MIRA'S POV
The silence in Adrian's office was suffocating. I stood frozen by my desk, my heart hammering so loudly I was certain he could hear it. The computer screen behind me felt like a beacon, advertising my guilt to anyone who looked.
"Well?" Adrian's voice was deadly calm, which somehow made it more terrifying than if he'd been shouting. "Are you going to explain what you were doing, or should I draw my own conclusions?"
"I told you," I managed, my voice barely steady. "I was just going through some files."
"Going through files." He stepped closer, and I fought the urge to back away. "My private files. After hours. Without permission."
"I was looking for the Henderson contracts you mentioned—"
"The Henderson contracts are in the filing cabinet, not on my personal computer." His dark eyes were blazing with a mixture of hurt and fury. "Try again."
"Adrian, I can explain—"
"Then explain." He crossed his arms, his expression hard as granite. "Explain why my trusted assistant is rifling through confidential files like some corporate spy."
The word 'spy' hit me like a physical blow. "That's ridiculous—"
"Is it? Because from where I'm standing, it looks exactly like espionage."
I could see the pain beneath his anger, the betrayal that was eating at him. It made lying to him even harder, but I couldn't tell him the truth. Not yet. Not like this.
"I need to go," I said, grabbing my purse with shaking hands.
"You need to go?" He laughed bitterly. "You get caught red-handed, and you think you can just walk away?"
"I wasn't doing anything wrong—"
"Weren't you?" His voice followed me as I moved toward the door. "Because what I saw looked pretty damn suspicious."
I didn't answer, couldn't answer. Instead, I focused on getting to the elevator, on escaping the intensity of his gaze and the weight of his suspicions. But he followed me, his footsteps echoing mine as we walked through the empty office.
"So that's it?" he called after me. "You're just going to run away without explaining anything?"
"I'm not running—"
"You are. Just like you did this afternoon with Jesse, just like you've been doing for weeks." We reached the elevator bank, and I jabbed the call button repeatedly, praying for escape. "Every time things get difficult, you disappear."
"That's not true—"
"Isn't it?" The elevator chimed, and I stepped inside the moment the doors opened. But Adrian followed me, his presence filling the small space. "Because it seems to me like you're always running from something."
The elevator doors closed, trapping us together in the confined space. I pressed myself against the back wall, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide from his penetrating stare.
"Don't run from me, Elise," he said, reaching for my arm.
"Don't touch me," I said, jerking away from his reach.
The movement was instinctive, but I saw how it affected him. His face went pale, then flushed with hurt and anger.
"Don't touch you?" His voice was dangerously quiet. "Yesterday you were in my bed, telling me you wanted me. Today you won't let me touch you. What changed?"
"Nothing changed—"
"Everything changed!" His voice echoed off the elevator walls. "You're lying to me, Elise. About Jesse, about what you were doing on that computer, probably about everything."
The elevator began its descent, and I felt trapped, cornered. "I'm not lying about everything—"
"How would I know? How would I know what's true and what's another deception?" He ran his hands through his hair, looking suddenly exhausted. "God, I feel like an idiot."
"Adrian—"
"I should be the one who's angry, Elise," he continued, his voice dropping to that dangerous whisper. "You were going through my private stuff behind my back. Violating my trust, my privacy. What is this about?"
He folded his arms across his chest, and I could see the hurt warring with fury in his expression. "What could possibly be worth destroying what we have?"
I stared at him, this man I loved, this man whose trust I'd systematically betrayed. The words were right there, begging to be spoken. But I couldn't. Not yet.
"I can't tell you," I whispered.
"Can't, or won't?"
"Both."
His jaw tightened. "Of course. More secrets, more lies."
"I'm not trying to hurt you—"
"Aren't you? Because that's exactly what you're doing." The elevator continued its descent, and I could feel the weight of his gaze. "You're tearing me apart, Elise. Do you know that?"
"Adrian, please—"
"Please what? Please understand why you're betraying me? Please accept that the woman I love is lying to my face?" His voice cracked slightly. "What exactly are you asking me to do here?"
"I'm asking you to trust me—"
"Trust you?" He laughed bitterly. "Trust you to do what? Lie to me more convincingly? Betray me more thoroughly?"
"I never meant for it to be like this—"
"Like what? Like you getting caught? Like me finally seeing through your act?" He stepped closer, and I could see the desperation in his eyes. "Who are you really?"
The question hung in the air between us, heavy with implications. I opened my mouth to lie again, then closed it. Because I was so tired of lying, so tired of pretending.
"I'm the same person I've always been," I said finally.
"Are you? Because the woman I fell in love with wouldn't do this. The woman I trusted with my deepest secrets wouldn't betray me like this."
"My feelings for you are real—"
"Are they?" His voice was raw with pain. "Because right now, I don't know what's real and what's performance."
"Everything between us is real—"
"Then prove it. Tell me who Jesse is. Tell me what you were doing on that computer. Tell me something, anything, that isn't a lie."
I looked into his eyes, seeing the love there mixed with hurt and suspicion. He was giving me a chance to come clean, to salvage something from this mess. But I couldn't take it. Not without destroying everything.
"I can't," I whispered.
Something died in his expression. "I thought so."
The elevator continued its descent in painful silence. When he spoke again, his voice was barely above a whisper.
"You know what the worst part is?"
I looked up at him, seeing vulnerability beneath the anger.
"I know you're lying," he said, his dark eyes boring into mine. "I know you've been hiding something that could probably destroy me. But I still want you."
The admission hung between us like a confession, raw and honest and devastating.
"Adrian—"
"I still love you, Elise. Despite the lies, despite the betrayal, despite the fact that I don't even know who you really are." His voice was thick with emotion. "How pathetic is that?"
"It's not pathetic—"
"Isn't it? I'm in love with a ghost. A woman who doesn't exist."
"I exist—"
"Do you? Because I'm starting to think Elise Hart is just another lie."
The elevator was slowing now, approaching the lobby. I had maybe thirty seconds before the doors opened, thirty seconds to figure out how to salvage this disaster.
"Tell me the truth," he said urgently. "Right now. Before those doors open. Tell me who you really are."
I looked at him, seeing the desperate hope in his eyes, the love that was still there despite everything. "Adrian—"
"Please, Elise. Please don't make me lose you over lies."
The elevator chimed, and the doors began to slide open. I looked past Adrian toward the lobby, and my blood turned to ice.
Jesse was standing by the security desk, his jaw swollen from Adrian's punch, his blue eyes fixed on the elevator doors with predatory intensity. When he saw us, his lips curved in a smile that made my stomach drop.
I froze, every muscle in my body locking up with terror.
"Elise?" Adrian turned to see what I was looking at, and I saw the exact moment he recognized Jesse. "What the hell is he doing here?"
But I couldn't answer. Because Jesse's presence here, now, after everything that had happened, could only mean one thing.
The mission was over.
And my lies were about to destroy everything.