I toyed with the grip of my pistol, eyes sharp, beckoning him closer.
The next second, my men dragged Clara forward.
After days of hunger, she still held her head high the instant she saw Adrian.
She defied me fearlessly, shouting, “Victoria Hayes, I’m not afraid of you!”
“If you dare touch me, Adrian will never forgive you!”
I rose lazily from my chair, watching Adrian’s blood-red eyes.
Then shoved the barrel of my gun against Clara’s mouth.
Ignoring her struggles, I tilted my head toward Adrian.
“Two choices: kill her yourself, or I’ll do it for you.”
I smiled faintly, my nails trailing across her cheek.
“Only then, her death won’t be so pretty.”
Across the long mahogany table, Adrian’s fury gradually cooled.
He met my gaze with icy calm.
“And what if I choose neither?”
“Victoria, are you really going to go against me?”
At that moment, my brow twitched.
Adrian already knew my answer.
Since we were ten, Adrian had always been the one to take care of me quietly.
Ruthless to outsiders, soft as a saint to me.
The only times he ever confronted me were when I crossed his bottom line.
When I lost control, pulled a gun at the wrong time.
He couldn’t stop me, but he also couldn’t bear to knock me out.
Instead, he threw his own body in front of those who had broken my taboos.
“Coco, if you have to shoot, shoot me.”
“Don’t hesitate.”
My aim was notorious in the underworld.
Adrian didn’t fear death—he’d point at his own head.
More than once, my finger pulled the trigger, the muzzle smoking.
Adrian closed his eyes, and somehow the bullets always missed.
When I finally threw the gun aside in frustration, he would rush forward and hold me.
Using his body to steady me.
Eyes full of irrepressible joy.
“Be good, I know you won’t hurt me.”
I’d bite his hand in rage, showing my ferocity.
“Adrian, try using yourself as leverage one more time!”
But Adrian never listened. He always shielded others.
Sometimes I thought Adrian was sent from above to suppress me.
Without him, I’d have been killed by my enemies dozens of times, buried beside my father.
But this time, the person he wanted to protect couldn’t be saved.
“Adrian, since you won’t choose, I’ll choose for you.”
I pressed the barrel into Clara’s palate.
Her mind went blank, nearly fainting from terror.
“I’ll give you three seconds…”
“Three…”
Faster than the countdown was Adrian’s move.
He twisted Harris’s arm, pressing the gun to his temple.