LOGINEnjoy.
LILY The moment Jake said pack - I moved fast, shoving clothes into a duffel bag, grabbing documents, and small trinkets. When we stepped outside, the wind hitting my face felt sharp . Too familiar. My breath caught. Because the cold hit me exactly like that night. Jake noticed instantly. “Lily,” he said softly. “Talk to me.” But the world had already started tilting. I swallowed hard. “It’s nothing. Just—just the weather.” It was memory. It was a storm I’d spent years pretending I’d forgotten. We made it halfway down the path to the car when the first snowflake touched my cheek. Just one. But my knees almost buckled. Jake stopped walking. “Lily?” I forced a laugh. “It’s fine—really. Let’s just get to the car.” The clouds. They were the exact shade of the sky the night my parents— No. Not here. Not now. Jake reached for my hand, but before he could touch me— crack . A tree branch snapped somewhere in the woods. I jumped violently, my heart slamming into my ribs
LILY The headline hit me before Jake even spoke. I didn’t need to click it. I didn’t need to zoom in. The thumbnail alone made my blood turn cold. " BILLIONAIRE SECRETLY MARRIED — WHO IS THE MYSTERY WOMAN? " Under it, our courthouse photo.The tiny office.The ugly fluorescent lighting.The rings. Our rings. My breath stuttered. The coffee in my hand went cold. My heart thudded so loud it drowned out the soft morning noises of my cottage. Beside me, Jake’s phone buzzed relentlessly. But my voice was the first thing to break the silence. “Jake,” I whispered, staring at the screen. “What… what do we do now?” He didn’t speak at first. His hands were clenched on the table, knuckles white, eyes fixed on the same headline like he could burn it alive. His jaw worked, a muscle flickering. Then he exhaled—slow and dangerous. “We deal with it,” he said. “Together.” But I shook my head. “Together isn’t the issue. It’s the world. They know, Jake. They know everything. Someone
HENRY The notification pinged just as I was halfway through my third espresso — black, bitter, and perfectly matching my mood. Jake. Now, Jake Ryland doesn’t text mid-day unless it’s serious. I opened the message. One photo. No caption. And my entire mouthful of coffee almost went flying. There it was — a photo. Their photo. Jake and Lily, standing in that tiny attorney’s office, the one with flickering fluorescent lights and a potted plant that had clearly died during the last fiscal quarter. The same place I’d stood just forty-eight hours ago, holding Jake’s cufflinks in one hand and pretending not to tear up when Lily said I do . Except this wasn’t one of my pictures. Someone else had taken it. And stamped right across the bottom in white letters were two words that made my stomach drop: TIC TOC. “Oh, fantastic,” I muttered, setting the cup down so hard the desk rattled. “Because what every secret wedding needs is a countdown.” A second later, Jake’s messa
LILY I’d never thought he'd ever see this place. Not when we met, not even later when everything between us had tangled beyond repair. My cottage was the one piece of my life that hadn’t been swallowed by Jake Ryland’s world - just the smell of pine, the hum of the woods, and the quiet that came when the world stopped asking me to be anyone but myself. But that night, as we pulled up the gravel drive and the headlights swept over the snow-dusted porch, I saw his reflection in the window, I realized how much I wanted him here. Jake stepped out of the car and looked around slowly, his breath rising in the cold. “This is…” He stopped, exhaling. “It’s you.” I smiled softly. “Translation: it’s tiny and doesn’t have an espresso machine.” “It’s perfect.” The warmth that spread through my chest had no business being that intense. Inside, the cottage glowed golden and small — the fire crackling low, soft light spilling over the worn couch, the mismatched mugs by the sink. Jake wa
LILY The snow hadn’t stopped falling since dusk. It came down in soft sheets, muting the world into something unreal — like the universe itself was holding its breath. Inside the chalet, the fire glowed low and golden, painting the walls in amber. The scent of cedar and smoke filled the air, and somewhere in the distance, a storm rumbled like it couldn’t quite reach us. Jake was by the window, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He wasn’t watching the storm — he was watching me. “I can’t believe we came back here,” I said quietly, slipping off my shoes and curling up on the couch. “It feels like cheating fate.” He turned, his gaze softening. “Maybe. But if fate wanted to stop me, it should’ve tried harder.” "Corky much?" He walked towards me, like a man who already knew how this would end. When he stopped in front of me, he set his glass down and held out a hand. “Dance with me,” he said simply. “There’s no music.” He smiled faintly. “Then we’ll make our own.” I hesitated only
LILY The plane hummed softly, a low, steady sound that filled the silence between us. Jake was seated beside me, his jacket off, shirt sleeves rolled up, one hand loosely clasping mine over the armrest. We hadn’t said much since takeoff. Outside the window, the world stretched in shades of blue and white — clouds rolling like waves, the faint outline of mountains glinting in the distance. Aspenridge. The place where it all began. “I didn’t think we’d come back here,” I said quietly, watching the horizon. Jake’s thumb brushed my knuckles. “You didn’t think I’d let our story end where it started, did you?” A soft laugh escaped me. “You mean in a snowstorm, with me half-frozen and you pretending not to be a billionaire?” He smiled at that. “I wasn’t pretending. I was hiding.” “Same thing,” I said, but gently. “Maybe,” he said, his voice lower now, “but I’m not hiding anymore.” Something in my chest fluttered painfully. I turned back to the window before he could read t







