Alex froze.

His hand, still on the doorknob, went rigid. His entire body stilled, caught mid-motion like a photograph.

Lila clung to his leg with desperate strength, her naked body pressed against denim, her arms locked around him like a drowning woman clutching driftwood.

"Alex, please..."

Her voice cracked, raw and broken. Tears streamed down her face... not the manufactured kind she'd perfected, but real ones, hot and uncontrollable, blurring her vision until she could barely see him.

"Please don't go... please... I can't... I can't lose you..."

Alex didn't move. Didn't speak. Just stood there, frozen, staring down at her with that same unreadable expression.

And that silence... that terrible, crushing silence... broke something inside her.

"I love you."

The words tore from her throat like they'd been clawed out of her chest.

"Alex, I love you. I'm not... this isn't... it's not fake. It's real."

Her grip tightened until her fingers ached, nails digging into fabric like she could physically hold him there through sheer force of will.

"I know you don't believe me. I know you think this is just another lie, another manipulation, but it's not."

Her voice climbed higher, desperation threading through every syllable.

"I've never felt like this about anyone. Ever."

She pressed her face against his leg, sobs wrenching through her body so violently her shoulders shook. Her tears soaked through the denim, warm and desperate.

"When I'm with you, I feel alive. Like I'm finally myself. Like all the masks, all the lies, all the bullshit... none of it matters because you make me feel real."

Her breath came in ragged gasps, words tumbling out faster now, uncontrolled, desperate.

"I know I fucked up. I know I played games and manipulated you and Mike and... and I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."

She lifted her face, tears streaming down her cheeks, eyes red and swollen and pleading.

"But what I feel for you... that's the only thing that was ever real. The only thing that wasn't part of the plan."

Her knees ached against the hard floor, but she didn't care.

"Please, Alex. Please. Just... give me a chance. Let me prove it to you. I'll do anything. Anything. Just don't leave. Don't walk away. I can't... I can't fucking breathe without you."

Alex's expression didn't change.

No softening. No sympathy. No flicker of doubt or hesitation.

Just that same cold, indifferent mask.

And watching it... watching him look at her like she was nothing... shattered the last fragile thread of her composure.

"Why won't you believe me?"

Her voice broke completely, dissolving into sobs.

"Why won't you just... just look at me? I'm telling you the truth!"

But his eyes... God, his eyes...

They were empty. Bored, almost.

Like he was watching a particularly uninteresting performance and waiting for it to end.

He doesn't care.

The realization crashed over her like ice water.

He never cared. And nothing I say will change that.

Panic flooded through her, wild and frantic and utterly consuming.

No. No no no. I can fix this. I can make him understand. I just need to... I need to...

And then it hit her.

Sophia.

The name exploded through her mind like a bomb.

Blame Sophia. Make him understand it wasn't your fault. Make him see you're a victim too.

"It's not my fault!"

The words burst from her throat, shrill and desperate.

"It's her, Alex. It's Sophia. That manipulative, psychotic bitch. She made me do this. She forced me."

Alex's eyebrow lifted slightly. The first real reaction she'd seen from him.

Lila seized on it like a lifeline, words spilling out in a frantic rush.

"She threatened me, Alex. Said if I didn't do exactly what she told me..."

She looked him in the eyes, voice trembling but steady enough to carry the truth she'd buried for too long.

"I'm an orphan, just like you, Alex. Everything I have... my apartment, my tuition, even the food I eat... it's all because of Sophia. She owns me. If I disobey, she takes it all away. She said she'd cut me off... make me disappear like the others."

Her throat tightened as she swallowed the fear still clawing at her words.

"I never wanted any of this, Alex. I swear, I didn't want to hurt you or Mike. But…" — her voice cracked, the words splintering under the weight of it — "I didn't have a choice."

The tears came harder now, her entire body shaking.

"Every move I made, every word I said... it was all her. Her plan. Her scheme. Her sick, twisted revenge bullshit. I was just... just a puppet. A fucking tool she used to hurt you."

She pressed her forehead against his leg, sobs wracking through her.

