Obsession His Runaway Bride (Noelle and Adrian) novel Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Target

The chaos outside thundered on with gunfire, shouting, distant explosions—but inside the mansion, everything

was still.

Valerian moved quietly, his steps light on the marble floor. He held his gun tight while his eyes scanned the halls. The corridors were empty and the chandeliers swayed from the tremors outside.

He’d gotten in without being seen, leaving Ivan and the others to deal with the fight. But none of that mattered to him. He was only here for Noelle.

She was here somewhere. Alone. Trapped. And with every second that passed, the unease in his chest grew heavier.

The silence was wrong.

Despite the war raging outside, the estate itself felt… lifeless.

His jaw tightened as doubt gnawed at the edges of his mind. ‘Was I too late? Had Adrian moved her somewhere else? What if-‘

‘No.‘ He exhaled slowly, pushing the thought away. He was going to find her. He had to.

His instincts urged him forward, deeper into the estate, toward the far north wing where the master suites were located. If Adrian had kept her anywhere, it would be there where it’s obviously safer.

And the moment the idea crossed his mind, a gunshot rang out.

The deafening crack of a single bullet tore through the quiet as its echo bounced off the walls like a violent ripple breaking the unnatural calm.

Valerian froze as his head instantly snapped toward the direction of the sound. Then, just as his body moved, a door suddenly creaked open with a loud thud.

The second the door swung open, everything in Valerian’s world went in slow motion. The chaos beyond the walls became nothing when Valerian’s gaze landed on the woman before him.

Noelle stumbled forward as the heavy layers of her wedding gown dragged against the floor, clinging to her like an unrelenting force trying to hold her back. But she fought against it. Her every breath, every movement were filled with desperation to break free. He watched as she reached up, her fingers trembling slightly before she ripped the delicate veil from her head. The sheer fabric tore away from her dark hair, slipping through her hands like silk, fluttering to the marble floor in an unceremonious heap.

And then, it was as if Valerian forgot how to breathe.

Even in her struggle, even in the way she moved clumsily, she was beautiful.

Stunning.

Devastating.

The mild glow of the corridor’s light caught the intricate details of her gown, the delicate embroidery shimmering against the pale fabric. Loose tendrils of dark hair framed her face and her lips parted as she gasped for air while her eyes burning with defiance. She looked like something out of a dream, a vision of reckless, untamed beauty, wrapped in the most fragile of disguises.

She hadn’t even seen him yet.

Chapter 43: Target

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Had no idea that he stood there, frozen, staring at her as if he had never seen anything more breathtaking in his entire existence,

A slow, sharp breath left Valerian’s lips as his grip tightened around his weapon. He had expected to find her broken, trembling, and afraid. But this woman standing before him, tearing herself free from the chains that bound her was something else entirely.

For the first time, Valerian Mikhail Vasiliev was stunned.

Then finally, she saw him.

But he was a strange man standing at the end of the corridor, looking like he was blocking her path.

Noelle skidded to a stop. Her breath was caught in her throat as she took in the sight before her. He was tall, even dressed in an all–black suit that fit his form. His broad shoulders cast a sharp silhouette against the dim light and his presence looked dangerous. But it was the mask that sent a wave of dread curling through her stomach.

A fanged bottom mask concealed the lower half of his face. He must be one of Adrian’s men. Her body screamed at her to turn back, to run, but where? There was nowhere left to go. Her fingers twitched at her sides and her nails dug into the fabric of her dress as a realization settled in. Had she escaped one nightmare only to stumble into another?

Suddenly, the man a couple of feet away from her moved.

With slow, conscious motions, the man reached up and gripped the mask, pulling it away from his face.

Noelle’s breath instantly hitched at the sight before her.

He took a step forward with his hand lifting as if to reach for her, to hold her, but the moment his fingers moved toward her, she flinched and took a sharp step back.

The reaction was immediate.

His silver–grey eyes darkened slightly while his brows twitched in the faintest show of frustration. But he stopped letting his hand hesitate midair before falling back to his side…

Noelle swallowed hard. Her throat suddenly felt dry, her chest was rising and falling in shallow breaths. She didn’t understand. Why was he here?

“You… you’re with them?”

Her voice was barely above a whisper, yet it struck him harder than any bullet ever could.

Valerian felt his chest tighten and it was a rare, unwelcomed sensation clawing its way through his chest. Of all the things she could have said to him, this… this misunderstanding, this accusation… was the one thing he hadn’t prepared for.

She thought he was one of them.

She thought he was here to hurt her.

The thought made something inside him unravel.

Noelle had already spent too much time surrounded by monsters, trapped in a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. But he wasn’t supposed to be one of them. Not to her. She was supposed to look at him not with fear, not with distrust, but with relief. With something, anything other than this quiet, heartbreaking betrayal flickering in

her eyes.

The panic that surged through him was foreign and unfamiliar. Valerian had never once cared what anyone

Chapter 43: Target

thought of him. But her? The idea of Noelle hating him, fearing him–it did something violent to him.

His control slipped.

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“Noelle, no.” His voice was rough and laced with desperation. He took a step forward with his hands twitching at his sides, resisting the urge to grab her, to force her to understand.

“I came here for you.” He added while his silver–grey eyes burned into hers, pleading in a way that felt unnatural to him, but he didn’t care. “I-” He exhaled sharply and pansed realizing this wasn’t the time, wasn’t the place. He had to get her out of here first.

“You know what? We’ll talk about that later.”

Before she could question him further, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife.

The second the blade glinted in the dim light, Noelle’s entire body tensed. She stepped back instinctively. Her breath hitched and her fingers trembled as though bracing herself.

Valerian’s stomach twisted at the sight.

‘Damn it.‘ He cursed in his head.

Before she could spiral further, he dropped to one knee, gripping the suffocating layers of her gown. Without hesitation, he slid the knife through the fabric, slicing it cleanly up to her mid–thigh. The delicate material fell away in ribbons, pooling at her feet in a ruined heap.

Noelle inhaled sharply as her fear disappeared right away at the realization that he wasn’t trying to hurt her after all.

He was helping her.

He didn’t look at her. He didn’t meet her gaze as his focus remained solely on the task at hand while making sure she had no reason to be afraid of him.

Valerian’s hands trembled slightly as he finished, but he hid it well, shoving the blade back into his pocket. The moment the knife was gone, he rose to his full height as his imposing frame towered over her once more. Without giving her a chance to process, he reached for her hand gripping hers tightly and firmly into his own.

“Let’s go.” He urged as he turned and took her with him.

But they only made it a few steps out of the dim corridor when a voice rang out echoing in a warning tone.

“Fucking Vasiliev!!”

The rage in Adrian’s voice barely had time to echo through the corridor before Valerian moved.

Without hesitation, without another thought, without mercy, his gun was already in his grip, drawn in a blur of motion as he turned on his heel. His silver eyes locked onto Adrian, sharp and calculating as his body acted purely on instinct. The moment their gazes met, there was no warning.

Valerian pulled the trigger.

The gunshot’s deafening explosion cut through the air.

But Adrian who was fueled by anger, had already pulled his own trigger.

For a split second, time seemed to slow as the bullets passed each other like a violent symphony.

Then…

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Chapter 43: Target

Both bullets pierced through their marks.

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