جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 24

Lilith's POVThe five minutes Malakai gave me felt like both a lifetime and no time at all.I'm standing in the middle of his massive walk-in closet, surrounded by walls of expensive suits and crisp white shirts, and my hands won't stop shaking. Not from fear though. I know that now. The trembling is something else entirely, something that's been building since the moment I watched Ronan break that man's jaw without even blinking.The silk shirt I borrowed from Malakai slides off my shoulders and pools at my feet. I'm standing here in nothing but my lace underwear, running my fingers over the rows of tailored trousers, trying to find something that might actually fit me.My reflection catches my eye in the floor-to-ceiling mirror across from me.I'm flushed. Completely, utterly flushed. My cheeks are pink, my pupils are blown wide, and there's a sheen of sweat on my collarbone that has nothing to do with the temperature in this room. The violence didn't scare me. It did something else

Lilith's POV Arthur Sterling sat behind his massive oak desk with that smug smile plastered across his face, like he had already won. The library was all dark wood and leather-bound books that probably cost more than my entire existence. He leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled, waiting for Malakai to start negotiating like a good little businessman.I watched Malakai from my spot near the window, still wrapped in his heavy trench coat that smelled like smoke and rain. My bare feet were freezing against the cold mahogany floor. I had been dragged into this mess without shoes, without a plan, without anything except the pill I had dry-swallowed an hour ago that was now churning in my empty stomach.Arthur finally broke the silence. "So, Mr. Sterling. Shall we discuss the terms of your surrender?"Malakai didn't answer. He just stared at Arthur with those dark, dead eyes that never seemed to blink. The silence stretched between them like a wire about to snap."I'm being generou