Chapter 29: Three Blind Mice
ADRIEN’S POV
"I thought you loved the danger, darling," his smirk widens. "Why else do you have my ring on your finger?"
Luca snorts loudly at that before quickly coughing into his hand when I glare at him. I officially hate this prick.
The music in the club shifts into something heavier, bass vibrating through the leather seat beneath me. Around us, people shout over drinks, laughing too loudly...dancing too closely.
The entire place smells like expensive alcohol, swear, and bad decisions. Which honestly feels fitting considering my current company.
I lean farther into the corner of the booth, putting as much distance between Orion and myself as possible without physically climbing over Luca and escaping through the opposite side.
Not that the distance helps much.
Orion has this irritating way of making his presence feel bigger than it actually is. Like the air changes around him. Like every room quietly bends itself toward him whether it wants to or not.
I hate people like that. They make you either change yourself to keep up or vanish under the weight of their presence.
"You keep moving away from me," Orion observes lazily, swirling the amber liquid in his glass.
"Congratulations. You can now call yourself an observant human being." I retort dryly.
"You’re going to run out of booth eventually. Why not just stay close to me, darling?" He pats the space beside him with his left hand, drawing my attention to the silver band glinting on his ring finger.
When can I take this thing off?
"I’ll take my chances, and if I do run out of booth, I’ll just sit on the floor."
His lips twitch. "And here I was thinking you weren’t into pet play, but if you want to kneel at my feet, be my guest." He winks at me over the rim of his glass.
Something about the way he says it makes my stomach tighten unpleasantly. I immediately decide I hate that too.
Luca suddenly straightens in his seat, eyes darting between us like he’s watching live entertainment. What do I have to do to kill the joy in his eyes?
"You know what your problem is, Orion?"
"Haven’t we already established that I have several, darling?" He answers smoothly.
"You act like Orion personally ruined your life." Luca once again cuts in unhelpfully, just as I was about to give this bastard a piece of my mind.
I let out a short laugh. "Act? I’m acting like he ruined my life?"
Orion glances at me in a way that could be a warning, but I really don’t give a shit. I’ve sat here and watched these two run around me like I’m the highlight of a freaking circus.
Like I’m just some overreacting child who doesn’t know what’s best for him! Like I don’t know how easy it is for this satanic bastard to take everything I didn’t even know I cared about away from me.
Like he hasn’t done it before.
"Adrien— "
"No, let’s actually discuss this," I cut him off, turning toward Luca fully.
"I’ve just learnt that this man, whom I don’t even want to have anything to do with, has been looking for me since I ran away from no one else but him! And I have made it very clear about what I feel towards him but you have— "
I guess even seeing how clearly pissed I am is not enough for this little glittery bastard to stop speaking. "But you’re engaged...?"
"Do not interrupt me when I’m speaking, Luca." The atmosphere around the table drops to the negatives. "From the moment we met, you have been pursuing a narrative that only you understand and I have tried to convince you otherwise."
"He’s just trying to be helpful," Orion corrects calmly.
I whip toward him. "Well, he can take his help, and you can take your freaking hand and shove it in a bloody hole for all I care!"
He sets his empty glass on the table, giving me a half-lidded smile. "That depends...whose bloody hole would I be shoving it in?"
"Oh, you think this is funny?"
"You’re getting emotional, darling."
"I am not getting emotional! I am telling you what I feel!"
"You are being emotional, because if you weren’t..." he sighs, "you wouldn’t be telling me how you feel knowing fully well that I don’t give a shit about what inconveniences you."
Hm. That is true.
Luca presses both hands against his face like he’s physically trying to hold himself together. "This is insane. You’re both insane."
"No," I say immediately, pointing at Orion. "He’s insane. I’m reacting appropriately to my circumstances...and stop placing us together."
Orion leans back comfortably against the booth, one arm stretched along the backrest behind me. Not touching. Just there. Like a threat.
