로그인Lila’s POV
“GET ON the bike,” Jacob said. “Before you change your mind.”
The engine was already running.
I stood at the edge of the gravel driveway, the estate looming behind me like a living thing with eyes in every window. The air smelled like cut grass and distant rain. My heart was racing so hard it felt like it might bruise my ribs from the inside.
“I cannot just disappear,” I said, ev
Lila’s POV“I NEEDEDsome air,” I said, keeping my tone even, my breathing steady.Adrian’seyes flicked past me briefly.Down the hallwayt hen back to me.“You left without saying anything.”“It was loud in there.”“That’s not an answer.”“It is if you listen.”The smallest pause.Adrian studied melonger this time.Too long.Like he was looking for something.Something off.Something out of place.I forced myself to stay still.His gaze dropped slightly.Not far.Just enough that I felt the shift.He’s taking in details.My posture, my hands, my face.I resisted the urge to touch my hair, to adjust my dressor to do anything that would look like I was fixing something.Because that wo
Lila’s POV“PROVE IT,” I whispered to Jacob when no one was looking.The words slipped out before I could stop them. Before I could soften them.Before I could take them back.The moment they existed between us, something shifted.Not around us.Between us.Jacob didn’t answer immediately.He didn’t move either.But I saw it in his eyes.The way something dark and controlled tightened, sharpened, reacted.We were still in the hallway just outside the ballroom, the sounds of the rehearsal dinner fading behind us into muted voices and clinking glass. The light here was dimmer, quieter, the kind of space people passed through but didn’t linger in.I had lingered. Intentionally. And he had followed.Of course he had.“You shouldn’t say things like that,” he said finally, his voice low, measured, b
Lila’s POV“STAY WHERE I can see you,” Adrian said, his tone almost casual.Like it wasn’t an order.Like it wasn’t something that settled over my skin and tightened there, invisible and deliberate, the same way his hand did a second later when it found my waist.Not asking.Not hesitating.Placing.I forced myself not to react.The ballroom had been transformed for the rehearsal dinner. Long tables dressed in white linen stretched across the polished floor, gold accents catching the glow of chandeliers overhead. Crystal glasses lined up with precision, reflecting warm light that made everything feel softer than it actually was. Staff moved quietly along the edges, adjusting placements, refilling glasses that weren’t empty, ensuring everything looked effortless.It was perfect.It felt like a stage.And I was standing exactly where Adrian wanted me.His h
Lila’s POV“IF YOUopen that door, you’d better have a reason,” Jacob said coldly.His voice cut through the silence just as the handle turned fully.For a split second, everything inside me locked.My breath.My thoughts.My body, still pressed between him and the wall, his hand firm at my waist, his other braced near my head like he had every intention of keeping me exactly where I was.The door opened.And it wasn’t Adrian.Marco stepped in.He stopped the moment he crossed the threshold.The shift in the room was immediate.Heavy.Obvious.Unavoidable.His gaze moved from Jacob to me, then back again, sharp and assessing in a way that missed nothing. He didn’t speak right away. He didn’t need to. The tension in the room spoke for itself.I moved first.Instinct.I slipped out
Lila’s POV“DON’T BEgentle with me,” I said, my voice barely steady.The words hung between us, fragile for only a second before something in Jacob’s expression shifted in a way that made my breath catch.His hand was still on my jaw.Firm.Unyielding.Not hurting me, but not careful either.Like he had stopped pretending he needed to be.His eyes searched mine, dark and sharp, as if he were trying to decide whether I understood what I was asking for.“You don’t mean that,” he said quietly.“I do.”The answer came faster this time.Stronger.Because I did.Because the fear that had been building inside me all night had nowhere else to go.Because Adrian’s voice was still in my head, still wrapped around my thoughts, still trying to pull me back into something small and con
Lila’s POV“SAY ITagain,” Adrian murmured against my ear.His voice slid over my skin like something deliberate, something practiced, something meant to sound calm while it tightened around me like a slow, invisible grip.I did not move.I could feel him behind me. Close enough that the heat of his body pressed faintly through the thin space between us. Close enough that if I leaned back even slightly, I would be touching him.I kept my spine straight.“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, forcing each word to come out steady, even though my pulse had started to climb.A soft breath left him, almost like a quiet laugh.“That’s not what you said before,” he replied, his tone thoughtful, as if he were replaying something in his mind. “You were more convincing five seconds ago.”I swal
Lila’s POVTHE HOUSE had learned how to whisper.Which meant when I heard Adrian’s voice in the west corridor, I stopped.Not because it was raised. Because it was careful.&nbs
Lila’s POVTHE ESTATE changed after the gunshot.It was subtle at first. More boots on the marble floors. Radios murmuring under breath. Doors that used to stay open now closed with deliberate clicks
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 POVI SHOULD not have been thinking about the garden.But the warmth of stone under my feet followed me back into the house, lingering in my bones like heat memory. The way Jacob’s hands had settled on my hips replayed itself without my permission. Not the touch alone, but the way he had sto







