Shadows of Temptations

stant thunder rumbled through the mansion's ancient bones. The fire crackled softly in the grand study where she worked, its flickering glow casting long

Adrian B

et-cold, distant, unreadable-had begun to unravel before her. She had glimpsed something raw beneath his armor: grief, guilt, vulnerability. I

ain. The next, he was retreating behind his walls, warn

strate

nfuse

hing-it made her w

tting down her brush. Maybe s

s nights

rned to see Marcus Blackwood leaning casually in t

cket, he looked effortlessly charming. But beneath

You have a habit of ap

is gaze sweeping over the painting before settling on her. "So

the locket, yes. It was hidden inside t

g closer. "And Adrian?

. "It meant a

. "Oh, I'm sure it did. He carries quite a

down Sienna's

, studying her reactio

wned. "Tel

to a child. "Adrian was the last person to see our

eath h

wer. "My mother never went near that lake. She was terrified of

wed hard. "Ar

smoothly, "that my brother i

en them, the storm outs

een the pain in Adrian's eyes when he spoke a

d back. "I like you, Sienna. You seem shar

to the shadows of the corridor, leaving

it b

have killed h

-

tion in t

awing at her, Sienna found herself drawn to the

n was

nto the flames as if they held answers he couldn't find elsewhere. Shadows fli

th and stepped

her voice, but he didn't tu

warning. "I sp

owly, his expression immediately gua

old me you were the last pers

htened. "So he's poisonin

oser. "Is it true? Were

rply, setting his

hat happened, Adrian? Did

ed. "You think

lk about it, you warn me to stay away, but you keep pulling me

ng the space between them. "Y

caught. "

n them shifted

th

rashed aga

enna's hands gripped his shirt, pulling him closer, as if she could drown in the heat of him. Adrian gro

it started, he pulled

mistake," h

tingled

hair. "Because you don't under

ation burning in her chest

red at her. Then, finally, his

something about my father. But before she could, she told me she was leaving. Tha

heart c

the lake," he continued. "But when I

his eyes was

one killed her,

"I don't know. But I know

her fingers brushing aga

a moment. "I don't want yo

alrea

racing her wrist. "Then

ha

trust M

ammered. "And sh

mile ghost

even trus