It had been a year.

A year of chaos, a year of fighting, a year of learning how to love someone who lived in a world that didn’t allow love to be simple.

You’d fallen for Adrian Chase the way people fell for storms—slowly, without meaning to, and then suddenly you were in the middle of it, drenched, heart racing, and unable to imagine being anywhere else.

So when the others said they were going into the other dimension, you didn’t hesitate.

You followed.

Because if there was one thing you’d learned about Adrian, it was this:

He didn’t leave people behind.

Even if leaving was the safer choice.

The other dimension was nothing like Earth.

It was dark. It was loud. It was full of strange, hostile energy that made your skin crawl.

But Adrian was there.

And you were with him.

And for a while, it felt like the two of you could survive anything.

Then the mission went wrong.

The way missions always went wrong.

The way lives always got twisted into something else in this world.

Adrian killed Keith’s father.

Not in a way that was clean. Not in a way that felt justified.

It was messy. It was brutal. It was—

It was final.

You watched Keith’s face change.

Watched the way his eyes went cold.

Watched the way his entire body went still, like a man who’d just decided the world had become a very simple place.

And then he looked at you.

“Don’t,” he said quietly.

You didn’t move.

Keith’s voice was low and dangerous. “Don’t you dare pretend you didn’t see what he did.”

Adrian stepped in front of you.

You didn’t realize you were holding your breath until you exhaled in a sharp, panicked hiss.

Keith’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re the reason he’s alive,” Keith said, and his voice was a knife. “You’re the reason he gets to walk away. You’re the reason you get to stay.”

Your heart thudded painfully.

“I didn’t ask for this,” you whispered.

Keith smiled—just slightly.

“That’s the thing about choices,” he said. “You always think you’re innocent.”

Adrian’s hand tightened on his weapon.

And Keith’s eyes flicked to you again.

“You stay away from her,” Keith said.

Adrian’s voice went low. “Or what?”

Keith’s smile widened.

“I kill her,” he said simply.

Silence.

You felt your stomach drop.

Adrian’s body went rigid.

For a moment, you saw the man behind the mask—the man who had tried to be normal, the man who had tried to be good, the man who had tried to be loved.

And now he was faced with the one thing he couldn’t let happen.

Not to you.

Not to anyone.

Adrian stepped forward.

His voice was quiet. Controlled. But the threat underneath it was clear.

“Don’t,” he said. “You don’t get to do that.”

Keith’s eyes stayed on you.

“You’re not him,” Keith said. “You’re not the one who made the choices.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

“You’re right,” Adrian said. “I’m not.”

He turned slightly, placing himself between you and Keith, his body angled like a shield.

“You want to kill her?” Adrian asked. “Then you’re going to have to go through me.”

Keith’s expression didn’t change.

He looked at Adrian like Adrian was the obstacle between him and the only thing he wanted.

“You think you can stop me?” Keith asked.

Adrian didn’t flinch.

“I know I can,” he said.

And then—

Something in Adrian snapped.

Not the violent, angry snap you expected.

A desperate snap.

Because he wasn’t fighting Keith just to win.

He was fighting to protect you.

He was fighting because if Keith killed you, Adrian would lose the only thing that made him feel like normal human