CHAPTER 146: THE PERFECT PERFORMANCE

Time stopped.

One second. Two. Three.

Each heartbeat stretched into eternity as Lila remained frozen... naked, straddling Alex.

Her orgasm died like a gutted flame, pleasure ripping away so violently it left only hollow, aching emptiness.

No. No no no no...

Mike stood in the doorway, chest heaving, eyes wide with shock.

And Lila felt...

Rage.

Pure, white-hot, incandescent rage.

Not at being caught. But at Mike’s presence.

At the interruption.

You fucking idiot, she thought venomously, her mind still half-drunk on pleasure even as reality crashed back in. Why NOW? Why right FUCKING now?

She’d been so close. So perfectly, exquisitely close to drowning in this moment... to carving the feeling of Alex inside her into her memory so deeply it would never fade.

And this fool... this terrible-timing, oblivious FOOL... had destroyed it.

The fury burned through her veins like acid, so intense that for one dangerous heartbeat she almost screamed at him. Almost told him exactly what she thought of his intrusion.

Then... like ice water dumped over her head... clarity hit.

Stop.

The command sliced through her spiraling thoughts like a blade.

Stop. Think. ACT.

Sophia’s voice echoed in her skull, sharp and unforgiving: ’Don’t you dare fuck this up, Lila. One mistake and you’re done.’

Her body was still frozen, still straddling Alex, still exposed and vulnerable and caught in the worst possible position.

But her mind... her mind snapped into cold, ruthless focus.

Sophia.

The name sliced through her rage like a blade.

The mission. The plan. This is...

Her mind reeled, scrambling to catch up.

This is it. This is the moment. This is what she’s here for.

The cameras. The setup. The careful orchestration of bringing Alex here, getting him inside her, and making sure Mike would...

Oh God.

The full weight of the situation crashed over her like a tidal wave... but her frustration and panic didn’t lessen; they surged higher, tightening around her like a vise.

For one wild, desperate moment, a thought slammed into her... screw every scheme, every plan, every lie. She wanted to make it right, to tell Alex everything before it was too late.

Maybe... maybe if I tell him the truth right now... maybe I can still keep Alex. Maybe...

But then Sophia’s face materialized in her mind.

Not the charming, mischievous she showed the world. The other one. The real one.

Cold. Ruthless.

Those dark eyes gleaming with something that wasn’t quite human, boring into her like knives.

Do it if you dare.

The unspoken threat hung in the air between past and present, wrapping around Lila’s throat like a noose.

She shivered, the tremor running bone-deep despite the warmth of Alex still inside her.

Abandoning the plan wasn’t an option.

It never had been.

Sophia didn’t forgive failure. Sophia didn’t accept excuses. And Sophia never let anyone walk away.

Lila had seen what happened to those who tried.

Her gaze slid sideways... slowly, carefully... to Alex beneath her.

And her breath caught.

His face... God, his face.

Disbelief. Panic. Those dark eyes wide, pupils blown, chest heaving beneath her.

He looked... he looked exactly like a man caught in the worst moment of his life. Exactly like someone who’d just realized his world was ending.

Perfect.

The thought stabbed through her panic, cruel in its clarity... it tore at her, yet she knew there was no other choice.

Her mind shifted, clicking into place like puzzle pieces snapping together.

Okay. Okay. I can work with this.

She would play the script. Follow Sophia’s plan to the letter. Let Mike believe what he was supposed to believe. Let the confrontation explode exactly as Sophia had orchestrated.

And then... after... when the dust settled and Mike was gone and the cameras stopped rolling...

She would go to Alex.

She would explain everything. Make him understand. Use every tool in her arsenal to pull him back to her side.

I did it once. I can do it again.

She’d made him want her before, hadn’t she? Made him cross every line, break every rule, throw away his friendship for one night with her.

She could do it again.

She would do it again.

Because Alex... Alex was hers now. He just didn’t know it yet.

All she had to do was survive the next ten minutes.

Then she could have everything.

***

Her body was still frozen, still straddling Alex, but her mind snapped into ruthless focus.

Perform. Now. Perfectly.

She moved.

One gasping breath, and then she was scrambling backward off Alex’s lap with a cry that was half-shock, half-manufactured horror.

Her hands flew to the tangled sheet at the foot of the bed, yanking it up against her chest with desperate, clumsy movements.

"Mike..."

His name tore from her throat... broken, raw, soaked in shame and terror.

Perfect.

Her legs shook as her feet hit the floor. Real trembling... adrenaline and performance melting together until even she couldn’t tell the difference.

She backed away from the bed. From Alex. The sheet clutched so tightly against her naked body that her knuckles went white.

"Mike, I..."

A sob caught in her throat. She let it. Let the sound crack and splinter.

"Oh God, Mike..."

Tears welled in her eyes. She’d learned this trick years ago... how to tap that hidden reservoir of emotion and pull it to the surface at will.

The tears spilled over, hot tracks down her flushed cheeks.

She let her breathing go ragged. Let her shoulders shake.

This is what he expects to see, she thought with cold precision even as her sobs grew louder.

A victim. Violated. Destroyed.

Mike stood frozen in the doorway, his face a mask of shock and devastation.

Her hand shot out, finger pointing directly at Alex.

Trembling. Accusing.

"He..."

The word came out strangled, desperate, and she forced her voice to crack beautifully on it.

"Mike, he... he tried to force me... "

Silence crashed over the room like a wave.

Even Alex went still.

Lila kept her finger raised, shaking violently, tears streaming down her face.

"He threatened me..." Her voice climbed higher, threading hysteria through every syllable. "I said no, I told him no but he... he wouldn’t listen..."

She choked on the words. Let her whole body shudder with sobs.

"I tried to stop him but he was too strong... when I kept saying no he just..."

The word caught in her throat.

Deliberate.

Devastating.

"He ra..."

She couldn’t finish it.

Let the accusation hang there, incomplete but unmistakable. More powerful for what she didn’t say.

Her hand dropped, covering her face as she collapsed to her knees on the floor.

The sheet pooled around her waist. Her shoulders shook with violent, wrenching sobs.

"I’m so sorry... " The words came out garbled, barely intelligible through her crying. "I’m so sorry, Mike... I didn’t want this... I tried to fight him but I couldn’t... "

She peeked through her fingers, just enough to see Mike’s face.

Still frozen. Still devastated.

Got you.

***

Author’s Note:

Got him? Did she really? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.