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The calculated smirk vanished from Ethan’s face. A flash of raw, unfiltered agony cracked his polished veneer, making him look dangerously volatile. He leaned down, placing a hand on the armrest of her chair, trapping her in place.

"Don't," Ethan breathed, the word sounding like a jagged blade. "Don't talk about him to me. Not after what you forced me to listen to."

Lily’s brow furrowed in genuine confusion, her heart picking up a frantic rhythm. "What are you talking about?"

Ethan’s gaze dropped to her lips, his chest rising and falling with heavy, uneven breaths. "I didn't leave the hallway when you slammed the door in my face, Lily. I stood there. I stood right outside your door, and I heard everything. I heard the way he touched you. I heard the way you screamed for him."

A wave of absolute, sickening horror crashed over her. The blood drained from her face, leaving her entirely numb. "You stood there?" she whispered, repulsed. "You listened? Ethan, you are sick."

"I was paralyzed," he corrected fiercely, his voice cracking with a desperate intensity. He reached out, his knuckles brushing against the fabric of her sleeve, though he didn't dare touch her skin. "It destroyed me. It tore me apart to hear you surrender to someone else. But you know what else I realized while I was dying on that hallway floor?"

Lily couldn't speak. She was trapped in the gravitational pull of his madness, horrified by the depths of his obsession.

"I realized that you were loud," Ethan whispered, leaning in so close she could feel the heat of his breath against her cheek. "You were so loud, Lily. Almost as if you wanted me to hear. Almost as if you were using him to punish me."

"No," Lily gasped, shoving her chair back violently, finally breaking free of his trap. She stood up, her legs shaking, putting the desk between them. "Do not flatter yourself. What Jason and I have has absolutely nothing to do with you. You are a ghost, Ethan. You are a mistake I left in London. And if you think you can come here and manipulate me into feeling sorry for you, you are out of your mind."

Ethan slowly straightened up, his hands sliding into his pockets. The vulnerability vanished, replaced by an unshakable, terrifying resolve.

"I don't want your pity, Lily," Ethan said, his tone chillingly calm. "I want my life back. And I am going to prove to you that this contractor is nothing but a rebound. He is a safe harbor you docked in because I broke the compass. But you and I both know you were never meant to play it safe."

He turned and walked toward the door, pausing with his hand on the handle.

"I'll expect the first draft of the branding mockups by three this afternoon," Ethan said, flawlessly shifting back into the ruthless corporate executive. "Have a productive morning, Ms. Mendoza."

The door clicked shut.

Lily sank back into her chair, her entire body trembling. She squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her palms against her temples as the walls of the office seemed to close in on her. Ethan wasn't just haunting her; he was actively dismantling the foundation of her new life, brick by brick. And the most terrifying part of all wasn't his arrogance, or his manipulation.

It was the horrifying realization that by lying to Jason, she had handed Ethan the exact weapon he needed to destroy them both.

***

"God, Jason, don't stop. Right there," Lily gasped, her voice ringing in the shadows of his bedroom.

She straddled his hips, riding him with a frantic, desperate energy, grinding down as if tomorrow would never come. Her hands were braced flat against his broad, sweat-slicked chest, her hair falling in wild, messy waves around her face. She let go of every inhibition, a string of filthy praises and desperate demands spilling from her lips.

Beneath her, Jason looked wrecked by it. His dark eyes burned with a feral hunger. His large, calloused hands gripped her hips, holding her exactly where he wanted her as he drove up to meet her ferocious pace. He took everything she gave him, his hips snapping upward with a hard, unyielding force that knocked the breath from her lungs and sent sparks of white-hot pleasure racing down her spine.

She used the friction, the heat of his skin, and the beautiful reality of him to drown out the suffocating nightmare her life had become. She chased the edge blindly, her nails digging half-moons into his shoulders.

"Lily," Jason groaned, a guttural sound tearing from his chest as he lost the last thread of his control.

They shattered together in a blinding, breathless collision. Lily collapsed against his chest, her heart hammering a frantic, racing rhythm against his own as she gasped for air.

Jason wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly as the aftershocks faded. When their breathing leveled, he didn't let her pull away. Instead, he sat up, lifting her effortlessly against his body. He carried her into the en-suite bathroom, his bare feet padding across the heated slate tiles. He took care of the condom with a quick, practiced motion, then stepped with her into the walk-in shower, turning the faucet until a cascade of steaming water washed over them.

She adored this shower. In fact, she loved every single detail of this house. Situated on the sprawling, wooded outskirts of Chicago, it sat miles away from the relentless grid of the city. Jason had designed and built the rustic layout of reclaimed timber and natural stone with his own two hands. Out here, wrapped in the steam and the privacy he had created, she felt protected.

The heat of the water soothed her aching muscles. Jason leaned her gently against the wet tile, grabbing a bar of soap. He began to wash her, his hands sliding over her skin with a reverence that made her chest ache.

"You were on fire tonight," Jason murmured, a fond chuckle vibrating in his chest as he smoothed the lather over her shoulders. "I haven't seen you let go like that since you downed those margaritas at Sarah's wedding reception."

Lily felt a fierce blush creep up her neck, staining her cheeks. She knew she was usually much more reserved in bed, someone who needed time, patience, and trust to fully let her walls down and find her voice.

But patience wasn't an option when she felt like she was running out of time. The past week had been a waking nightmare. Ethan was a relentless shadow at the agency, weaponizing every pitch meeting, every design review, and every shared elevator ride to corner her. He was suffocating her, and tonight, she had just needed to feel something real. She needed to feel Jason.

Lily looked up through the steam, meeting his devoted gaze. She offered a dismissive shrug, masking the desperation tearing her apart inside.