Adrian x Belvina book.
Adrian Parker has always been the rock-steady, reliable, the friend who would drop everything to help others, even when his own world was crumbling. Beneath the smiles and jokes, however, lies a man haunted by the weight of pa...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Listen to Halo by Beyonce.
It was now or never. The words were heavy in my throat, and the weight of them pressed on my chest like a silent warning. He needed to know. She was out.
I fidgeted with the ring on my finger as I stepped into Tristan's office, my mind racing through a hundred ways to say it without making him panic, without making him angry. But I knew—knew with a tightness in my gut—that this couldn't wait.
He glanced up from his laptop as I walked in, eyes gleaming with that casual, playful intensity he always had. His lips curled into a smile, the kind that always made me feel like I was walking into his world, not the other way around.
"What's got you looking constipated?" he asked, his voice light but laced with that familiar teasing edge as I took the seat across from him.
"Ha, you're not funny," I muttered, dropping my gaze to the ring again, my fingers still twisting it in anxious circles.
"Since when did you become so mean?" Tristan said, clutching his chest like I'd just stabbed him.
"Since when did you become so dramatic?"
He laughed, his smile widening, but I could feel the tension between us—the unspoken heaviness lingering just beyond the surface. He leaned back, taking a slow look at me as if he could see past the deflecting jokes. But before I could dig myself deeper into the awkward silence, his phone buzzed.
He snatched it up, glanced at the screen, and his grin widened. His eyes flicked over the message, and without a second thought, he moved the phone closer to me, clearly amused by whatever he was looking at.
It was a picture of Kayden inside the fridge, his face smeared in cake. Tristan laughed outright.
"Cassie was only gone for two minutes," he said, shaking his head.
"He's a handful, isn't he?" I remarked, trying to shrug off the feeling of unease building inside me.
He nodded, still chuckling. "Yeah. But I wouldn't change him for the world."
I forced a smile. "How's the wedding prep going?" I asked, shifting the conversation.
"Cassie wants something simple, so it's not much to do," he replied, leaning back in his chair, one arm slung casually over the backrest.
"Are you okay with that?" I asked, reaching for the mint candy on his desk, my fingers still unsteady.
"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "Whatever she wants. I'm lucky enough she said yes."
The smile on his face was one of pure contentment, and I could tell it meant the world to him. "I'm so happy for you, bro," I said, my voice warmer than I intended.
"Thanks," he said with a wink. "I'm looking forward to yours."
I rolled my eyes and chuckled lightly, the words still caught in my throat. "You're not getting an invite anytime soon," I joked, but my smile faltered. I couldn't help it. A small part of me wished I could tell him about Karen's release, about the nagging dread I couldn't shake. But this wasn't the time, was it?
