Chapter 42

• Lila
• As the plane touched down, I leaned back in my seat and exhaled slowly. The business trip hadn’t gone exactly as planned. Emerson was distracted the entire time, barely paying attention to me, and the tension between us had been unbearable. I had thought our affair would ignite something powerful, that Emerson would see me as his escape from Raven, as the one who could help him forget his strained marriage. But now, it seemed like the distance between us had only grown, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was slipping away.
• But I wasn’t giving up. I’d worked too hard to get this close to Emerson, to establish myself in his life. I couldn’t let Raven win. She was cold, manipulative, and clearly playing her own games behind the scenes. I just needed to be smarter, more strategic. If Emerson was losing interest in me, then I needed to switch tactics. I couldn’t rely on seduction alone anymore. I had to take this to another level.