Twisted Temptation
Lila woke before her alarm, the house still tucked in its expensive silence. The Hale–Cross mansion looked softer in morning light — less like wealth posing, more like a man unguarded.
She pulled her hair into a loose knot, the kind that said she was here to work, not tempt fate. And yet… temptation didn’t need help in this house; it breathed in the walls.
She slid barefoot into the kitchen, her domain of knives and heat. The marble was cool, the copper pans gleaming like they had secrets polished into them.