Heart of Stone - Stone and Fire #1 [17+] (REWRITING)

Chapter 21

this one finna have yall acting like doggsss 🐕🐕

Adriana's POV

"I thought someone was breaking in."

Silence.

I hid my clenched fists under my thighs. His eyes flickered down to my bare legs, the skin back to its normal tan. It was my arms that were the problem. Most of the blood was scabbed over, but that didn't mean it wasn't visible.

"So you thought coming downstairs with a mere dagger would stop him?"

Accusation cowered his voice. He was pitying me. What a pathetic bitch, he probably thought. Can't walk two feet away from a staircase without getting manhandled by her own fiancé. 

In reality, pathetic was him keeping my goddamn knife from me.

I shrugged. "It's not like Lev and Vik were there to stop him." If he wanted to play this game, I sure as fuck would play too. Did he think intelligence was a one-way street? Being logical was probably one of my only achievements. That and, of course, knowing how to use the dagger he was holding.

"They would slit any intruder's throat before he could so much as reach my front gates."

"Congrats. It looks like your pot of gold's thriving. Can I have my dagger back now?"

 I was trying not to stare at his bloody neck. Or hands. Or jaw. It was setting me off in a way I didn't know I was capable of. If the blood was his.. what would I have done? Wiped it off? Bandaged his wounds? The thought of Nikolas at anyone's mercy, much less mine... There was no way. No way.

By the way, where was Layla? I glanced at the hall that led to the foot of the stairs.

"Lev took her home."

I gave him a narrowed stare, clouded with sarcasm. "Thanks. You took away my one viable source of happiness in this world."

I watched his fingers play with the dagger. I suddenly wished for the blade to nick his finger. Maybe even chop it off whole. I don't know why I found myself confused when nothing happened. His grip was always so.. rough, and strong. To see him handle something so delicate and not have any faults, it was like a revelation in itself.

"The look on your face when I caught you told me you were far from happiness."

My fists clenched harder. "It's called shock. Something only people with emotions know how to feel."

"No." His voice was far from humored. It was firm. Unyielding.

"I'm sorry?"

"I cut off a man's arm today." 

I gritted my teeth. "Thanks. My day went great too."

He dragged a finger across the blade of the dagger. A shiver rumbled down my spine as he looked up at me. It was like I was watching Jeffrey Dahmer take his first bite of human heart. He was enjoying this. 

"The look in his eyes when Mikhail brought out his chainsaw, that was terror." 

A sick feeling crawled up my throat. Fucker. 

"So tell me, Adriana. What chainsaw do I own to have you looking like that?"

The clock taking up the wall behind him ticked. Almost midnight. I don't know how Cinderella ever made it back in time. I'd been upstairs all day, and was still cutthroat. Prince Charming, however? He'd cut limbs off and was still going strong.