Chapter 69

Lila’s POV

The air in my living room wasn’t mine anymore.

It was thick, stolen, possessed by the shadow standing in the middle of it.

Max.

I wanted to scream, but no sound left my throat. My body refused to move. My legs, my hands, even the quick rise and fall of my chest felt like they were no longer mine.

He sat there in the half light like he belonged here, his posture too casual for the storm simmering in his eyes. His smile wasn’t a smile at all, it was a crack in something darker, something that pulsed with rage just beneath the surface.

And then he stood.

It wasn’t sudden. He rose slowly, deliberately, every inch of his movement a performance. His shoulders squared, his jaw tilted, like a predator stepping out of the shadows.

I flinched back instinctively.

“Lila,” he said for the second time since I walked in, my name rolling off his tongue with a mocking softness that made my stomach churn. “You thought you could run from me, right?”

My lips parted, but nothing came. My mind screamed move, run, do something, but my body was cemented in place.

His footsteps were steady as he closed the distance. With each step, the walls felt closer, the air thinner as I stepped back in fear, and when his hand clamped around my wrist, I gasped.

“After everything I’ve done for you, after everything I sacrificed…” he seethed, his grip tight enough to bite into my skin, “this is what I get right? this is how you choose to repay me?”

I struggled to pull away. “Max, please let go of me.”

His laugh was sharp, cold. “Let go? You don’t get it, do you? You don’t just walk away from me, Lila. You don’t get to decide that everything I’ve invested in you, everything I’ve given you was for nothing.”

My fear burned hot, but anger licked at its edges. I forced my voice out, trembling but steady. “The only thing you ever did was manipulate me, Max. Every single thing you called sacrifice was nothing but your selfish games.” My voice trembled, but it was steady enough to sting. “The only thing I did wrong was deciding not to be your pawn anymore.”

For a fraction of a second, something flickered across his face: shock, disbelief, hurt and then fury. Pure, unfiltered fury.

Before I could say anything else he shoved me really hard that I stumbled to the nearest wall almost hurting my baby bump in the process.

The wall stopped my body with a jolt that rattled through my bones. My hand shot to my stomach instantly, cradling the fragile life inside. Terror shot through me, raw and instinctual.

“No…” I whispered softly almost in tears even, I slid against the wall, my whole body curling protectively.

Max froze for half a second, then his lips peeled back into a sneer. “Oh, now you care about protecting something?” His voice was dripping with mockery. “Funny. Because when it came to me, you didn’t care about protecting anything we had. You just threw me away.”

My chest heaved. “Max, please. Don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt my child.”

The word child snapped something in him. His sneer twisted into something darker, uglier.

“Child,” he repeated slowly, like he was tasting the word. Then he laughed, the sound jagged and hollow. “That’s the whole reason I went after Drew. To make him pay for what he did to you.”

My heart stuttered. “What are you saying?”

His hand lashed out, gripping my chin so hard it ached. His face loomed close, his breath hot, his eyes wild. “Don’t act clueless, Lila. Drew made you pregnant and dumped you, didn't he? And he needed to pay for that.

His voice rose, sharp with fury. “And instead of standing by me, instead of letting me destroy him and avenge you for what he did to you, you…” He shook his head violently. “You chose him, you keep choosing him because for reasons I can't understand you love a man who doesn't love you back.

I wanted to make him pay but you protected him and you betrayed me.”

My voice broke as I tried to shake my head. “That’s not true Max. I don't love Drew and I didn't ask you to avenge me.” I kept speaking trying to get through to him but he wasn’t listening. He never did.

Max wasn’t speaking to me anymore. He was unraveling, spiraling, trapped inside his own delusion where he was the victim, the savior, the only one who ever mattered and always the one being owed something.

“You painted me as the villain,” he snarled, pacing away only to whirl back toward me, his gestures wild. “But I’m the one who stood by you when your whole world was crumbling and offered you support. I’m the one who believed in you. I’m the one who gave you purpose and encouraged you. And this…” he pointed at me with trembling rage. “this is how you repay me? By siding with the enemy?”

I thought he was done but he continued speaking, raising his voice now. “You said I manipulated you, you look at me like I'm a monster, when all I ever did was fight for you. For us.”

His voice cracked, then hardened again, full of venom. “But you know what, you were too stupid, too blind to see that Drew doesn’t care about you. He never did and he never will. He used you, broke you, discarded you. And what did you do?” He spun back toward me, eyes blazing. “You defended him. You betrayed me.”

My back pressed hard into the wall, tears stinging my eyes, but I forced my voice to come out strong. “No, Max. What you did wasn’t love. Love isn’t control. Love isn’t twisting everything to make yourself the hero and it definitely isn't manipulation.”

“What you did to me wasn’t love, it was ownership. And I’m done being owned.”

His face twisted, and then his hands were on me again, gripping my shoulders, shaking me so hard my teeth clacked together.

“You don’t get to tell me what love is!” His spit flecked my cheek. His voice was raw, almost breaking. “I helped you stand on your feet Lila. I carried you when no one else would. I gave you everything. Without me, you’re nothing.” His grip was bruising, and his eyes shone with the depth of someone who truly believed his own lies.

Every word was a dagger, sharp, brutal and meant to shred me from the inside out.

And yet beneath his fury, I saw it: the fragility. The way his ego cracked when I didn’t mirror his story back to him. He wasn’t just angry. He was desperate to preserve the fantasy he lived in.

Max was dangerous in the way only narcissists were: untethered from reality, convinced that his wraped version of the truth was the only truth.

“Max,” I whispered, clutching my stomach tighter. “If you hate me, fine. But don’t take it out on my child.”

He stilled, his chest heaving. Then, slowly, his mouth stretched into something that was supposed to be a smile but looked more like madness.

“Don’t you get it?” His voice dropped to a hiss. “There is no you without me. If I go down, Lila…” He leaned so close I could smell the bitter tang of his breath. “then you, and your precious Drew, and that little mistake inside you go down with me. Look around now, is anyone here to save you.”

A sob broke loose in my throat. His words weren’t just a threat. They were a promise.

The satisfaction in his eyes made bile rise in my throat. He wanted me ruined. He wanted Drew ruined. And he would scorch the earth just to prove no one could have me but him.

He pulled back slightly, his hand twitching as though he was about to strike me or worse when a sharp knock cracked through the silence.

“Lila? Is everything alright in there?”

I froze. My neighbor’s voice. Plain. Concerned. But in that moment, it was a lifeline.

Max’s entire body went rigid. His head snapped toward the door, his jaw clenching.

The knock came again, firmer this time. “Lila? Are you fine, we heard noise from your apartment and we were concerned. Please open the door.”

Silence blanketed the room, thick and suffocating. My heart slammed so hard against my chest I thought it might break through.

And then Max turned his eyes back on me.

The smile that curled across his lips was slow, chilling, calculated.

Because it didn’t hold fear.

It didn’t hold a retreat.

It said only one thing

This isn’t over.