Lahat ng Kabanata ng MY DOMINANT CEO : Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

LILY'S POVI woke up to the smell of coffee that wasn't mine, drifting up from the kitchen in a blend that was way too expensive for regular grounds. Tatiana. Of course. I lay in bed for another minute, gathering the will to face another day under the same roof as her, before finally dragging myself up and heading downstairs.She was sitting at the kitchen island when I got there, legs crossed on the barstool, scrolling through her phone like she belonged there, like this wasn't my home too. She barely glanced up when I walked in."Morning" she said, not even bothering to sound sincere."Morning" I replied flatly, moving past her to grab a mug from the cabinet."You know, I was thinking" she started, and I already knew whatever came next wouldn't be good. "It's kind of funny, isn't it? How Nick keeps rotating through women who have absolutely nothing to offer him except desperation."I paused mid-pour, my grip tightening slightly around the mug. "Excuse me?""Oh, don't get me wrong" s

LILY'S POVBy the third day of Tatiana living in our house, I had learned her routine better than my own. She woke late, drifted downstairs around ten in one of Nicholas's old shirts, and spent the rest of the day finding ways to be in every room I happened to walk into. She never said anything outright cruel after Nicholas set the rules. She didn't need to. A lingering look, a little smirk over her coffee cup, a "Oh, I didn't see you there" when she clearly had. It all added up until the house felt smaller than it was.That afternoon I decided I wasn't going to hide in the garden anymore. I baked. Cooking had always been my quiet place, and if I was going to be trapped in this house with her, I would at least be trapped with the smell of something good. I was pulling a tray of cinnamon rolls out of the oven when I felt someone standing behind me."Those smell amazing."I nearly dropped the tray. It was only Nicholas, home hours earlier than usual, jacket already off, sleeves rolled t

LILY'S POVThe knock at the gate came just after midnight, sharp enough to wake half the house. I sat up in bed, heart hammering, Nicholas already moving before I'd fully registered the sound, pulling on a shirt and heading for the window."Stay here" he said, voice low and controlled in the way it got when something serious was happening."Like hell I will" I muttered, grabbing a robe and following him out into the hallway anyway.Jacob was already there, Jayden close behind him, both looking as alarmed as I felt. Down the hall, Tatiana's door opened, and she stepped out fully dressed, which told me everything I needed to know. She'd been expecting this."It's them" she said quietly, her usual smugness replaced by something closer to fear. "They're early.""Who's them?" Nicholas demanded, already moving toward the stairs."The people I told you about" she said, following close behind. "Nicholas, you need to let me handle this. If they see you, if they think you're involved—""I am in

LILY'S POV The days blurred together in a strange rhythm after that night in the living room. James practically lived in the study now, stacks of printouts and burner laptops scattered across every surface, while Tatiana spent her hours on calls I wasn't allowed to hear, speaking in low, clipped tones to people whose names she never said out loud. The house had turned into something between a war room and a waiting room, everyone holding their breath for the next two weeks to pass without disaster.I found myself retreating to small rituals to keep from unraveling. Tea in the mornings. A walk through the garden after lunch. Baking in the afternoons, even though half of what I made went untouched, everyone too tense to eat properly. It was during one of those afternoons, flour dusted across my hands and a batch of banana bread cooling on the counter, that Nicholas found me.He didn't say anything at first, just leaned against the doorway, watching me with an expression I hadn't seen o

LILY'S POVNicholas was gone before I woke, a note on his pillow instead of him, scrawled in his sharp, impatient handwriting. Gone to set up the meeting location with James. Back by noon. Stay close to the house. I folded it carefully and tucked it into the drawer of my nightstand, a strange little habit I'd developed since moving in, keeping every note he ever left me like proof that all of this was real and not some fragile dream I'd wake up from one day.The house felt different that morning, charged with a kind of anticipation that made even simple tasks feel weighted. Tatiana stayed in her room, door closed, the sound of her voice occasionally drifting through the walls as she made calls I wasn't meant to hear. Jacob and Jayden left early for a walk, needing air, needing space from the tension pressing down on all of us.I spent the morning in the garden instead, pulling weeds that didn't need pulling, just needing something to do with my hands while my mind spun through everyth