Chapter 120

Lila’s POV

For a moment, I could not breathe. My body felt frozen, my chest tight, my pulse thundering in my ears. My lips parted, but no sound came out. The air in the room seemed to shift, as though those seven words had changed something irreversible between us.

Love?

How dare he say that now? After everything. After tearing me down when I needed him most, after looking at me like I was a stranger, no, worse, an enemy. After leaving me to hold myself together when I was coming apart at the seams. Now he came here, uninvited, breaking into the fragile peace I had started to build, and said that?

The shock swelled inside me, crashing like waves against a cliff. And then, underneath it, I felt something far more dangerous.

Destabilization.

That was the only word for it. His presence, his voice, his confession they rattled me to my core. Everything I had tried to steady these last weeks threatened to topple.

I forced myself to swallow, forced my voice past the lump in my throat. “Don’t. Don’t you dare use that word. You can’t just say things like that, Drew.” My voice shook, and I hated it. Hated that he could still make me tremble.

He took a hesitant step forward, hands raised slightly like he was afraid I might bolt. “I do not know how else to say it. I don’t even fully understand it myself. But I know what I feel, and there is this pull I can not ignore, Lila. It’s you. It’s always been you, I just kept denying it all these while.”

The tears burned before I could stop them. My chest tightened as I shook my head, backing up a step. “Stop. Please, stop.”

His face contorted, pain flickering across his features. “Lila, I…”

“No.” My voice cracked. “Do you realize what you are doing to me right now? Do you realize what it costs me just to stand here and listen to you? You destabilize me, Drew. You make me feel like the ground under me is crumbling. I was finally learning how to breathe again, and then you show up and… My throat closed around the words, cutting me off.

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to steady the frantic beat of my heart. The tears spilled over now, hot and relentless.

“You have to go.” My voice was a whisper, but every syllable shook with finality.

He froze, his eyes widening. “Lila, please…”

“Leave.” My voice rose, trembling with the force of it. “Just leave, Drew. If you care at all, if any of what you just said means anything then don’t wreck me again. Please.”

For a moment, he just stood there, staring at me like he could not process my words. His jaw clenched, his eyes darting between mine, searching for some opening, some hope.

Then he moved, desperation seeping into his tone. “Lila, I do not want to walk away from this. From you, not again. I know I have been wrong, I know I have hurt you, but I can not shake this off I just can not.”

“Stop!” I burst out, my voice cracking. “Stop begging me! Stop saying things you do not even understand! You think this is about fixing yourself by coming here and unloading on me? You think I have not bled enough already? Just…” My words dissolved into a sob, my hand covering my mouth as my shoulders shook.

He reached out, instinctively, like he wanted to close the gap between us. But before he could take another step, another voice thundered through the room.

“Get out.”

I jerked, startled, and turned.

My father stood in the doorway, his expression like steel, his frame rigid with fury. His eyes burned into Drew with the kind of fire I had only ever seen when he felt the need to protect me.

Drew froze, his arm falling back to his side.

“You heard me,” Dad said, his voice low, each word edged with barely contained anger. “Get out of my house. Now.”

“Sir, please,” Drew tried, his voice soft, pleading. “I just need a few more minutes with her.”

Dad’s eyes narrowed. “You have had enough minutes. More than you deserve. My daughter asked you to leave, and I will not stand here and watch you tear her down any further. So get out.”

The finality in his tone left no room for argument.

Drew’s shoulders slumped. His gaze flicked back to me, raw and wounded. For a fleeting second, I thought he might still push back, might still try to fight for one more word, one more chance. But then he seemed to see something; my tears, my trembling frame and his jaw tightened.

Slowly, reluctantly, he nodded once.

“Alright,” he said hoarsely. His eyes lingered on mine, almost as if he wanted to etch me into memory. “I will go.”

He turned, his steps heavy, his presence filling every corner of the room even as he left it. The sound of the door clicking shut echoed like a gunshot, final and sharp.

And then, silence.

My knees gave way before I could stop them. I collapsed onto the couch, burying my face in my hands as sobs tore out of me, raw and unrestrained. The dam had broken. Everything I had held back, the fear, the anger, the exhaustion and the ache of his words came rushing out in a flood I could not control.

I did not even try to control it either.

I let the tears fall, hot and bitter, until my chest ached from the force of them. My father hovered a few steps away, torn between holding me and giving me space, his protective energy filling the room. My mom too had come out and held me as I cried but I could barely register both of them.

All I could hear was Drew’s voice, echoing in my head, over and over.

And all I could feel was the chaos it left in its wake.