Chapter 9 - The Poisoned Needle
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Chaos erupted in the ballroom.
Adrian didn't wait for his security detail. He scooped Liya into his arms, ignoring the gasps of the socialites, and sprinted toward the kitchen exit.
"Stay with me, Liya!" Adrian shouted, his voice laced with a raw, terrifying panic. "Keep your eyes open!"
Liya’s vision was already blurring. The grand chandeliers overhead spun wildly. A cold, numbing sensation was spreading from her shoulder, creeping toward her chest.
"Adrian," she whispered, her head falling against his shoulder. "It hurts."
"I know, baby, I know. I've got you," he growled, kicking the heavy kitchen doors open. His bodyguards were already securing the loading dock.
They threw themselves into the back of the armored SUV. Adrian laid her across the leather seats, ripping his tuxedo jacket off to press it against her shivering body.
"Drive! To the safe house! Now!" Adrian bellowed to his driver.
He pulled a small medical kit from a hidden compartment under the seat. His hands, usually so steady, were shaking as he pulled out a specialized auto-injector of broad-spectrum antivenom.
"This is going to burn," he warned her.
He plunged the needle into her thigh. Liya screamed, arching her back as liquid fire shot through her veins. She gripped Adrian's shirt, pulling him down.
"Don't let me die," she wept, terrified of leaving her mother alone.
"I will burn the world down before I let you die," Adrian vowed fiercely, pressing his forehead against hers. He held her tight, kissing her temple, his gray eyes blazing with a murderous rage.
"It was them," Liya gasped, fighting the darkness. "The women."
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"I know," Adrian whispered, stroking her hair as she finally slipped into unconsciousness. "And tomorrow, they will pay."
He held her limp body in the back of the speeding SUV, the billionaire mafia boss finally realizing that the fake marriage had just become terrifyingly, dangerously real.
