Chapter 151: Let The Curtains Rise Once More

WHAT ORION SAW...

A high-resolution photo of the ruined, smoke-filled courtyard flashes onto the display.

"Now, following these appalling revelations regarding Dubois’s extensive history in the criminal underground," the anchor says, "societal elites and business leaders are pushing for a full federal investigation into his involvement in the attack."

"Authorities question whether Dubois leaked sensitive security details and floor plans regarding the event to one of his many underworld clients who held a deep-seated grudge against both prominent families."

Alexis steps forward, his voice tight with suppressed anxiety. "It has been running on every major news network since you left for the docks, Orion. I tried to pull the broadcast feeds, but it’s everywhere. It went viral online ten minutes ago. It’s trending globally."

Alexis reaches for a remote control on the marble coffee table, switching the channel to an international business news station.

The red financial ticker running along the bottom shows our stock charts plunging in steep red lines.

"The stocks for Vassilis Holdings are dropping rapidly," Alexis mutters, his tone tight and strained. "The public backlash is immediate. Even your personal tech firms, the shipping lines, and the real estate holdings are taking a massive hit. The board of directors is calling emergency meetings. They are panicking."

I do not look at the financial ticker. I do not look at Alexis.

My entire focus is pinned on the boy standing beside me, shivering as if he has been dropped into ice water.

Adrien turns his head slowly to look at me. The moment his eyes meet mine, he flinches. It is a primal, reflexive movement. He takes an instinctive step back, tearing his hand completely out of my grip.

He looks at me with pure terror.

I feel my jaw tighten, the muscles locking so hard my teeth ache. The calm, pleasant expression I wore on the drive home vanishes entirely. A cold pressure fills my chest, expanding until the room feels too small to hold it.

They dared to touch him. They took the most painful, humiliating years of his life— the years where he was forced to surrender his dignity just to eat— and turned them into entertainment for high society fools.

They thought they could use his pain to wound me. They thought they could expose him to break my hold over him.

I step forward, taking the remote control straight out of Alexis’s hand. I press the power button.

The screen goes black. The images disappear into a blank rectangle of glass.

"Clear the room," I say.

My voice is low and flat.

Alexis and the guards do not hesitate. They bow their heads quickly, their heavy footsteps hurrying down the hallway as they close the double doors behind them, leaving us in total silence.

I turn to face Adrien.

He is pressed back against the wall, his hands trembling, his chest heaving as he struggles for air. He looks like he expects me to hit him, or throw him out, or curse him for ruining my name and dropping my stock prices.

He is so stupid sometimes.

I close the distance between us in three smooth steps. Before he can pull away or shrink into the wall, I reach out, cupping his jaw firmly in my hand.

My palm is warm against his ice-cold skin. I tilt his head up, forcing his dark, frightened eyes to look straight into mine.

"You are shaking, duckling," I whisper softly.

"Orion," his voice breaks, small, thin, and pathetic. How dare they? "The news. The stocks. The whole city is seeing all of it."

"I do not care about the stocks," I interrupt smoothly, my thumb brushing gently over the side of his chin.

I keep my tone steady, stripping away every trace of the rage vibrating beneath my skin so I do not scare him further.

"I do not care about those companies I created for fun, or the media, or the high society fools choking on their pride. Let the shares burn. I have enough wealth to buy this city ten times over."

I lean in closer, keeping my eyes locked onto his, wanting him to hear every single word with total clarity.

"The only thing that infuriates me," I say, my voice dropping into a low, quiet hum, "is that someone dared to put their dirty hands on your past. That someone thought they could use your pain, your survival, to publicly shame what belongs to me. They think they are exposing a scandal to weaken my position. What they do not realize is that they have just signed their own death warrants."

I slide my free arm around his waist, pulling his back flush against my chest. I grip him firmly, anchoring him to my body so he can feel how steady I am, holding him so securely that he couldn’t run even if his shaking legs allowed it.

"You are my husband, Adrien," I say, resting my lips against his temple, speaking directly into his skin. "Your past belongs to me. Your present belongs to me. No one gets to touch you, mock you, or tear you down. I will hunt down every single person involved in putting those pictures on that screen."

I feel his body slowly give up its rigid tension. The hard, defensive line of his shoulders softens slightly, his breathing settling into a more natural rhythm against my chest.

He rests his palms flat against my shirt, feeling the steady beat of my heart.

"Orion... they said I helped with the bombing. The police are going to—"

"The police will do nothing," I cut in, tightening my arm around his waist to lift him slightly onto his toes. "I control the police and I control the courts. You will stay in this house with me, where you are safe, and let me handle the blood."

Adrien stays still in my arms for a long moment. His eyes go distant, staring blankly at my chest as if his mind is drifting far away from this room, floating back into the fog of something old and forgotten.

I watch him closely. I trace the line of his collarbone with my thumb, noting the small shift in his posture, the quiet way his breath hitches, the subtle tightening of his lips when he is trying to hide a thought from me.

He does not know that I know the shape of his silence.

He thinks his mind is a closed room, but I have spent years studying every flicker in his eyes. I see the exact moment a thought crosses his face and gets locked away behind his teeth.

Let him keep his quiet, fragmented thoughts. He doesn’t need to know how much I see. He doesn’t need to know how many pieces of his past I hold in my hands.

"What is running through that head of yours?" I ask softly, my voice barely a whisper against his skin.

"Nothing," he lies quickly, shifting his gaze slightly away from mine. "I’m just trying to process everything."

I do not push him. If he wants to keep his small, useless secrets for now, I will let him.

I release his waist slowly, stepping back to give him room to stand on his own feet. The warmth leaves my tone as I look toward the dark television screen on the wall.

"I already know who did this," I say quietly.

Adrien looks up, caught off guard by the sudden declaration. "You know who leaked the files?"

"I have a very clear idea," I answer, my fingers resting on his hip. "There are only a few people who had access to the old police archives from the bombing, and even fewer who knew where you were hidden during those early months on the street. It is an internal move. A calculated play."

A low breath escapes my throat.

"I am not angry because they attacked me," I say, looking at the empty glass of the screen. "I expected them to move against our family eventually. But I did not expect them to go through this much effort to drag you through the dirt just to get a reaction out of me. They crossed a line they cannot uncross."

Adrien blinks, his voice dropping to a breath. "Who is it? Is it someone from your side? Or is it someone from the Dubois side?"

"It doesn’t matter who they used to execute it," I say smoothly. "What matters is that they think hiding behind news stations will keep them safe from me. They think I will play by the rules to fix this."

I turn toward the double doors of the living room, stepping away from him.

"Stay upstairs," I order softly, keeping my back to him. "Alexis will be outside your door. Do not answer your phone if it’s not me calling, and do not look at the news."

I walk out into the hallway, leaving him standing alone in the middle of the quiet room.

Whoever built this broadcast thought they were destroying my Adrien. They thought exposing Adrien’s ruined years would make me discard him, or force me into a corner to protect my corporate reputation.

They do not know me at all.

They gave me a reason to burn everything in sight, and I am going to make sure every single person involved bleeds for it.