A week had gone by since my humiliating morning with Adrian and I was still in the same room. Adrian brought all my meals up to me and was pleasant and friendly when he talked to me, but things definitely seemed different. He would stay in the room and talk to me, but our conversations always wound up being kind of strained and awkward. He even seemed a little cold and distant, the way I imagined the successor to the Bellini legacy would be. Not like the kind boy who talked to me about his dreams. I was afraid that Adrian was gone.

I tried to talk to him like we used to, like we had the night Lucas assaulted me, but he seemed like he had shut down somehow. It seemed like no matter what I did or said there was a wall up between us that I couldn't do anything about. And I was still angry with myself for wanting him to be the person I had created in my head.

I felt like I was in one of those glass cages in a zoo. I was trying to get close to something and I didn't even know what it was or how to get there. We could see each other but we couldn't touch or really feel each other's presence and if we did it probably wouldn't be like we expected, anyway.

I honestly didn't know which one of us was in the cage and which one of us was free to leave, though. I knew that I was there against my will, but Adrian actually seemed like the one that was trapped.

There was a knock at the door and Adrian appeared after I told him to come in.

"Good morning, Brooklyn," he said with a smile. I was startled to see him in such a good mood. He seemed more at ease than he had since I'd been brought here. It was wonderful to see the way his whole face lit up. And once again it gave me hope that the real Adrian was really in there somewhere.

"Good morning. You didn't bring a tray up for me today?" I asked moving closer to him and looking into his eyes. I wanted to be able to reach further into him, like I had when we were in bed that morning, but I was afraid if I went too far he would shut down again. This morning he really seemed different, though. He looked excited like he had something he couldn't wait to tell me.

"I'd like you to join me downstairs if you're okay with that. I have someone coming over to meet with you in about an hour and I thought we could have breakfast together before they got here."

"Someone to meet me?" I asked, my smile fading. I didn't like the sound of that. Why would someone be coming here to meet me, unless ... "I don't understand. I thought you weren't going to let that happen, Adrian," I said as my eyes started to fill with tears. I didn't want to be taken away. I didn't want to be someone's slave.

Adrian quickly moved closer to me and put his hands on either side of my head, wiping away a tear that falling down my cheek.

"No, no, no, no one's coming here to take you away, Brooklyn. I promise you that," he said as he slowly stroked my hair. He seemed so different, like he felt freer to touch me and be close to me. "I have a friend, Gina LaDonna. She works in the same field as you. She's a designer in Milan. I showed her some of your work and she loves it. From what she's seen, she says she'd like to talk to you about helping her with her next show in the spring. She said she'd love to tutor you, Brooklyn. To bring you on as an intern," he said with a smile.

"Gina LaDonna wants to work with me?" I said as I brought my hands up and gripped his arms as he still held the sides of my head. I couldn't stop myself from laughing and crying at the same time, I was so relieved and so amazed.

"Yes," he said as his smile got bigger. "From what I understand, she's pretty big in the industry. I think she could really help you."

"Big ... she's huge. She's one of my idols. How did you know that, Adrian? How did you know that I wanted to work with her?"

"Well, I didn't exactly know for sure. I just took a chance and went with my gut. I'm really glad I did."

His thumbs were caressing my cheeks and I felt him lean in closer to me. My heart started to race as I felt an energy from him that I wasn't expecting. I would have fallen backward if Adrian hadn't been holding onto my head because I realized that he was about to kiss me.

I couldn't break the gaze that our eyes were locked into and my heart felt like it was melting and spreading throughout my body. I could feel the excitement of his touch flow out into every limb as I waited for his lips to reach mine. But just as he started to turn his head slightly and his eyes were about to close the spell seemed to break and he looked down.

"Let's go down and talk about it while we eat breakfast," he said as he slowly dropped his hands down to his sides. When he looked back up at me he still had that sparkle of happiness in his eyes but I could tell the wall had gone up again.

"Why are you doing this for me, Adrian?" I asked just as he was turning to go downstairs.

He stood there facing the door for a moment then turned back toward me.

"I want you to have a good life, Brooklyn. I want you to have everything my family has taken away from you. I guess I'm trying to make sure that you get a head start with whatever you move on to, wherever you wind up," he said as he looked down at the ground with his arms folded.

"But why? Why would this person even want to look at my designs? Does Gina LaDonna owe you money too? Or are you buying her off so she'll keep me quiet while I'm here?" I didn't know why I was suddenly so upset, but I imagined it had to do with Adrian being so hot and cold with me. I couldn't be imagining the way he looked at me. And I couldn't have imagined that feeling between us just now.

"Of course not, Brooklyn. I'm not buying anyone off."

At first, he looked angry but then his eyes softened and he stepped closer to me.

"I care about you, Brooklyn. I care about you a lot. I want you to be happy and I know that my family has basically taken that away from you. I can't undo what's already been done, but I feel like if I can make things easier for you in the future ... I want to do everything in my power to make sure that happens," he said as he moved my hair behind my shoulder.

"So far Lucas hasn't said anything to my father so you're safe for the time being. I need as much time as I can get to make sure you're set up and that's what I'm trying to do. Gina LaDonna is a friend of mine. The only favor she did was to look at your work. She's not the type of person to take on an assistant as a personal favor, even to me," he said with a smile as he lifted my chin up with his fingers.

"You're very talented, Brooklyn. And I was proud to show her your work. If there's any reason for you to have been brought here, for your entire life to have been uprooted, I hope that it's so that I could help you get everything you want in life. I'm sorry for the reason you're here, but I'm glad that I could do this for you."

I couldn't hold back any longer. I wrapped my arm around Adrian and held him as tightly as I could.

"I'm so confused, Adrian," I said as I cried into the strong curve of his neck. "I'm sorry, I know that you must think I'm silly, I don't even understand what I'm feeling, but I can't keep it in any longer. What I want ... is to be with you," I said as I pulled away from him and looked into his eyes.

Adrian looked down at me but I couldn't tell what he was thinking about what I had just said. He didn't say anything for a minute, he just kept looking at me then looking down, but he kept his arms wrapped around me.

"I just don't want you to get hurt, Brooklyn. I don't think I'd be very good for you," he said finally.

"But what do you want, Adrian. You've never told me how you feel about me."

"I want you to be happy, isn't that enough?"

"No, it isn't enough. Why won't you let me in? You keep this wall up around you as if you think you're safe as long as you don't get close to anyone."

"Well, that's true, isn't it? I don't even know if I can trust my own family."

"So you don't think you can trust me, is that it?"

"No, not at all. You're the only person I've ever felt like I could trust."

"Then why are you pushing me away? Why won't you let me get closer to you?"

"Because you wouldn't like what you saw if I let you get closer. You're right, Brooklyn. I am a monster. You'd be better off if you had nothing to do with me after you left here."

"Why can't I be the judge of that? Why can't we just try it out and see what happens?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you, Brooklyn," he said as he put his hands on either side of my head and smoothed my hair down as he looked into my eyes. "Please, let's just go down and have breakfast and then meet with Gina. I want you to have a good time with her. I want you to be happy," he said with a sad smile.

I didn't understand what he was saying or how it was that he thought he was going to hurt me. But I didn't want to argue with him. I smiled and nodded my head and walked with him down to the dining room where breakfast was just being laid out.