Not a strategy session. Not a temporary alignment.
Marriage is legal. Intimate. Life-altering.
My brain stalls. My body reacts first.
Heat climbs up my neck. Every instinct I have screamsno, loud and absolute.
I glance at Lila.
Her face has gone still. Too still. Like the moment before something breaks.
Her hands are clenched tight in her lap. Her shoulders are rigid. Her breathing is shallow, fast, controlled by sheer will.
“Like I told you, this is not about romance,” Evelyn adds calmly, as if that helps. “It’s about structure. Protection. A shield.”
Marriage isn’t a shield. It’s exposure. It’s handing someone a club and hoping they don't beat you with it.
I inhale, already preparing to shut this down.
Before I can speak, Lila moves.
She pushes back her chair abruptly, the legs scraping against the floor. The sound cuts through the room, sharp and final.
“No,” she says.
One word. Clear. Steady.
Just done.
She stands, grabbing her coffee mug as she adjusts her sweater. Her sunglasses are still on, but her chin lifts, defiant and wounded all at once.
Evelyn starts to respond, but Lila doesn’t wait.
She turns and walks out.
The door opens. Then closes.
The sound echoes longer than it should.
Silence fills the room, thick and uncomfortable.
I sit there, stunned, my refusal stuck halfway out my mouth.
And my almost-marriage out the door before I could even veto it.
Chapter five
Lila
Idon’t walk out of the conference room.
I bolt.
One second I’m staring at a very expensive table while my brain tries to reboot, and the next I’m moving on pure instinct, heels clattering against the polished floor as if speed alone can undo what I just heard.
Marriage.
To Camden Drake.
