All Chapters of Legally Bound : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Lily woke up before the sun fully claimed the sky, the soft dawn light stretching across her room as she sat on the edge of her bed, already mentally in work mode. She showered, dressed in a light lilac blouse tucked into sleek trousers, tied her hair in a neat knot, and slipped out quietly.Gillian had taken the car to court, so Lily called a cab and rode in silence, reviewing her notes on her phone. Today wasn’t about Alex or distractions. She had a major case coming up, and she was determined to win it. That was the plan or so she told herself.Once she reached the firm, she went straight to her office. Case files lined her desk in organized stacks. She reviewed evidence, highlighted key points, scribbled annotations in the margins, and rehearsed arguments under her breath. She was calm. Controlled. Centered.Yet… occasionally, her mind slipped.A flash of Alex’s smile.The conversation they had before he left. His voice on the phone telling her he’d be back in a few days.Quick t

Lily wasn’t sure when her breathing returned to normal after Alex left her office, but by the time she stepped outside and saw him leaning on his car, bouquet in hand, her chest was fluttering all over again.The lilac flowers were the first thing she noticed, soft and elegant, the kind of bouquet that made you pause.She blinked.“Oh… so that’s where the anonymous flowers were from.”Alex raised an eyebrow, managing to look amused and innocent at once.“Anonymous flowers? Really? Who sends you flowers anonymously?”She narrowed her eyes at him, but the corner of her mouth curved.“Mhm. Sure.”He handed the bouquet to her, and her fingers brushed his. Warm, familiar, dangerous.“If you continue like this,” Lily murmured as she inhaled the scent, “I’m going to have a whole garden in my apartment.”Alex’s laugh was low, soft, almost boyish.“Then I’ll make sure it’s a nice one.”Her heart stumbled. She tried to hide the smile threatening to give her away.He opened the passenger door fo

Alex woke up with a strange kind of lightness, the kind that only came after something meaningful. Something unexpected. The hug replayed in his mind like a soft, slow echo.Her warmth,her smell, the way she lingered before stepping back.Without overthinking it, he picked up his phone and typed:Alex: Good morning. Hope you’ve a great dayHe hesitated, only for a second, then hit send.Twenty minutes later, his phone buzzed.Lily: Good morning. You too.He stared at her message longer than he should have, then finally got up.Today already felt different.Lily, on the other hand, had been awake since dawn.She tried to read a clause in her brief at least five times, but the sentence kept blurring in her vision.She pressed her fingers to her temple.“This is ridiculous,” she muttered.But she knew exactly why she couldn’t focus.The hug, the warmth of it and the way she nearly lost her composure.The way her heart beat like it wanted to break out of her ribs.Of course she wasn’t go

Lily’s day had been almost suspiciously normal.Her morning case review went well, the junior associate she supervised turned in a flawless draft, and by lunchtime she was convinced the universe had finally decided to give her a quiet day.She ate a light lunch at her desk, humming absentmindedly as she highlighted deposition notes.Her head was clear.Her workload was steady.For once, life made sense.At 1:09 p.m., there was a knock.The receptionist stepped in holding a sealed envelope.“Ms. Smith, this was dropped off for you. Marked urgent and confidential.”Lily looked up, confused.“Thank you.”She set down her pen, wiped her hands, and opened it.The first page punched the air out of her lungs.NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE SUITEmily Hart v. Lily SmithHer heart stuttered.She flipped to the next page.Then the photographs slid out onto her desk.Her stepping into Alex’s car.The lilac flowers in her arms.Her smiling at him.And the hug, captured from a distance.Her hands went n

Chicago woke up to noise.Not traffic.Not alarms.Not the city humming awake.No, this was louder.It was everywhere.By 5:42 a.m., before most people even stretched under their covers, Emily Hart’s name was plastered across the internet. Screens lit up with photos, screenshots, threads the kind that multiplied faster than anyone could delete.At the center of it all was a thirty-second clip:Emily, sitting on a man’s lap in a dim bar, pulling him closer by the collar and kissing him like she owned him.Someone zoomed in on her face.Someone else slowed the video.And within minutes, blogs were already posting:“The cheating scandal Emily didn’t want you to see.”“Was her lawsuit a distraction?”“Alex Cromwell’s girlfriend caught cheating”It was brutal.It was undeniable.And the world devoured every second of it.No one knew who leaked the video.No one knew where it came from.No one knew who had been sitting quietly in the dark, waiting for dawn.But one man did.And he was still