Chapter Ten : Poison

The sharp click of Juniper’s heels echoed through the marble hallways of Blackwood Industries, each step a warning. A storm brewed inside her, seething beneath her composed exterior. She barely registered the passing employees, their hushed whispers a backdrop to the white-hot fury coursing through her veins. Her hands trembled as she clutched the printed research reports, the damning evidence of sabotage.

Someone had tampered with her findings.

Not just anyone—her.

Charlotte Laurent.

The ex-fiancée. The woman who had swept back into Adrian’s life like a hurricane, leaving destruction in her wake.

Juniper’s chest tightened, fury and betrayal intertwining in a suffocating grip. The numbers in the reports didn’t lie. The funding allocations had been altered, the environmental impact data manipulated beyond recognition. What was once a promising, groundbreaking initiative had been twisted into a disaster on paper.

She stormed into Adrian’s office without knocking.

Adrian sat at his desk, sleeves rolled up, tie loosened, the ever-present weight of responsibility etched into his features. He was staring at his phone, his expression grim, exhaustion clinging to his frame. But the moment he saw her, his posture stiffened, alert.

“Juniper—”

She slammed the stack of papers down in front of him, the force rattling his coffee cup. “Your ex-fiancée sabotaged my research.”

Adrian’s jaw clenched. “What?”

“I don’t know how she did it, but the data has been altered. The funding reports show discrepancies, and the environmental impact results have been manipulated to make my project look like a failure.” Her voice shook with barely restrained fury. “She’s trying to destroy everything I’ve worked for.”

Adrian ran a hand through his hair, his blue eyes darkening as he scanned the documents. With each page he flipped, his expression hardened, his fingers tightening around the paper as if he wanted to crush it.

“I’ll handle this.”

“No.” Juniper folded her arms, her pulse roaring in her ears. “You let her back into your life, and now she’s playing you like a puppet.”

His gaze snapped to hers, a flicker of something dangerous in his expression. “I didn’t let her back in.”

“Oh, really?” She let out a bitter laugh, crossing her arms. “Then why is she still hovering around you like she owns you?”

Adrian exhaled sharply and stood, stepping around the desk. The space between them shrank, but Juniper refused to back down.

“You think I want her here?” His voice was a low growl. “You think I don’t see what she’s doing? I’ve been trying to clean up the mess she left behind, but it’s not that simple.”

Juniper glared up at him, her heart pounding against her ribs. “You should’ve made it simple. You should have cut her off the moment she tried to ruin me.”

Adrian’s expression darkened, something unreadable flashing in his eyes. “You think I don’t want to? You think I haven’t spent every second trying to untangle myself from the chains she wrapped around my life?” His voice dropped lower, barely above a whisper. “Charlotte isn’t just some jealous ex. She’s dangerous, Juniper. More than you know.”

Juniper’s breath hitched, but she refused to let his words sway her.

“I don’t need your protection, Adrian.” Her voice trembled with frustration. “I need the truth. And right now, it looks like you’re too tangled in your past to fight for me.”

A thick silence stretched between them.

Adrian’s gaze bore into her, as if searching for something—an answer, a sliver of trust, anything. But Juniper refused to give it to him.

Finally, his features hardened, his mask slipping back into place. “If you don’t trust me, then go.”

The words sliced through her like a blade.

Juniper sucked in a sharp breath.

“Fine.”

She turned on her heel and walked out, her chest tightening with every step.

The lab was silent except for the soft hum of machines, the flickering glow of monitors casting long shadows across the walls.

Juniper paced near the workstation, her fingers gripping the edge of the cold metal counter. Her mind raced, replaying the argument with Adrian over and over. If you don’t trust me, then go.

Her knuckles whitened against the counter.

She had trusted him once. Trusted him enough to let him in. And now, she was watching everything she had worked for crumble under the weight of his past.

Her assistant, Leo, approached hesitantly, his brow furrowed in concern. “Are you okay? You look—”

“I’m fine,” she interrupted, though her voice was tight.

Leo opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could—

The world exploded.

A deafening blast rocked the building, sending shockwaves through the lab. The force threw Juniper backward, her body colliding with the workstation before she hit the floor.

Alarms blared. Smoke filled the air. Shouts of panic erupted around her.

Juniper coughed, blinking against the thick haze clouding her vision. A sharp ringing in her ears muffled the chaos around her.

“Leo!” she shouted, her voice hoarse.

A groan came from nearby.

Juniper scrambled forward, dropping to her knees beside Leo, who was clutching his arm. Blood trickled down his sleeve, staining the white fabric crimson.

“Stay with me,” she whispered, pressing against the wound to slow the bleeding. Her heart pounded.

Through the smoke, she saw movement—shadows, people running, figures collapsing. The lab was in shambles, glass and debris scattered across the floor. The once-sterile space was now a war zone.

A familiar voice cut through the chaos.

“Juniper!”

Her head snapped up.

Adrian.

He ran through the wreckage, his face covered in soot, his shirt stained with blood. His usual composure was gone—his expression raw with panic.

He dropped to his knees beside her, his hands shaking as he reached for her. “Are you hurt?”

Juniper shook her head, unable to speak past the lump in her throat.

Adrian cupped her face, his touch warm despite the destruction surrounding them. His voice was thick with guilt. “This is my fault.”

She searched his eyes, her breath catching. “What are you talking about?”

Before he could answer, the distant wail of sirens filled the air.

Adrian exhaled sharply, his grip on her tightening for just a second before he pulled away. “You need to get out of here. Now.”

Juniper’s stomach twisted. “Adrian—”

He shook his head, his gaze flickering to the ruined lab, to Leo, to the security teams flooding in. His jaw tightened, as if he was fighting an invisible war within himself.

And then, in a voice laced with something dangerous, something final—

“This wasn’t an accident.”

A chill ran down Juniper’s spine.

She barely registered as Adrian pulled her to her feet, as his hand pressed against the small of her back, urging her toward the exit.

The weight of his words hung between them as the flames roared higher.