Semua Bab ILLICIT OBSESSION : Bab 11 - Bab 20

Night settled over the mansion like a held breath. Lila stood under the shower longer than she needed to, letting the water beat against her shoulders until her skin turned pink. She kept replaying Victor’s voice from the recording. The casual way he had ordered her father’s death. The way he had looked at her in the foyer like she was something dirty that had crawled into his perfect house. When she finally stepped out, the bathroom mirror was fogged. She wiped a streak across it with her hand and stared at her own reflection. Dark hair stuck to her neck. Eyes too wide. Mouth still faintly swollen from the kiss Ronan had given her earlier. She wrapped a towel around herself and opened the door. Ronan was already in her room. He sat on the edge of her bed in black sweatpants and nothing else, elbows on his knees, head slightly bowed. The lamp on the nightstand threw warm light across the hard lines of his shoulders and the ridges of his stomach. He looked up when she stepped out.

Lila barely made it to the bathroom before her stomach turned. She dropped to her knees in front of the toilet in the safe-house master suite and heaved until nothing was left. Cold sweat slicked the back of her neck. Her hands trembled against the porcelain. It could have been the shock. The photo of her father’s body with last week’s timestamp had cracked something open inside her. Or the whiskey she had only taken two sips of. Or the way her entire world kept tilting every time a new message arrived. But a quiet, terrified part of her mind whispered something else. Her period was late. She had been so buried in Ronan, in the threats, in the fear, that she hadn’t counted the days. Now the realization sat in her gut like a stone. She rinsed her mouth, splashed water on her face, and stared at her reflection. Pale. Eyes too wide. The same girl who had walked into the Sterling mansion weeks ago no longer looked back at her. When she stepped out of the bathroom, Ronan was waiting.

The Sterling mansion blazed with light when they arrived. Every window glowed. Security lights cut white paths across the lawn. Two of Victor’s private cars sat in the driveway, doors still open like the people inside had left in a hurry. Rain had started to fall in a fine, cold mist that clung to Lila’s hair and the shoulders of Ronan’s jacket. Marcus took Daniel to a secondary vehicle with two of his men. Ronan refused to let Lila out of arm’s reach. His hand stayed locked around hers as they walked up the front steps. The doors stood ajar. Inside, the grand foyer smelled of whiskey and tension. Victor waited at the foot of the staircase, a glass in one hand, Elena standing stiffly beside him. Her eyes were red-rimmed. A faint bruise darkened her left cheekbone. When she saw Lila, her face crumpled. “You shouldn’t have come back,” Elena whispered. Victor smiled without humor. “On the contrary. I was counting on it.” Ronan didn’t waste time. “Where is Serena?” “Gone.” Victor t

Roman’s hand closed around the back of her neck like he had every right to it.One second of pressure. One rough pull. And Ava was flush against him, the thin cotton of her T-shirt the only thing between her bare skin and the hard wall of his chest. His mouth crashed down on hers before she could breathe, before she could think, before the last scraps of restraint he had left could crawl back into place.It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful. It was years of denial detonating all at once.Roman kissed her like he was angry about it. Like he hated how much he wanted her. His tongue pushed past her lips, claiming, tasting, taking. One hand stayed locked at the nape of her neck, fingers threading into her damp hair and gripping hard enough to sting. The other shoved under the hem of her shirt, palm sliding hot and rough up the bare curve of her ass. He groaned into her mouth when he felt nothing but skin.“Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered against her lips. “You’re not wearing a godda

Sunlight was already cutting across the bed when Ava woke up.Her body ached in places she hadn’t known could ache. Thighs. Hips. The soft skin of her throat where Roman’s hand had rested. Between her legs she was still slick, still open, still marked. For a disorienting second she thought the entire night might have been a fever dream—until the heavy arm locked around her waist tightened and a rough, sleep-low voice spoke against the back of her neck.“Don’t move.”Roman.Ava’s pulse kicked. She stayed exactly where she was, spine curved into the heat of his chest, his cock already half-hard and resting against the curve of her ass. Morning light painted the room gold. Somewhere outside, the city was fully awake. Inside this bedroom, time felt suspended.Roman’s hand slid from her waist to her stomach, then lower. He didn’t ask. He simply cupped her pussy like it already belonged to him, two fingers dragging through the mess he had left inside her hours ago.“Still wet,” he murmured.