.

'If she truly wanted me gone, she could have reassigned me to other duties. House Blackwood has dozens of positions that would suit someone of my capabilities.'

'But she kept me here. On her personal security detail. In proximity. For twelve months.'

The reasoning felt solid... or at least solid enough to silence the voice of doubt for a few precious moments.

'And in this past year...' Adrian's Enhanced memory scrolled through observations with systematic precision.

'She hasn't been in contact with any man who could be a boyfriend. No romantic interests that I've detected. No secret relationships. No signs of attachment elsewhere.'

'That means...'

Hope bloomed in his chest, fragile but growing stronger with each rationalization.

'Maybe she's just waiting for me to make the first move. Maybe she likes me too but can't initiate because of the professional boundary. Maybe she's been giving me space all along… and I've simply been too hesitant to take it.'

The logic felt increasingly convincing, each piece of evidence carefully selected and arranged to support the conclusion Adrian desperately needed to believe.

'Of course that's it. ' Adrian convinced himself fully. 'She's interested... she just can't make the first move. Someone in her position pursuing her own security detail would be inappropriate.'

'But if I take the lead, she'll respond. She has to. Why else would she keep me this close for an entire year?'

Adrian straightened, desperation sharpening into determination, his reflection looking less hollow and more focused.

The ultimatum his father had delivered became something different in Adrian's mind... not a threat of failure, but a catalyst for action.

A deadline that would force him to finally stop hesitating and take the chance he'd been avoiding for months.

'Three days. I have three days to do what I should have done at the beginning. Approach Catherine directly. State my intentions clearly. Make her understand what I'm offering.'

His mind began racing through possibilities, strategies, approaches... all the tactical planning he should have employed from the start instead of wasting months in hesitant proximity.

'I'm Peak Enhanced. Heir to the Blackwell family. Less than a year from Apex breakthrough. I have everything she could want in a partner... power, bloodline, political position, loyalty.'

The confidence built with each thought, fed by desperation and willful blindness to evidence that contradicted the narrative he was constructing.

'And right now... right now, Catherine needs support. House Blackwood succession politics are heating up. Various factions are maneuvering for position. She's brilliant and strong, but she's also somewhat isolated. Not everyone in the House is confident in her ability to lead.'

'But I am. My family is. We've always believed in Catherine's capabilities.'

Adrian's hands unclenched, his breathing steadying as purpose replaced panic.

'I can offer her what she needs most right now... absolute loyalty from a prestigious vassal family.'

'My father is Apex Realm, influential within House Blackwood's power structure. If I marry Catherine, the Blackwell family's full support comes with me. Political backing. Military strength.'

'A powerful alliance that would make her position as future House Head unassailable.'

The reasoning grew more elaborate, more convinced of its own logic.

'I'll tell her I love her. I'll offer marriage. I'll promise my family's complete political support. And I'll make her understand that this alliance benefits both of us.'

Adrian's reflection now showed a man who looked almost manic with determination... jaw set, eyes bright with conviction that was either brilliant strategy or complete delusion.

'She'll say yes. She has to say yes. Because I'm offering everything she needs, and refusing would be illogical, and Catherine is nothing if not logical.'

Adrian turned from the window, his earlier despair completely transformed into something that looked disturbingly like certainty.

'And if she hesitates...'

The darker thought crept in, rationalized instantly by desperation.

'Then I'll emphasize how vulnerable her position is. How valuable my family's support would be. How this alliance strengthens her politically at exactly the moment when strength matters most.'

'She's intelligent. She'll see the wisdom in accepting.'

Adrian moved toward the door, his entire body language transformed from the broken figure who'd stood trembling after his father's call. Now he looked focused, determined, almost predatory in his certainty.

'Three days my father gave me. But I'll only need hours. Tonight. After her meeting concludes and I've had time to prepare exactly what I need to say. That's when everything changes.'

That's when Catherine Blackwood finally becomes mine.

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