Chapter 4

Lucien's POV

I watched her car drive away from the sidewalk through my tinted windows, three cars behind her. She was crying.

Even from this far, I could see her shoulders shaking against the glass, and it felt like something was squeezing my throat, making it hard to breathe.

I hated watching her cry. I hated that I was the reason.

"Sir? We should go to the courthouse now. The press is already there," Arthur, my butler, said quietly from the front seat. He was the only person who knew the real me, not the monster everyone else saw.

"Drive," I mumbled. My voice came out rough, like sandpaper.

I hadn't talked much lately. Ever since Arabella died in that awful accident, my voice just....gave up on me. That night broke me completely, and I had to build a huge, cold wall around my feelings just to get by.

People saw me as a cold, rich heir to an old family fortune—a monster who crushed anyone in his path.It was easier to let people assume the worst than to show them how messed up I really was.

But Lila? She didn't know any of that. She thought this whole thing was a terrible business deal. She thought I was using her family’s problems to corner her.

If only she knew the truth. If only she knew I’d had a massive, hopeless crush on her for three whole years.

She probably didn't even remember the first time we met. It was at a small, packed cafe downtown.

I’d cut my finger on a sharp metal menu, and I was bleeding everywhere. Before I could move, this gorgeous, tough girl with bright eyes rushed over, grabbed a napkin, and gently cleaned the cut for me, talking fast to keep me distracted.

I was instantly hooked, for the first time in awhile, I forgot I was grieving. Then, a few weeks later, I saw her at a fancy charity party. She was standing next to my cousin, Jason Quinn.

That’s when my heart stopped. She was with him.

For three years, I kept my distance and just watched her, thinking Jason would take care of her. But Jason was utterly useless.

When the Grey family business started to fail and Lila’s mom was diagnosed with stage four cancer, Jason did nothing. He had the money. His family had connections. But he just sat around playing video games, watching the girl he claimed to love sink under medical bills. I couldn't stand him for it.

So when her dad came desperate for a miracle, I jumped in. Was it a crazy, selfish move? Yeah, totally. But it was the only way to save her mom, and the only way to protect Lila from the mess Jason was letting her drown in.

By the time my car pulled up at the courthouse, the noise outside was insane. Camera flashes exploded against the dark windows. The media had gone nuts. The news that Lucien Knight was getting married again—to some random girl from a broke family—had completely shocked the world.

The headlines were already nasty. They called her a golddigger. They claimed she blackmailed me, or that she was faking being pregnant to get my money.

I got out of the car, adjusting my suit jacket. A few feet away, Lila was getting out of hers. She looked so tiny next to the aggressive crowd of reporters sticking microphones in her face.

"Miss Grey! Did you trick Mr. Knight into marrying you?"

"Lila, is it true your family is broke and you’re just doing this for the cash?"

She just stood there. Her eyes looked dead, staring straight ahead like she was a ghost. She didn't say a single word, completely frozen from the pressure.

The reporters focused on me as I started walking up the steps. Everyone went quiet for a second, leaning in, waiting for the ruthless CEO to finally speak up, maybe yell at the press, or say something to his new bride.

I didn't say a thing. I didn't even look at them. I walked straight past her, keeping my face blank, and went into the courthouse. I heard her quiet, shaky footsteps follow right behind me.

The ceremony was a blur. It was just a boring signing of papers in a small room with a judge and Arthur. Before I knew it, we were back at my huge house, the wedding was done and over with.

★

We stood in the giant, silent living room of my mansion. The silence between us was unbearable. I reached into my pocket and threw a folded piece of paper onto the coffee table.

"What is this?" Lila asked, her voice tight with anger. It was the first thing she'd said to me all day.

"A list of rules," I said, my voice flat, even though my heart was pounding. "This is your new life."

She looked down at the paper but didn't touch it.

"You’ll finish school at home now. Online classes only," I explained, crossing my arms. "And you can’t go anywhere outside this house without at least three guards with you."

Deep down, my chest hurt saying that. I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I was doing it because I knew how awful the world could be.

The media, the public, the people who wanted to ruin the Knight name—they would attack her with ugly rumors and dangerous intentions. I couldn't let her get hurt. I would die before I let anyone touch her. But I couldn't tell her that. For both our sakes.

"You get your own bedroom down the hall," I went on, staring at the wall behind her because looking at her beautiful, angry eyes was too painful. "If you need anything—clothes, food, books—you’ll tell my assistant, and he’ll tell me. Or even better, just tell Arthur. Don't come near my wing."

I knew she saw the house as some cage I was trying to trap her in, and maybe it was, but it was also a fortress.

The last time I failed to protect someone I cared about, they ended up dead on a stretch of interstate blacktop.

Lila was innocent. A civilian who was accidentally dropped into the middle of a war I was fighting against my family’s reputation, against the vultures of the press, and against the memory of a loss that nearly killed me.

I was the only one who had the power to keep her safe now, and these rules, however cruel they sounded, were all I had to keep her safe.

At least right now she was just angry at me. It was a win. If she was angry at me then she wouldn't look for affection, and I wouldn't be tempted to give her the vulnerability I couldn't afford.

The irony was a bitter taste in my mouth: I’d married the one woman I genuinely cared about just so I could spend every waking hour pushing her away.

I watched her breath hitch, saw the pulse in her throat hammering against her skin. She was vibrating with suppressed fury. I should have told her why the rules were in place, but instead, I forced my voice into a colder tone.

"Do you understand the terms, Lila?" I asked. The question was a low, rough demand. She didn't move or say a thing. She just stood there, breathing hard, her face bright red with rage.

I ignored her silence and continued speaking.

"I'll be needing you to be very quiet about this whole setup, Lila," I said, my rough voice bouncing around the big room as I tried to finish the rules. "Don't talk to the press, don't contact Jason, and you must follow the safety steps I put in place for your own—"

Before I could even finish the sentence, Lila flew forward.

Crack.

The sound echoed like a loud smack through the empty room.

My head snapped sideways, my cheek burning from the total surprise.

She had just slapped me across the face.