"You exaggerate," he says.
I actually choke on air. "Exaggerate?"
"Yes."
"You know you’re not alright up there, Orion."
"You make it sound dramatic. I haven’t even done anything to you."
For a second, I genuinely wonder if he truly believes the bullshit he’s spouting. I wonder if he actually forgot all the things he’s done to me, or if they were so insignificant to him that they didn’t even register.
I hate him for making me have these thoughts, and I hate myself for being so close to him, I have to think about these thoughts.
The noise of the club swells around us again. Somewhere near the dance floor, someone screams excitedly over the music, and another burst of laughter follows.
These are normal people.
People who have no idea that sitting three feet away from them is a man who casually takes and destroys lives and then acts confused when someone gets upset about it.
I stare quietly at Orion. "You killed my best friend. He was just seventeen."
He tips his empty glass at me like a toast. "And I did it with a smile on my face."
Luca’s grin disappears instantly. "What...?"
"You’ll die a miserable death, Orion Vassilis."
He sets his glass back on the table with a light chuckle. "I don’t mind. As far as you’re lying right in the grave with me, Duckling."
I hate him.
No, hate isn’t even strong enough for whatever this feeling is. Hate sounds too simple. Too clean. Orion isn’t clean. He’s chaos wrapped in wealth and amused grins. He can kill and laugh in the same breath.
And somehow everyone around him just...adjusts to it. Like Luca. Like the bartender who keeps nervously glancing in our direction, his gaze focused on his boss.
Like I did before.
I refuse to become one of those people. Never again. Not after what he’s done.
"Don’t say it like you’re clean either, Duckling," he drawls. "One might even say you’re worse than I am."
"I have no idea what you’re talking about."
"Sure, hold onto your story," he snorts dryly. "Soon, you’ll have to change your tune. I wonder what you’ll be like then?"
"I’d definitely still hate you, so don’t anticipate much."
Orion’s mouth twitches upward again, but before he can speak, another figure approaches the table.
A tall woman with curls just as dark as her dress. She stops beside Orion without acknowledging me at all.
"Everything’s set," she says quietly.
He nods once. "Outside?"
"Yes."
"Any issues with it?"
"None so far." She responds curtly, her gaze flickering to Luca.
Hold on. They both have dark curly hair. They also have the same piercing blue eyes. These rude motherfuckers are siblings.
"What exactly is ’set’?" I try not to look interested when I ask, but from the dry look Orion is giving me, I fail miserably.
The woman finally glances at me. Her gaze sweeps over me once with a look I can’t read. "He really doesn’t like minding his business."
Orion sighs like a tired parent. "I’ve tried to teach him how to, but nothing I do works."
"Screw you both."
Back to ignoring my existence again, the woman leans down slightly towards Orion, her voice dropping lower this time. She’s too close.
"There’s movement near the north entrance, sir."
That gets his attention immediately. The shift is subtle but unmistakable. One second he’s lounging lazily against the booth, the next every inch of him sharpens.
The atmosphere around the table changes so fast, it makes my chest tighten.
"What kind of movement?" He asks, voice so low, it’s almost predatory.
"Unknown. But your men spotted at least four unfamiliar faces."
"What’s happening?" I ask again, trying and failing to keep the panic out of my voice.
But no one answers me.
Orion suddenly stands. His movements are smooth but it startles me anyway.
"Stay here." He orders...me?
"No." Fuck no. He doesn’t get to order me. "I’m not your dog."
"No," he agrees softly. "You’re the reason people are walking into this club armed."
The words slam into me. For half a second, I just stare at him. "I’m sorry, what?"
But Orion is already looking past me towards the crowd again.
The music keeps pounding through the club, oblivious to the sudden tension wrapping around our booth. Dancers move beneath the lights, glasses clink, bodies press together on the dance floor.
And then I see it. Three men stalking through the crowd.
But by the time the first bullet flies, I’m already under the table.
