ログインLila’s POV“YOU’REnot leaving me tonight,” Adrian said quietly.The words landed before I could step back.Before I could thinkor breathe.His hand closed around my wrist, firm but not rough, the grip precise enough to stop me without making a scene. It was controlled. Everything about him was always controlled. The pressure of his fingers wasn’t painful, but it wasn’t something I could ignore either. It was a decision made for me.I stilled.Not because I wanted to. Because I had to.The hallway stretched around us, empty and dim, the silence thick enough to hold every movement, every shift of breath. For a second, I didn’t say anything. I focused on keeping my expression neutral, on slowing the pulse that had started to spike under my skin.“I wasn’t aware I needed permission,” I said finally.My voice came out steadier than I felt.His grip didn’t loosen.“Not perm
Lila’s POV“DON’T LOOK nervous,” Jacob murmured behind me.I didn’t turn. I couldn’t.Because if I did, if I let myself lean into the sound of his voice, into the steadiness of him, I knew it would show. It would soften something in my face that I could not afford to soften right now. Not with everything tightening around us. Not with the air inside the estate feeling like it had shifted into something sharper, something that watched and listened even when no one was speaking.“I’m not nervous,” I said quietly.The lie sat too easily on my tongue.I stood in the dim corridor just outside the study, my hand curled loosely around the small object hidden beneath the fold of my sleeve. The drive pressed against my skin like a pulse I couldn’t ignore. Every second I held it, I became more aware of it. Of what it carried. Of what it could destroy.Jacob stepped closer behind me, just enough that I felt the heat of him at my back, not touching but close enough that my body registered it anyw
Lila’s POV“THAT’S too early,” Marco said sharply.His voice cut through the room before the door had even fully closed behind us.I stood just inside the study, the air still heavy from the rush of getting here, from the message still burning at the back of my mind. The shift in timing had already started to settle in my chest like something solid and immovable, something that refused to be ignored no matter how hard I tried to push through it.Too early.It echoed louder now. Because it wasn’t just inconvenient. It was dangerous.Marco paced once across the room, his hand dragging down his face as he turned back toward me, his expression tighter than I had ever seen it.“How much earlier?” he asked.“Morning,” I said. “Not afternoon anymore.”His jaw clenched. “That cuts our window in half.”“More than half,” Jacob said from behind me.I felt him step closer as he spoke, his presence settling at my back again, not touching but close enough to feel. Grounding. Watching. Always watchi
Lila’s POV“SAY GOODBYE now,” Jacob said. The words didn’t sound like him, they were too steady and too final. Like he had already walked through something in his head and come back with an answer he didn’t want to say out loud.I stared at him.We were still on the balcony, the night air cool against my skin, the silence of the estate stretching around us like something waiting to break. The lights below glowed faintly across the grounds, distant, almost unreal compared to the way everything felt up here.Close, tight, and too real.“I’m not doing that,” I said.My voice came out sharper than I intended, but I didn’t soften it.I couldn’t.Because the second I even entertained the idea of saying goodbye, it meant I was accepting that tomorrow could take him away from me.Or me away from him.And I refused.Jacob didn’t move right away.He leaned against the railing, one hand gripping the metal bar just enough that I could see the tension in his knuckles. His gaze stayed on me, stead
Lila’s POV“YOU SHOULDN’T be here,” I whispered.The words barely made it past my lips before the door clicked shut behind him.Jacob didn’t answer right away.He stood there for a second, just inside the room, his hand still resting on the handle like he was deciding whether to lock it or leave it as it was. The dim light from the balcony filtered through the curtains, cutting shadows across his face, making his expression harder to read but not hiding the tension in his jaw.“I know,” he said finally in a low voice. But there was something underneath it. Something frayed. Something too close to breaking.I took a step toward him. Like I wasn’t entirely sure what I was walking into. “You could get seen,” I added, quieter now.“I already was,” he replied.That made me stop. “What?”“Not enough to matter,” he said quickly, pushing off the door and stepping closer. “Security’s distracted. Adrian’s still tied up in the office reports. No one’s watching the west wing right now.”I let out
Lila’s POV“NOTHING’S MISSING,” Adrian said slowly. The words came after a long, deliberate silence. Long enough for every second to stretch thin, for my heartbeat to grow louder in my ears, and for me to feel every inch of the room before I even stepped fully inside it.I crossed the threshold carefully. Not hesitant or even rushed, but just measured. Like every movement mattered.The air inside my father’s office felt exactly the same. That was the first thing that hit me. No disturbance. No sign of struggle. No overturned furniture or broken glass.The desk sat exactly where it always had, papers aligned in neat, precise stacks. The chair was pushed in just enough to look untouched. The shelves along the far wall remained lined with books and old records, the same worn edges and familiar arrangement I had memorized over the past weeks.Too perfect and that was the problem. Like someone had come in and made sure it looked untouched. Or like nothing had ever happened here at all.I
Lila’s POVI THOUGHT avoidance would dull things.That if I learned how to look past Jacob, how to occupy my hands with books and cups of tea and meaningless tasks, the ache would quiet. I thought shame would be louder than longing.I was wrong.Avoidance did not erase him. It sharpened him. It mad
Lila’s POVTHE POWER did not come back on all at once.It returned in pieces. Hallway lights first. Emergency systems humming unevenly. The house waking up like nothing had happened, even though everything had.By morning, the estate looked normal again. Too normal.No one mentioned the blackout ou
Lila’s POVTHE GARDEN looked different at night. Not romantic. Not soft. Just older.The hedges rose higher than they did during the day, shadows folding inward like they were listening. The stone path held the day’s warmth, seeping up through the thin soles of my shoes, grounding me in a way the h
Lila’s POVTHE LIGHTS went out like the house exhaled and forgot how to breathe.One second, the hall was glowing with warm chandeliers and polished surfaces. The next, everything snapped into darkness, sharp and sudden, followed by the low mechanical groan of generators struggling to wake.Someone







