When Love Kills

The corridors of the foundation swallowed sound. Even Evelyn's heels made a quieter click here, softened by carpet and glass. She walked ahead, pointing out awards on the wall, photographs of board members shaking hands with politicians, but the air between the men behind her had thickened into something you could cut.

Adrian kept his stride even, his hands deep in his pockets. He didn't need a mirror to know Jace was staring holes into the back of his head.

"Sir," Jace said again, voice tight, correcting himself like a schoolboy. "Mr. Vale. Where did you say you were from?"

Adrian let the question settle, as if he hadn't heard it. His lips curved, a shadow of amusement. "A little of everywhere," he said finally. "London. Zurich. Shanghai. Take your pick."

"Funny," Jace muttered, almost too low for anyone else. "Your eyes look like home."

That stopped him for half a step. He recovered fast, forcing his stride back into rhythm, but his throat had gone dry.

Lucian heard it, though. He always heard too much. His gaze cut to Jace, sharp and unreadable. "You two know each other?"

The silence stretched. Evelyn turned, puzzled.

Jace forced a quick laugh, too late, too brittle. "No. He just... reminds me of someone. That's all."

Lucian's eyes stayed on his friend a second longer, long enough to make Jace shift in place. Then he looked back at Adrian, and there was something colder there now. Suspicion was no longer a ghost-it was a blade he was weighing in his hand.

Adrian smiled thinly. "I get that a lot."

---

The rest of the tour blurred, numbers and projects and polite applause. Adrian nodded at statistics, praised innovation, complimented Evelyn on her leadership. But inside, his pulse hadn't settled. Jace's slip sat in his stomach like a stone.

He didn't miss the way Lucian watched him-studied the cadence of his words, the tilt of his head, even the way he carried silence. It was like standing under a spotlight that burned without light.

By the time Evelyn wrapped up and excused herself for a call, leaving the three of them in the glass corridor, Adrian knew the moment was coming.

It did.

Lucian stopped walking, forcing them all to stop. He turned, folding his arms across his chest, and pinned Jace with a stare. "What was that, back there?"

Jace stiffened. "What was what?"

"You looked at him like you'd seen a ghost. Then you almost called him something else."

Adrian kept his expression smooth, though his knuckles itched with the memory of another life.

Jace's throat bobbed. "I told you. He looks like someone I knew. Drop it."

Lucian didn't drop it. His attention shifted, knife-sharp, to Adrian. "And you. Do you enjoy looking like someone you're not?"

The question hit too close, but Adrian's smirk came easy. "Don't we all? You wear your marriage like a badge, but I doubt you enjoy every minute of it."

The silence that followed was electric. Jace's head snapped toward him, eyes wide, and Lucian's jaw flexed once, twice, as if he were holding words back by force.

Finally, Lucian leaned in, close enough that only Adrian could hear. "Careful, Mr. Vale. You don't know which ghosts it's safe to summon."

Adrian didn't flinch. "I know exactly which ones."

---

When the elevator finally dropped them back to the lobby, Evelyn rejoined them, all bright smiles again. She didn't notice the storm that had passed through, or maybe she did and chose to ignore it-the way wives sometimes do when silence keeps the house standing.

At the doors, Lucian clasped Adrian's hand again, grip harder this time, his smile cutting. "Thank you for your time. I'll have my office contact you about further... investments."

Adrian matched the pressure, eyes dark with hidden fire. "Looking forward to it."

Evelyn touched his arm lightly, unaware of the weight of her gesture. "I'll call you myself, Mr. Vale."

Jace said nothing, but when Adrian turned, his brother's gaze burned with a question he hadn't asked yet.

The kind of question that could tear everything open.

Adrian walked out into the bright morning sun, the city noise rushing back around him. He let the heat touch his face, let the mask settle deeper, and whispered under his breath:

"Not yet. You don't get to know me yet."

---