Lila melted into him, answering his kiss with the same desperate fervor. By the time his mouth left hers, she was trembling, breathless, her body alive with longing. Hunger burned in her eyes, mirroring the fire she saw in his, and it took every ounce of willpower to pull away from him.“Your wound needs to be treated,” she whispered, her gaze flicking helplessly to his arm, the blood still staining his skin.Damien didn’t move his eyes from her face. His hand slid to the back of her neck, holding her close, his touch firm and possessive. “If I wanted treatment, I wouldn’t be here,” he murmured, his voice low and rough, his breath hot against her lips.He leaned in, intent on claiming her mouth again, but Lila tilted her head aside, her pulse hammering as her lips just barely escaped his.“You need to be treated first,” she deadpanned, standing up from his thigh at once.Damien’s jaw flexed as he watched her move away. She disappeared into the kitchen, returning with a bowl of water a
“Dial it again,” Rex said, watching Graves try Damien’s number for the third time. Still not reachable.“Let’s just drive to Pinebend,” Graves muttered, kicking the engine to life. Before the car moved, Rex’s phone lit up with Blade’s name.He snatched it up instantly.“Where was the boss’s last location? I can’t reach him,” Blade’s voice crackled through the line. Both men exchanged a glance, trying not to let the fear show.“We’ve been trying to reach him too,” Graves answered, his throat tight. “The last place I left him was Pinebend.”“Good. I’m going there now,” Blade said, then the line went dead. Graves gripped the wheel and drove into the night.Meanwhile, Damien was still fighting the men in suits. Six were already on the ground, but the last four pressed on with equal determination. Their skill was undeniable and his head throbbed from a knife wound that had opened the skin above his brow.One came at him fast, blade aimed for his ankle but Damien twisted out of reach and sp
Lila curled into herself on the bed, her heart betraying her with concern she didn’t want to feel. Why should she care if Damien drove like a madman or shut her out with those dead, cold eyes? Why should it matter unless it was because she had given him her virginity, a part of herself she could never take back? The thought made her feel sick. She quickly straightened, dragging air into her lungs, and reminding herself of the promise she lived for. Whatever had passed between them, Damien Wolfe was not a man to save. He was a man she would destroy.But then his words crossed her mind again. If you care about him… then you should stop.“Stop what?” she shrieked. “Asher is the boy I should love, and no matter how you make me feel, I will kill you, Damien Wolfe. I promise.” Her nose flared, her chest rising and falling with each breath.Meanwhile, at the end of the city, Graves and Rex sat in the car across from a bungalow, their eyes fixed on the gate as they waited patiently for thei
When Damien slammed the car to a halt in the penthouse parking lot, Lila wiped the sweat beading her forehead, her chest heaving as though she’d sprinted all the way home. She turned to him, but his face was a statue carved from rage and restraint, so dreadfully still that even a single word might break him apart.“What was that, uncle?” she asked, her voice trembling despite her attempt to stay calm.His eyes didn’t move from the windshield. “Get out,” he said, cold and flat.The bluntness struck her harder than the reckless drive. Lila blinked, stunned, unable to make sense of the sudden distance in him.“Get out, kid. Don’t make me repeat myself again.”Her throat tightened, dry and aching, and her fingers fumbled with the strap of her bag. She reached for the door handle, desperate to escape the suffocating silence, when his voice cut through again; low, measured, each word deliberate.“If you care about him… then you should stop.”Her hand froze. Slowly, she turned back toward hi
Lila’s fingers trembled around the phone even after the line went dead. She told herself to stay, to keep holding Asher’s hand, to smile as if nothing had happened. But her chest betrayed her, each beat of her heart pounded with his voice, replaying it over and over until the sound of it drowned everything else.He was still here, watching and waiting.Lila forced herself to breathe, but the butterflies she had begged for moments ago were now a storm inside her, rising uncontrollably at the thought of him. She hated it... so much. She hated that her body obeyed him before her mind even had the chance to resist.“Are you okay?” Tessa asked as she stood, her eyes catching the unease on Lila’s face.Lila slipped her hand from Asher’s grip, forcing a smile. She grabbed her shoulder bag from the bench and turned toward them. “I need to start going now. My… my bodyguard is here,” she said.Both Asher and Tessa followed her gaze to the red sports car parked a few meters away. The windows we
The campus was quieter than usual, the summer break leaving most of the pathways empty except for some of the students attending coaching. The heat pressed down relentlessly, making the air heavy and the pavement shimmer and a few bicycles stood abandoned near the entrance.Lila and Tessa strolled together across the nearly deserted courtyard near the parking lot, their voices low and easy as they chatted about their last meeting. The sun beat down hard, urging them toward the wide patch of shade cast by a sprawling oak tree at the edge of the grounds.“Jesus, Lila. How can you be fine staying with someone like that? He looks so terrifying, and I still haven’t gotten his cold face out of my mind. Jeez,” Tessa said, shaking her head as they both sat on the backless bench under the tree.Lila chuckled. “I told you, didn’t I?” she said, lifting her cup of iced coffee and taking a sip.Tessa’s eyes widened in disbelief as she turned fully toward her on the bench. “Aren’t you scared of him