Chapter: Chapter Eight: The Tower Within The TowerThe red dot blinked once on the wall panel, a small, sharp, and impossible sight.Dominic stared at it as if the screen had spoken his name. Lila felt the same icy drop in her stomach she’d felt when the lights first went out. Only this time, the fear wasn’t shapeless.It had a location.Her room.Dominic stepped toward the hallway first, his body moving with that quiet, controlled violence she now recognized as the billionaire’s version of panic. Lila held Eli so tight she felt his little heartbeat thudding against her ribs.A tech rushed ahead of them, tools already in hand. “We’re tracking the signal, sir.”Dominic didn’t answer. He pushed open the door to Lila’s bedroom, his shoulders hard as stone.The room was dim, shadows stretching across the floor like spilled ink. Lila’s breath caught as she followed him in. Eli’s grip on her tightened again.“Mommy… It’s scary.”“I know, sweetheart,” she whispered into his hair. “I know.”The tech knelt at the base of the wall, running a sc
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-21
Chapter: Chapter Seven: Terms Of CoexistenceThe lights surged back on with a harsh, metallic flicker.For a split second, Lila could only hear her own heartbeat: loud, choking, frantic. Then the room sharpened around her. Eli’s nightlight glowed soft pink against the wall, and the penthouse seemed to inhale after holding its breath too long.Dominic moved first.He crossed the room with a suddenness that startled even the guards and yanked open the partially closed door at the end of the hall. Lila followed, pulse pounding so hard it felt like it pressed against her skin.“Eli!” she gasped, frantic.A tiny whimper answered from behind the curtains.She lunged forward, pushing past Dominic before he even finished pulling them aside.There he was, curled into the small space behind the drape, little knees pulled to his chest, shaking so hard she felt it before she touched him.“Oh, baby,” Lila’s voice cracked as she scooped him into her arms, holding him like she needed to prove he was real.Eli buried his face in her neck. “Momm
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-21
Chapter: Chapter Six: The Penthouse LockdownThe flashes kept bursting, white and sharp, as if the cameras wanted to blind them. Dominic answered another question with that calm, cutting authority the world worshipped him for. His voice slid over the chaos, controlled, calm, and untouchable.Lila barely heard him.Her gaze kept pulling back to the place where she’d seen the watcher.A single figure with no camera, no phone, no press badge…Just eyes. Watching her. Watching Eli, and Watching Dominic.They were gone now, swallowed by the crowd in an instant that felt too deliberate.Her pulse thudded.Something was wrong.Very wrong.She turned slightly toward Dominic, whispering, “Dominic,” but he didn’t hear her. Or maybe he couldn’t, over the press. He only angled his body subtly toward her, hand warm and steady at the small of her back, guiding her without breaking his perfect public facade.Then a security guard leaned in behind him.A whisper, too low for the mics.Dominic’s jaw flexed.Almost imperceptibly.But Lila felt it
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-21
Chapter: Chapter Five: Public Lie, Private LinesThe elevator doors sealed with a soft hiss.For a long moment, no one spoke.Lila held Eli tight against her shoulder while the numbers climbed through floors of glass and silence. Dominic stood opposite her, jaw locked, his reflection fractured in the mirrored wall. The air between them buzzed with everything unsaid, the contract, the lie, the ninety days binding them together.Security officers rode with them, rigid and silent.When the elevator reached the penthouse, Dominic gestured for the guards to remain outside.The doors slid shut again, isolating them from the tower.The suite was enormous, with polished stone, quiet light, and the glittering sprawl of the city. It should have felt safe.Instead, it felt like a cage with a beautiful view.Dominic turned toward her.“You should sit.”Lila ignored him, placing Eli gently on the couch.“Don’t tell me what to do. Not after today.”He exhaled, slow and tight.“I’m trying to thank you.”“For trapping me in your penthouse?”“For ke
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-18
Chapter: Chapter Four: The Promise and ClauseThe monitors had gone black, and Dominic had gone down.Lila curled around him like a hedgehog, breath and heat and a small, insistent heartbeat pressed against her ribs. The intruders had left as efficiently as they’d arrived, boots fading down the service corridors, their devices whispering as they wiped and copied data. Then the building held its breath.When the lights flickered back on, it felt like the world had been rewired.Someone shouted orders in clipped, authoritative tones, and the security hub flooded with movement, footsteps, and paged names, as weapons slid back into holsters.Dominic’s face was a pale map of bruises and lines. He blinked awake like a man surfacing from dark water, eyes wavering until they found Lila. Recognition struggled through the fog, slow as sunrise.“Lila?” His voice scraped out. He tried to push himself up, but she pressed a hand to his chest, forcing him gently back.“Stay.”Eli was warm and solid in her arms, breathing softly, a tiny anchor i
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-18
Chapter: Chapter Three: Escape and Discovery(2)The black monitor blinked out like an eyelid closing.For a second, there was nothing but the mechanical buzz of the security hub and the faint metallic scent of the room.Then a shadow moved in the corridor outside—quick, deliberate, purposeful.“Hide,” Dominic hissed.Lila didn’t think. She ducked behind the nearest bank of consoles, clutching Eli to her chest and muffling his small, frightened whimpers. Dominic’s presence pressed behind her like heat as he moved past. His hand brushed her hair as he went—a fleeting contact that shot straight through her nerves.Footsteps approached. Heavy. Surgical. Metal scraped.The door handle rattled, then slammed open with a scream of steel.A figure stepped into the room: tall, wrapped in dark tactical clothing, the hood low, a surgical mask concealing everything but cold, pale eyes. He didn’t rush. He paused, cataloging the room as if it were conducting a threat assessment.Dominic moved before Lila saw him move, a quiet shift of shadow betw
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-18
Masuk
