MasukLila’s POV“THIS PLACE finally feels like mine.”The words slipped out of me in a hush, almost like I was afraid the house itself might hear and decide to argue.For a long moment, no one said anything.Dust motes drifted lazily in the sunlight, turning the air almost dreamlike, and for the first time since I had stepped back into Montgomery Estate after my father’s death, the silence did not feel hostile.It felt peaceful.Jacob stood beside me, close enough that the warmth of his shoulder brushed mine.His gaze moved slowly across the room before settling on me.“It always was yours.”I let out a soft breath that almost became a laugh.“No,” I said, turning to look at him. “Not really. Not until now.”He studied my face, his expression gentling.The kind that came from knowing every fracture in me and loving me
Lila’s POV“STAY WITH me.”The words left me before I could second-guess them.Barely above a whisper.But in the quiet aftermath of everything, they sounded louder than any scream I had made that night.Jacob had just turned toward the door, as if to give me space after the authorities escorted Adrian out and Marco disappeared down the hall with the restored estate documents in his hands.That was who Jacob had always been.Never taking more space than I offered.Never assuming his presence was owed.Always leaving the choice with me.But tonight, after the storm, after the chapel, after the truth cracked open inside my father’s study, I could not bear the thought of being alone.His hand stilled on the brass doorknob.Slowly, he turned back to me.The fire had burned lower behind us, throwing the room into a softer gold, and in that light, the ex
Lila’s POV“WHERE IS Adrian?”The question ripped out of me before the rain had even stopped stinging my face.It came out sharper than I meant it to, raw with panic and fury, and it cut through the storm-dark garden where Theodore was still pinned beneath Jacob’s control.Marco’s chest rose and fell hard as he reached us, rain dripping from his hair onto the collar of his shirt.“He’s not in the front drive,” he said, breathless. “The car is gone.”“No.”The word left my mouth like a refusal of reality itself.Theodore laughed from the ground, the sound ugly and thin.“He always was good at knowing when the floor was about to collapse.”I turned on him so fast the world seemed to narrow into that one moment.“Where?”His smile sharpened.“You really don’t kno
Lila’s POV“JACOB!”The scream tore out of me before I even realized I was shouting.It split through the chapel like a blade.One second the room had been frozen in the aftermath of my father’s voice ringing through the speakers, the truth cracking open in front of every guest seated beneath the vaulted ceilings of Montgomery Estate’s private chapel.The next, Theodore moved.He did not stumble into panic the way guilty men in stories did.He moved with calculation.With survivaland cold instinct of a man who had spent his life building exits before anyone knew there was a fire.His chair scraped sharply against the marble floor as he shoved back from the front pew.Gasps erupted around us.Someone near the aisle cried out.The officiant stepped back, pale and confused, the ceremony abandoned in the wake of ruin.Theodore’s f
Lila’s POV“IF ANYTHING happens to me…”My father’s voice cracked through the speakers like a ghost tearing its way back into the world. The sound was distorted. Broken at the edges and threaded with static and digital corruption.But it was him. No matter how fragmented the audio was, I would have known that voice anywhere. Deep. Steady.The same voice that had once called me sunshine when I was too young to reach the kitchen counter without climbing onto a stool.The same voice that had calmed me through my worst nights.The same voice that had been ripped from me weeks ago and buried under polished stone and orchestrated condolences.For one terrible second, the entire chapel froze. Every whisper died. Every breath seemed to hold in the air.The guests stood suspended in shock, eyes lifted to the screen above the floral arch where the image flickered in and out.
Lila’s POV“BEFORE THISceremony continues…”My own voice rang through the chapel before the officiant could finish the next line.It cut through the room cleanly.Sharp enough to make every whispered conversation die.Sharp enough to stop the soft rustle of silk, the shifting of polished shoes across the marble aisle, the faint clink of champagne glasses from the reception tables set beyond the open garden doors.For one suspended moment, the entire Montgomery Estate seemed to hold its breath.I stood at the center of the aisle in white.The gown felt heavier now than it had when Vivienne had fastened the last button behind my back.Not because of the fabric.Because of what it represented.A trap.A transfer.A legal execution dressed as a wedding.At the far end of the aisle, Adrian stood waiting in his tailored black suit, on
Lila’s POV“SMILE,”Adrian murmured beside me. “This is your night.”The words sounded like instruction, not encouragement.I lifted my chin anyway as the doors to the east hall opened fully, light spilling
Lila’s POVTHE GARAGE smelled like oil and cold concrete, the kind of place that kept secrets simply by being too loud and too quiet at the same time.I had gone down there because I could not sit still anymore.After the estate event the other day, after the whispers and the way everyone had watch
Lila’s POVTHE ESTATE felt heavier after the challenger went public.Not louder. Not chaotic. Just dense, like the air before a storm that refuses to break.I spent the morning pretending to read emails while my thoughts looped around the same question. How much of this was happening because of me,
Lila’s POV“YOU DON’Thave to stay up,” Michael had said hours ago, his voice already heavy with exhaustion.I nodded, lied, and waited until the house fell quiet anyway.Sleep did not come. It ne