"I wanted to tell you. God, I wanted to tell you so many times. Especially after... after we..."

Her voice broke.

"After we were together. Because that... that was real. That was the only real thing in all of this. The way you touched me, the way you made me feel... I've never... never felt like that before."

She lifted her face again, eyes desperate, pleading.

"Somewhere between the manipulation and the lies, you stopped being a target and became... everything."

Alex's jaw tightened. Just slightly. But it was there... a crack in the mask.

Her hands moved from his leg to his hand, clutching it desperately. her voice rose, anger bleeding through the desperation now.

"I fucking hate her for this. For ruining the only real thing I've ever had. For taking what we had and turning it into... into this."

She was spiraling now, words tumbling out faster, more frantic.

"But we can fix this. We can. You and me. We can walk away from her. From all of it. Just... just give me a chance. Let me prove to you that what I feel is real. That we're real."

Her grip tightened on his hand, desperate, trembling.

"I'll leave her. I'll cut all ties. I'll tell her to fuck off and never look back. Just... just don't leave me. Please. I'll do anything. I'll be whatever you need me to be. Just... just don't walk away."

The silence that followed was crushing.

Lila stared up at him, tears streaming down her face, her entire body trembling with the force of her sobs.

Waiting.

Please. Please please please just say something. Anything.

But Alex just stood there.

Looking down at her with that same cold, distant expression.

And slowly... so slowly... his lips curved into something that might have been a smile.

But there was no warmth in it.

No mercy.

Just... pity.

And something else.

Something that made her blood run cold.

Amusement.

When he finally spoke, the words were quiet... not cruel, not angry... only cutting in their calm finality.

"Are you done?"

The question wasn't loud, but it broke something inside her all the same. It wasn't even a question, really... it was a tired dismissal, a verdict that said he'd seen everything, heard everything, and felt nothing.

Her mouth opened, but no sound came. Just a quivering breath.

He sighed softly, and for the first time, the weight of his patience... his complete control... terrified her far more than Mike's anger ever had.

"Lila." His voice was quiet. Steady. Devastating. "Let go."

"No." The word came out fierce, stubborn, broken. "I can't. If I let go, you'll leave, and I'll never..."

"Yes, you will." He cut her off, still gentle, still controlled. "You'll let go. And I'll leave. Because this"...he gestured at her with his free hand..."isn't love. It's desperation."

The words hit like a physical blow.

"It's not..." She tried to argue, but he kept going.

"You don't love me, Lila. You love the idea of me. The one man who didn't fall at your feet. The challenge you couldn't crack."

His eyes were cold now, clinical. "That's what this is. Not love. Just your ego refusing to lose."

"That's not true..." Her voice cracked.

"Isn't it?" he tilted his head slightly. "A week ago, you were planning to destroy me. To ruin my friendship with Mike. To weaponize a rape accusation for Sophia's revenge plot."

Each word slammed into her, cutting sharper than the slap that still burned across her cheek.

"And now"...he gestured at her again..."now that the plan fell apart, now that you lost, suddenly you're in love?"

He leaned down slightly, his face close enough for her tears to drip onto his shirt.

"Tell me something, Lila. When exactly did you fall for me? Before or after you realized I knew what you were?"

She opened her mouth. Closed it. Nothing came out.

Because there was no answer.

Because he was right.

She didn't know. She couldn't pinpoint the moment when the game blurred into something real... or if it ever had.

"Let. Go." His voice was still quiet, but now it sounded final.

Her hands loosened, trembling, just enough for doubt to creep in.

"Alex…" It came out as barely a whisper. "Please…"

He drew a breath... slow, deliberate... then said the words that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

"You know what, Lila?" His tone had turned soft again, almost conversational.

"I already have enough whores ready to spread their legs for me whenever I utter a word… I don't need one more. Especially not one like you... someone who'd bite the hand feeding her the second she smells blood."

Her breath stopped.

The words didn't shout. They sliced.

And the worst part was that he meant every single one.

Then he lifted his foot slightly, shaking her hands free of his leg with practiced ease.

It was gone.

The last thread of connection between them, severed.

"Goodbye, Lila."

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