Chapter 63

The words still hung in the air like smoke, refusing to clear.

Max’s voice, “It would be my pleasure to tell him your little secret” echoed in my head even though the office was dead silent. He said it as if he was savoring the thought of dropping a match into a room full of gasoline. Every single person was staring at me like I had just been caught in some scandalous affair.

I could feel their eyes, dozens of them, crawling over my skin. The heat of it made my neck prickle.

And then Drew turned to me.

Not slowly. Not dramatically. He just turned. His eyes found mine instantly, and in that fraction of a second, the weight in them nearly buckled my knees.

“What’s he talking about?”

His voice wasn’t raised, but it might as well have been. It was low, steady, and heavy with something that felt like suspicion.

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. My tongue felt glued to the roof of my mouth.

Think, Lila. Think.

I couldn’t say it here, not with the entire office watching, and with the kind of whispers that would follow me for the rest of my career. If I told the truth here, if I even hinted at it, the story would move through this building like wildfire.

I could already picture it: the sideways glances, the speculations, the snide comments, the “Did she get the contract because she has been sleeping with him?” Worse, my baby would be dragged into it in ways I couldn’t bear.

And there was also Drew’s reaction to battle with. If I told him here, with his temper simmering, in front of Max and in front of all these people, it would detonate like a bomb.

I have seen what Drew was like when someone crossed him. I have heard the calm steel in his voice when he told Max that sabotaging his launch had made his business personal to him. I could imagine that same calm, that same steel, turned against me.

So I lied.

“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” I said, forcing the words out before my brain could sabotage me. “He’s just trying to create more chaos.”

My voice sounded calmer than I felt. Inside, my heart was pounding so violently it felt like it might punch straight through my ribs.

Drew didn’t look away. He didn’t blink. He just studied me with this still, assessing expression, like he was cataloguing every twitch of my mouth, every flicker in my eyes.

I held his gaze as best I could. My palms were slick, and I could feel my spine stiffening to keep from looking guilty.

Finally, he gave the smallest nod, not agreement, not belief, just… acknowledgment. Like he’d file it away for later.

But before Max could open his mouth and destroy everything, movement caught my eye.

Two security guards were striding through the office, their dark uniforms cutting clean lines through the stillness.

Apparently, Drew’s secretary had called them quietly while this entire scene was unraveling.

Max noticed them a second too late.

“What the hell is this?” he barked as one guard stepped to his left and the other to his right.

“Sir,” one of them said evenly, “you will need to come with us.”

“I’m not going anywhere!” Max snapped, trying to pull away as they took him each by an arm. “Do you have any idea who you are…”

“Save it,” the other guard interrupted. “You’re disrupting business here and that's unacceptable so let’s go.”

Max twisted against their hold, glaring over their shoulders at Drew. “This isn’t over, Sinclair! I’ll deal with you”

Then his eyes locked on mine, and the fury in them was like a physical blow.

“And you,” he snarled. “You think you’ve won? You haven’t. You’ll regret this, Lila. I swear you’ll regret it.”

“Get him out,” Drew said, his voice as sharp as broken glass. “And make sure he never steps foot inside this building again.”

The guards nodded, steering Max toward the elevators as he kept throwing curses over his shoulder. His voice grew fainter with distance, but I still caught fragments, threats, promises and my name wrapped in venom.

When the elevator doors closed behind them, Drew turned back to the room.

“The Show is over,” he said flatly. “Get back to work.”

Chairs squeaked, keyboards clattered, and a dozen fake conversations started up at once as if everyone was desperate to erase the last ten minutes.

I exhaled slowly and turned toward my desk, my mind already screaming for a moment to breathe. But I only managed a single step before I heard his voice again.

“Lila.”

I froze.

“Follow me.”

His back was already to me, broad shoulders cutting a clean line toward his office.

I swallowed hard, every instinct telling me this was not going to end well.

Inside, he closed the door. The quiet in here was different and heavier.

Drew didn’t sit behind his desk. He stayed standing, a few feet away, arms loose at his sides, but the stillness in his body was worse than if he’d been pacing. His face was unreadable, the kind of calm that came before a storm.

“What secret,” he said slowly, “are you keeping from me?”

I gripped my hands together to hide the faint tremor in my fingers. “I told you, I don’t know what he was talking about. He is just ”

“Stop.” The single word sliced through mine like a blade.

His eyes were sharp, cutting right through my defense. “If you’re lying to me, Lila…” He took a single step closer, and I felt the air shift. “…I promise you won’t find it funny when I find out.”

The room felt smaller. My throat was dry. “I’m not lying.”

He held my gaze for another heartbeat before finally stepping back, his jaw tight.

“Fine,” he said. “Go back to work.”

I nodded quickly, relieved to be dismissed, and slipped out into the noise of the office again. But the whispers had started.

I could feel them in the way people glanced up from their screens when I passed. The hushed tones, the barely concealed curiosity. It was like the air had been laced with speculation.

The rest of the day dragged like wet cement. Every tick of the clock sounded too loud, every shuffle of papers from the desk behind me made my skin itch. I forced myself to work, to answer emails, to take calls, but my mind was somewhere else entirely.

Max now knew I had betrayed him and I was scared of what was going to come after.

I didn’t know what he would do next, but I knew it wouldn’t be nothing. And that thought alone made every second feel like waiting for a door to be kicked open.

When closing time finally came, I stared at my computer screen for a long moment before shutting it down. My hands were cold, my nerves frayed raw.

Leaving the building felt dangerous now. I didn’t even know if it was safe to go home.

But I couldn’t stay here.

I gathered my things, my mind running through worst case scenarios like a film reel, Max waiting by my car, Max following me, Max showing up at my apartment.

I had just slung my bag over my shoulder and stepped toward the exit when I heard it.

“Lila.”

I stopped.

He was standing a few steps away, his tall frame cutting into the low light of the reception area.

Drew.

He walked toward me with measured steps, no rush, no hesitation, just that quiet authority that made it impossible to look anywhere else.

When he reached me, he didn’t waste words.

“I’m taking you home,” he said simply. “Come with me.”

I blinked at him, caught completely off guard.

My heart gave a strange, uneven thud. Why?

I just stood there, staring at him, my thoughts a tangled mess of confusion and unease. Why in the world was Drew offering to take me home?