All Chapters of Love Me Then Destroy Me: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Lana's Point of viewThe first raindrops fell as soon as we stepped out onto the patio. They appeared uncertain because they were slender and icy. They rapped on the glass and stone, a silent warning that Paris was about to be hit by a storm. The city lights appeared hazy, like little lights in the dark, due to the rain. I shuddered, my hair wet and plastered to my forehead. Not entirely due to the cold. due of the tension. from him.Adrian, who was silent and composed, approached me beside me. We stood at the Seine's brink, his dark, sharp coat brushing against me. The taste of rain and the scent of moist dirt were carried by the wind as it passed past us. Everything in me told me to stay even though I wanted to go. to prevent the frail thread that binds us from rupturing."Storms always make things clear," he stated in a growling-like low voice. "They take away false hopes."I tilted my head to look at him. Strands of his wet hair were now cascading across his forehead. He had stormy,

Adrian's Point of ViewHe could tell something was different as soon as he stepped inside.It wasn't the way Lana smiled. She always smiled when she thought it was right. It wasn't in the way she stood, the way she spoke, or the words she used. Those were careful. Those were the same. She didn't fill the silence after her answers like she usually did, as if she were listening for something else beneath his voice.Adrian had learned a long time ago to pay attention to the spaces between things.He slowly washed his hands at the sink, looking at himself in the mirror above it. His face looked calm. It always did. He had practiced that calm for years until it came naturally to him. Calm was not a lie. Being calm meant being in charge. When people felt safe, they stopped asking the wrong questions.Lana was still standing where he had left her in the hallway, her hands loosely folded in front of her. When she did that, she looked smaller, like she was trying to make her home feel less cro

Adrian's Point of ViewAfter that, I paid too much attention to her.I told myself it was worry. I thought it was just a habit. I told myself that being careful was love for her after all she had been through and all the things her mind had lost. I still knew that there was a difference between watching to protect and watching to measure, and I was dangerously close to the second without admitting it.She sat across from me in the living room, with her hands folded in her lap and her posture careful in a way she hadn't needed to be before. The house was silent. Not the peaceful quiet we used to share, but something less so. Something aware. I could tell by the way she breathed and the way her eyes only opened when they had to.I was about to say something then.The words pushed against my teeth. I wanted to know why she waited to call. I wanted to know how she felt when she was outside by herself. I wanted to know if the rules were starting to feel heavy to her, if she knew why they w

Adrian's Point of ViewThe house did not follow Lana when she went upstairs.It stayed with me in the kitchen, quiet and out in the open, like it always did after something broke. For a long time, I stood by myself at the counter, listening to her footsteps fade away above me. The sound settled behind my eyes and stayed there.I bent down again to check the floor, even though I knew I had already cleaned up all the broken glass. I moved my fingers slowly over the tiles, looking for anything that might still hurt her. I kept looking even though there was nothing left. It always happened that way. My body didn't believe it even after the danger was over.The towel-covered broken glass was in the trash. I folded the towel again, this time more tightly, as if that would keep the memory from coming back later. I pushed it down and shut the lid.I told myself that control was not being mean.It was caring with limits.I washed my hands in the sink and watched the water run clear. The sound

Adrian's Point of ViewBefore she asked, I knew something had changed.It wasn't in what she said. Lana had learned how to sound calm again. That morning, the way she moved through the house made the air feel like it was being watched. She was quieter but not fragile, and she was very observant. When it was right, she smiled. She paid attention. She didn't say anything. That was the thing that bothered me the most.Being compliant used to mean being soft. It came with accuracy today.I waited until she was in the shower to answer the phone.The phone vibrated once in my hand, but it was quiet and persistent. I looked at the name, then turned away from the bathroom door and walked down the hall, being careful not to make too much noise. I didn't want a sense of urgency to spread through the house. Urgency made people ask questions. Questions came before answers were ready.I locked myself in the study and spoke in a low voice.I said yes first.Then I paid attention.The voice on the o