CEO loves me with all his soul.-Chapter 145. The Edge of All We Love

The wind screamed against the shattered window. Rain swept in like a curse. The masked assailant held Adrian tight, the cold glint of a blade pressed against his throat.

"Move," the attacker hissed. "And he bleeds."

Across the room, Ethan stood frozen—rage, fear, and helplessness battling in his eyes. His hands twitched at his sides. He didn’t dare move. Adrian, pale and exhausted, barely had the strength to lift his gaze, but when he met Ethan’s eyes, he mouthed one word.

"Don’t."

Then—

A gunshot.

The masked attacker dropped his blade and staggered back with a grunt, his shoulder torn open.

A second shot disarmed the man completely.

And then Isaac was there.

So silent, so fast, the attacker never saw him coming.

Drenched from the rain, Isaac launched himself through the broken window like a shadow in motion. He landed, pinned the attacker with brutal precision, and knocked him out cold with the butt of his weapon before the man could scream.

It was over in seconds.

The silence afterward was louder than the storm.

Adrian collapsed to his knees, trembling, the rush of adrenaline abandoning him all at once.

Ethan was there before he could fall.

He knelt and wrapped his arms around Adrian, pulling him into his chest like he would never let him go again.

"You’re safe," Ethan whispered, his voice hoarse. "You’re safe now."

Adrian clutched the front of his shirt and pressed his face against Ethan’s neck. He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t cry. He just breathed him in.

Isaac stepped back, chest heaving, soaked and pale. He watched the two of them for a moment before retreating, silently. He needed air.

He needed him.

..

Later That Night

Lucas sat on the cot, reading through the latest data, hands calm but lips pressed into a thin line. He was watching the vitals screen, but his eyes darted to the door every few seconds.

When it finally opened, and Isaac stepped in—dripping wet, bleeding from a glass cut near his collarbone—Lucas dropped the data tablet and rose immediately.

"You’re hurt," Lucas said.

"I’ve been worse," Isaac muttered, brushing past.

But Lucas didn’t let him go far.

"You saved Adrian."

Isaac paused.

Lucas stepped closer. "You always act like the lone wolf, like you don’t care if you live or die. But you care. You care too much. And you just—"

Isaac turned, and for once, his expression cracked.

His eyes glistened. "I thought I’d be too late."

Lucas didn’t hesitate.

He reached out and pulled Isaac into a fierce, quiet hug.

There were no grand declarations.

Just warmth. Breath. A heartbeat that hadn’t stopped loving.

Isaac buried his face in Lucas’s shoulder.

"I thought I lost him too, just like you," he whispered.

Lucas’s fingers threaded through Isaac’s damp hair. "You didn’t."

"I didn’t deserve you."

"I’m here anyway."

They stayed like that—still, trembling, together.

.

The fire had been lit. The nursery quiet. The manor secure.

Adrian lay on the bed, his head resting on Ethan’s chest, one hand wrapped gently in Ethan’s larger one.

His breathing was slow now. No longer shaking. No longer afraid.

"I wanted to be strong," Adrian said softly. "But I froze. I couldn’t even fight him."

Ethan turned and kissed his temple.

"You didn’t freeze. You endured."

"I’ve been enduring my whole life."

"I know," Ethan said quietly. "That’s why it’s my turn now."

Adrian closed his eyes. "You’re not going anywhere, right?"

Ethan shifted, turning to hold him fully. His voice dropped to a whisper. "I would never leave you. Even if the world ended, I’d find my way back to you."

Adrian pressed a hand to his chest, where Ethan’s heart beat solid and steady.

"I almost lost everything today," he whispered.

"But you didn’t," Ethan said. "You’re here. And our children are safe."

Adrian let out a soft sigh.

"I used to think I was alone," he admitted. "Even when we were married and you were in a coma, I told myself it was a prison. That I’d been forced into this life."

Ethan didn’t interrupt. He just held on tighter. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

"But now, I realize... I was just afraid. Afraid that no one would ever really fight for me."

Ethan sat up slightly and cupped Adrian’s face. His thumbs brushed his cheekbones gently.

"I will always fight for you," Ethan said. "You’re not alone. You never were."

Their lips met—soft, tired, but real.

And Adrian, for once, let himself be held without shame.

.

.The Next Morning

The team was back in position.

The captured attacker was still unconscious but alive.

Luri, Lucas, and Savas were finalizing the serum. Diana had coordinated with the national air force for antidote dispersal. Cain and Jesper, ever silent generals, were working side by side without rest.

Isaac entered quietly, face unreadable, but there was a stillness in him now. Not emptiness—but control.

Ethan stood with him at the central map.

"Thank you," Ethan said quietly.

Isaac didn’t look at him. "He’s my brother. Of course I’d save him."

"And you?"

Isaac’s eyes finally flicked toward him. "I have something to protect now too."

Lucas glanced toward them from across the room. His presence lit something warm and grounding behind Isaac’s stern eyes.

Ethan smiled. "You’re not the same man I first met."

Isaac looked away. "Good."

And then—alarms blared.

Yuin sprinted into the room. "We just intercepted a coded transmission. Naehr’s not retreating. He’s preparing a second wave. Biological delivery—airborne."

Diana cursed. "We only have one batch of antidote prepared!"

Ethan’s hands gripped the edge of the table.

"No more waiting."

He turned to Adrian—who stood near the serum chamber, shoulders squared, despite his visible exhaustion.

"This ends today," Ethan said.

Adrian nodded once. "Together."

But in the distance—far from the manor, deep underground—

A new vial hissed to life in a hidden lab.

A voice whispered:

"Inject target Atop-A before dispersal. If he resists, eliminate him."

A screen lit up.

Adrian’s face.

.

.

Doctor Naehr was never driven by power, not in the conventional sense. To him, humanity was diseased — not by infection or famine, but by inequality. The disparity of intelligence, strength, health, and even love. He saw a species eating itself alive through selfishness and hierarchy.

In his eyes, evolution had stagnated. So he decided to force it.

The genetic serum he engineered was not just a biological weapon. It was a purifier, a trial by fire. Those with the will to adapt, to evolve, would survive. Those who clung to the fragility of outdated genes and emotions? They would perish — or be transformed into something useful.

He didn’t hate people. That would have made him a villain.

He simply believed people no longer deserved to choose their own path.

"The next phase of humanity," he often said, "will not be born. It will be built."

Doctor Naehr saw himself as the architect of equilibrium — not chaos. To him, Adrian, the Atops, the children with futures—they were keys. Tools. Seeds of a controlled Eden.

And if a few million had to fall for billions to become equal?

To him, that was not sacrifice.

It was mathematics.

TO BE CONTINUED

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