LOGINLila’s POV
“TOMORROW,” Jacob said quietly.
The word did not feel like a promise. It felt like a countdown.
I stood in front of the tall mirror in my room, fingers pressed against the cool surface as if I needed something solid to keep me from drifting. Behind me, the estate stretched wide and silent, too quiet for a place that was about to host a wedding, a memorial, and a war all at once.
To
Lila’s POV“TOMORROW,”Jacob said quietly.The word did not feel like a promise. It felt like a countdown.I stood in front of the tall mirror in my room, fingers pressed against the cool surface as if I needed something solid to keep me from drifting. Behind me, the estate stretched wide and silent, too quiet for a place that was about to host a wedding, a memorial, and a war all at once.Tomorrow.The word settled deep in my chest, heavy and unmoving.I watched Jacob’s reflection instead of my own. He stood near the door, arms crossed loosely over his chest, posture relaxed in a way that only made him look more dangerous. His presence always carried that same contradiction. Calm on the surface. Something far more violent underneath.“Tomorrow,” I repeated, softer, as if saying it differently might change what it meant.“It’
Vivienne’s POV“THE INVITATIONS are already out,” I said.Lila didn’t respond right away.She stood across from me near the far end of the lounge, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as if she was holding something in place that threatened to come undone. The light from the tall windows behind her cast a pale glow along her profile, softening the tension in her face but not hiding it.Jacob stood slightly behind her, close enough to reach her in a second, far enough to let her stand on her own. His posture was relaxed in appearance, but I knew better. Every line of his body was alert, coiled, watching me as if I might shift from ally to threat at any moment.Smart man.Too late, though.The game had already moved far beyond caution.“You’re telling me there’s no way to stop it,” Lila said finally.Her voice was steady, but there was str
Jacob’s POV“I LOVEyou,” I said.The words came out before I could measure them.Not planned. Not softened. Not adjusted into something safer.Just the truth, dropped into the space between us while the engine ticked behind me, still hot from the ride, the smell of gasoline and metal wrapping around everything like it always did in this place.Lila didn’t answer right away.She stood a few steps away from me, just inside the garage, her chest rising and falling too fast, her hands still slightly trembling from the ride. Her hair was loose from the wind, strands clinging to her cheeks. Her eyes were wide, not with fear, but with everything she hadn’t said yet.I watched her carefully.Every second stretched.Not because I doubted what I said.But because I knew what it would cost her to say it back.“You don’t get to take that
Lila’s POV“YOU’RE not leaving the estate tonight,” Adrian said.The moment the words left his mouth, something in my chest tightened so sharply it almost felt like instinct instead of fear.I had just stepped into the hallway outside my room, my hand still hovering near the doorknob, when I saw him standing there. He wasn’t leaning or waiting casually. He was positioned directly in my path, shoulders squared, expression calm in a way that felt rehearsed.Like he had been waiting.For me.I forced myself not to step back.“Why?” I asked.My voice came out steadier than I felt, but I could hear the slight tension beneath it. The kind that only someone who knew me well would catch.Adrian did.His lips curved faintly, not quite a smile.“Because,” he said, taking a slow step closer, “it’s no lo
Lila’s POV“SOMEONE TOLDAdrian,” Jacob said.The words didn’t feel like a possibility.They felt like a conclusion.My chest tightened as soon as he said it.I was standing in the middle of the garage, arms wrapped around myself, the faint scent of oil and metal grounding me in a way the estate never did anymore. The air here was heavier, warmer, real. It didn’t pretend.Unlike everything else.I looked at him.“What makes you so sure?” I asked.Jacob didn’t answer immediately. He moved instead, stepping toward the workbench where the laptop still sat open. His jaw was tight, his shoulders set in that controlled way he got when something was already spiraling in his head.“Look at this,” he said.I crossed the space slowly, my pulse already picking up.The screen showed a live feed.&nb
Adrian’s POV“THEY THINK they’re clever,” I said.The words left my mouth low and measured, but the irritation beneath them was sharper than I preferred.Across the desk, the head of my private security team didn’t react. He stood still, hands clasped behind his back, posture straight, waiting.Good.At least someone in this house still understood discipline.I leaned back slowly in the chair, letting my gaze drift to the monitors mounted across the far wall. Multiple camera feeds flickered quietly. Hallways. Entrances. Grounds. The estate looked calm from a distance.It always did.That was the illusion.“Run it again,” I said.The man nodded once and reached for the tablet in his hand. With a few precise movements, the footage shifted. The timeline rolled backward.There.I leaned forward slightly. “Pause.”The frame froze.Lila.Standing near the east corridor, her expression unreadable from the angle. But her posture… Different. Subtle. But I knew her.I studied the image. “She’s
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 POVAVOIDING JACOB became a discipline. A quiet one. The kind that lived in the tightening of my chest when I heard his footsteps in the hall, or the way my hands shook when I passed the library doors and smelled old paper and something warm and familiar that felt like him.I told myself it







