로그인Lila’s POV
“SMILE,” Vivienne’s voice said from the speaker. “You look beautiful when you’re scandalous.”
The sound of her voice through Jacob’s phone felt more invasive than the photograph itself.
We were still standing on the sand. The wind had picked up, whipping my hair across my face, but I barely felt it. My eyes stayed fixed on the screen. On the image of us. On the proof that the
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 POV“IF I go down,” Adrian said, “I take you with me.”Fear shot through my chest like ice.I stood in the doorway of his study, staring at the open safe behind him. The metal door hung wide, the keypad still glowing faintly in the dim room. Papers were spread across Adrian’s desk in careful
Lila’s POVSLEEP REFUSEDme.I lay in the dark of my old bedroom, listening to the estate settle into its false quiet.The gunshot replayed in my head, not the sound but the aftermath. Jacob’s body in front of mine. Adr
Lila’s POVTHE DOORS closed behind me, but the weight of Adrian’s gaze lingered longer than the metal walls around us.“You need to understand,” he said, voice low and deliberate, “that everything I do, I do for you.”I folded my arms across my chest. My legs felt suddenly heavy, as if the floor it
Lila’s POVI LEARNEDvery quickly that wedding announcement dinners were not about celebration.They were about performance.The dining hall had been transformed into something ceremonial, candlelight reflecting off polished silver







