LITTLE LIONESS.

Now, we both have our common enemies clear as crystal. 

“It's late Lisa, come spend a night at my place before your lurking enemies get you kidnapped on your way back.” 

 “Huh” I stared at him in disbelief. “Spend a night at your place? You're so ridiculous.” I grabbed my purse, ready to walk out on him. 

“Hey hey hey little Lioness, hold up lets rub minds together.” Adrian cleared his throat softly, his arrogance and habit of always being right and smart is already getting on my last nerves but I need his alliance. 

“To get all you want done peacefully…you have to embrace Richard and treat him like you care.” 

 Tsk. I hissed bluntly, I don't care about his feelings anymore, I refuse to be his puppet….”

“Cut that crap right now Lisa, love rules above all. Yeah I know and we've seen that he's going to hurt you but we have to prevent it with Wisdom so he won't ally with his father and bring you down which will slow down our work.”

 “Makes sense.” my face twitched slightly again. “I'll think about that.”

 “I just helped you think about the situation right now, all you need to do is to start acting Li…sa. Richard is ready to be your lover so embrace him.”

“The day I stopped Loving him, was right on my death bed. Now all I have for him is hatred and double dose of hatred for his father…”

“Your father in-law.” Adrian interrupted as usual ready to make mockery. “Save your anger for another day, to make our plans work.”

 Tears already welled up in my eyes as I remembered the flashback. “Ok, I'll try pretending to love him.” 

“Come here pumpkin.” His hands spread out for a hug, I really needed it. Life's been brutal and now Adrian seems to be the only person I can trust and love genuinely for now.” 

 His soft hands patted my head slowly, I could feel the burning heat from my body yearning for more. How I wish I could love Adrian instead….I buried that thought almost immediately, the Croft's don't have a place in the LONERIA's business management except the Richard's who are wolves in sheep clothing. 

“Uhhn…uhnn, you don't want to spend the night with me, go out into the dark and face whatever you see stubborn Lioness.” that jerked me off my thoughts as I released my grip on him from the brief hug. 

“Thanks for your concern Adrian, a lioness will always be a lioness.” His lips curved into a small smile. “Don't get me wrong, I never meant you're brave like a lioness.”

“I don't need to prove that to you, nothing is going to happen to me…even though they're lurking outside. Bye.” he kept mute watching me disappear into the darkness.

 Fear crept into me as I hurried to my car to see a familiar masculine figure, relief washed over me when I saw it was my bodyguard patiently waiting for me. 

“Umm Tom why are you here? You almost scared me.” surprised at his presence. 

“ I'm sorry young miss, I got an unknown message to come pick you up here.” he bowed respectfully then unlocked the door.

“Unknown message?” I hopped into the car as my eyes widened in surprise. “Yes Miss, I'll track it personally from the computer department.”

 We drove in silence as I kept on brooding over who cared about me so much… could it be Adrian or Richard? 

Adrian wouldn't have done that, he wanted me to spend the night with him…then it struck, Richard? His father knew I was coming to the cafeteria, so he could be the one…But No. I had hurt him with a terrible reply he claimed to have received from me, which I doubt it's true. 

“Whatever..” I hissed out loud. “Miss are you okay?” 

“Yeah I'm fine, just find out who sent you to pick me up.” 

“Turn left, please. I need to see my mom.” Tom nodded and changed direction without asking more questions. The car moved through the quiet streets. I sat stiffly in the back, arms crossed, staring out the window while the city lights slid past. My mind would not stay still.

Adrian’s words kept turning over and over.

Embrace Richard, Treat him like you care, Love rules above all.

I almost laughed at the bitterness of it. The day I stopped loving Richard was the day I died listening to him and Claire. What I had left for him now was cold and sharp. What I had for his father was worse, yet Adrian wanted me to smile at the same bloodline that had already destroyed me once.

I pressed my bandaged hand against my knee and looked down at it. The cut from the glasshouse had not fully healed because nothing about this second life was healing cleanly.

Tom cleared his throat carefully. “Miss, the unknown message… I already sent it to the technical team. They will trace the number before morning.”

“Good,” I said. My voice came out flatter than I intended. “Tell me the moment you know.”

“Yes, Miss.”

We drove the rest of the way in silence. When the Loneria estate gates opened, the familiar weight of the house settled over me again. Guards. Cameras. The temporary administrator’s presence still lingering somewhere inside like a locked door I could not yet break.

I went straight to my mother’s wing.

She was awake, propped against the pillows, a soft lamp on beside the bed. Her face looked tired but clearer than the night of the fall. When she saw me, something like relief moved through her eyes.

“You’re back late,” she said.

“I had something to handle.”

She looked at my coat, then at my face, then at the way I was still standing too straight near the door. “You look like you’ve been fighting the whole city.”

“Maybe I have.”

I sat on the chair beside her bed. For a moment neither of us spoke. The only sound was the low hum of the night outside the window.

“They restricted me,” I said finally. “Until I turn eighteen. A court order with Hale’s name was on the papers.”

Her fingers tightened slightly on the blanket. “I heard.”

“Of course you did.”

“Lisa…” She hesitated, then reached out as if she wanted to take my hand but stopped halfway. “Be careful. That family does not lose quietly.”

“I know.”

I did not tell her about Adrian, I did not tell her about the cars that had followed me or the way he had used my anger as cover. I did not tell her that the only person who currently understood the full shape of my hatred was a man who had also died once and come back with the same fire.

After a while she grew tired. I stayed until her eyes closed, then left the room quietly and went back to my own.

The study was dark except for the small desk lamp. The court order still lay where I had left it. I sat down, pulled the folder of remaining assets toward me, and opened my phone.

No new messages from Adrian, I typed anyway. The accounts.. How soon can you start locking them?

The reply came faster than I expected.

Already begun. Some doors close quieter at night.

Then another.

Sleep, little lioness. Tomorrow we move.

I stared at the screen for a long moment. The nickname should have irritated me. Instead it sat in my chest with a strange weight. I locked the phone and set it face down.

Sleep did not come easily.

Every time I closed my eyes I saw the restaurant window, the empty street after Hale’s men left, Adrian’s calm face when he told me I was too easy to track, and Richard’s expression when he held out the message I never wrote. Somewhere behind all of it was the older memory of a hospital bed and voices that thought I could no longer hear them.

I turned onto my side and stared at the wall until the sky began to lighten.

****

Morning brought two things, first…. Tom’s report: the number that had ordered him to pick me up was routed through a private service and then dropped. Not Adrian’s usual lines. Not Richard’s known phones. Someone careful. Not strange to me anymore…I've always been expecting the worst.

Second, a quiet notice from the temporary administrator that two more internal approvals would now require his countersignature.

They were still closing doors. I stood in the center of the study, court order on the desk, phone in my hand, and felt the same cold clarity I had felt the night I woke up in this body.

They wanted me quiet until eighteen when I had no intention of staying quiet.

I opened a new message to Adrian, Tell me what you need from me to finish locking the rest.

This time the reply was shorter.

Come to the Croft archive at noon. Alone. And this time, check the road.

I looked at the words for a long second, then locked the phone.

A little lioness, Adrian had called me, fine.

He would see what that meant, even though it would require more than I thought. It must be done!!!